We live together. How do I keep it a surprise?
+
Move the address. Send it to their workplace — the Deerfield and Northbrook office belt below Lake-Cook Road, the Waukegan Road campuses to the north, or a downtown Chicago office they commute to from the Highland Park station — and the arrangement travels home in the passenger seat. If you would rather it be in the house, ask for a window on a morning or afternoon you know they are out, and give the shop your own number rather than theirs for the arrival call. Otherwise, treat the doorbell as part of the day and choose something worth answering it for.
Is there a hotel in Highland Park I can send flowers to?
+
Practically speaking, no — Highland Park has almost no hotel inventory, which surprises people planning a night away without leaving the North Shore. The alternatives inside this radius are the Deer Path Inn at 255 East Illinois Road in Lake Forest, four miles north and the most characterful of them; the hotels along Skokie Boulevard in Northbrook; and the Lake-Cook Road properties on the Deerfield side. All take front-desk delivery. Give the guest's full name, the check-in date and a note asking the desk to hold it until arrival, and the room number is not needed.
Can you deliver to a restaurant in Highland Park or Highwood?
+
We can, but it is rarely the best plan. Highwood's restaurant blocks and the Central Avenue and St. Johns Avenue places downtown are small rooms with small back-of-house space, and an arrangement dropped before service becomes something a host has to find a shelf for. Two better versions: have it delivered to the house that afternoon so the evening starts at home, or, if you genuinely want it on the table, call the restaurant yourself first and ask whether they will hold it — then tell the shop what the restaurant said. Never assume a kitchen has room.
Can you deliver to Exmoor, Bob O'Link, Old Elm or the Chicago Botanic Garden?
+
Yes. Exmoor Country Club at 700 Vine Avenue is inside Highland Park, Bob O'Link is on Green Bay Road, Northmoor is on the Edgewood side, Old Elm sits on the Lake Forest boundary, and the Chicago Botanic Garden on Lake-Cook Road in Glencoe is a few minutes south — all well inside the eighteen-mile radius. For an event delivery, give the shop the event or party name and the start time, because clubs and gardens route by event rather than by guest. Deliveries go to a service or events entrance, not the main door, and earlier in the day is better than closer to the hour.
How much should I expect to spend?
+
The listed arrangements in this selection start at $45.49. Delivery charges, taxes and optional extras are confirmed for the selected florist and recipient before payment.
Our anniversary is a night at Ravinia. Should the flowers go there?
+
No. Ravinia Festival seating is a pavilion seat or a stretch of lawn, and neither is a place to put a vase for three hours; you would carry it to the car at the end of the night. Send the arrangement to the house in the afternoon instead and leave from there. Worth knowing about the traffic as well: on performance evenings the streets nearest the park, along Green Bay Road, St. Johns Avenue and the Ravinia station approaches, absorb a parking and shuttle operation from about five o'clock, so an afternoon delivery window beats an evening one on show nights.
It is a fiftieth anniversary at a family house. What works?
+
Something arranged in a heavy vessel that can sit on a table for the whole party without being moved, and lower rather than tall, so people can see across it. Tell the shop it is a fiftieth and where in the house it will stand; designers here will keep the scale right for a hall table or a sideboard. If the house is one of the bluff-side properties off Sheridan Road with a long drive, add a phone number and a note about which entrance the party is using. And order a day early: a party has a start time, and a same-day window cannot promise an hour.