Occasions in Chicago

Flowers for occasions in Chicago: State Street in spring to Thanksgiving

Each spring Macy's on State Street carries on the Marshall Field's flower show from the ground floor up to the Walnut Room on the seventh, with a nod to the old Meet Me Under the Clock meeting spot by the entrance. Occasions in Chicago run on the same spring calendar, and Mother's Day is where the show's last run ended. The section is arranged by date and by personal moments alike, so the choice starts with what the recipient is celebrating.

Which occasions the section covers, and whose calendar to check

The section splits into two kinds of occasion. One runs by the calendar: Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, graduation and Thanksgiving. The other runs by a private date no calendar holds: a birthday, an anniversary, a new baby, a get-well wish, a thank-you or an apology.

Mother's Day belongs to the first group, but its date depends on the recipient's country. Mother's Day in the US falls on the second Sunday in May, a national observance since 1914 but not a day off work. Britain keeps its own Mothering Sunday, and Russia marks the last Sunday of November, so a sender choosing a date checks the recipient's calendar rather than their own.

8 March passes in Chicago without an official marking; March here is Women's History Month, nothing more fixed. A bouquet sent that day reads as a personal gesture, not a local custom.

A delivery to a new baby's room, a hospital ward or a hotel desk follows its own rules, covered in the flowers guide to Chicago.

Valentine's Day, Easter and Mother's Day: the spring peaks

Valentine's Day, on 14 February, opens the spring run of occasions. Easter follows on a date that moves, since Western and Eastern churches work from different calendars. The two land on the same day in only about three years out of ten, so it helps to check which Easter a family keeps before setting a delivery date.

Mother's Day closes the spring run. It is not a public holiday in the US. On both 14 February and Mother's Day, orders run far above an average week, delivery windows widen, and nobody can promise an exact minute; booking a few days ahead gives more choice of slot. For Valentine's Day, eleven red French roses is a bouquet many choose by name alone — French here means a florist turns the outer petals back by hand, not a separate variety.

A diploma in late May, a teacher's thank-you before mid-June

Chicago Public Schools run classes into mid-June, and the ceremonies cluster at the end of that stretch. High school graduations begin in late May, and elementary schools hold theirs from early June, so the graduation flowers section fills first with diplomas from the older grades. Because the school year itself runs so close to its finish, a high-school ceremony in late May sits near the very end of term, while an elementary one in early June can overlap with the last few classes still on the timetable.

A teacher's thank-you bouquet is timed differently: it goes out before the last day of class, while the classroom is still in session, rather than waiting for a ceremony that may not include one at all.

Chicago weddings from June to October, and the anniversaries after

Chicago's wedding season peaks from June through October, and the anniversaries that follow a wedding land in that same stretch of the calendar, year after year. A first wedding anniversary celebrated one June repeats on the same June date whether the couple is marking paper, wood or something further down the list.

The gift traditions behind those years come from different centuries. Silver for the twenty-fifth and gold for the fiftieth go back to a German custom from the sixteenth century; paper for the first, wood for the fifth and tin for the tenth were added later, in English-speaking countries during the nineteenth. American jewellers put both lists together into one table of gifts for every year in 1937, and a golden wedding anniversary still draws on it today.

Thanksgiving and a housewarming: flowers for a Chicago table

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, and the flowers for it are chosen for a table set for a family meal rather than for one recipient, with their own corner of the section.

A housewarming bouquet asks a different question first: is there a cat in the new flat. Lilies are toxic to cats, pollen and vase water included, so a home that keeps a cat is better served by gerberas or roses instead. Whatever goes through the door on a Chicago winter day has its own short walk from a cold car to a warm hallway, a detail covered alongside the rest of the delivery in the flowers guide to Chicago.

Delivery to the city centre costs nothing extra, with delivery zones priced further out, and the florist photographs each finished bouquet before the courier leaves; most orders are delivered on the day they are placed. For an occasion with no fixed date on the calendar, birthday flowers are the easiest place to start, and when the sender would rather stay unnamed, anonymous flower delivery covers that too.