Gifting Wine a Whole New Way

A former event planner in the Silicon Valley, Lori Fox, founder of Flashy Greetings, is an artist at heart. “I have always loved to design, decorate and create fun and festive events,” she says. “To make these events more memorable I always believed it was important to include an element of bling, glamour or surprise in all my presentations.”

This added sparkle found its way into her business plans. One day, she was sitting at her kitchen table with a collection of clear glass platters and vases she had bought to repurpose. “I thought they were a bit dull and needed to have a touch of bling added to them to bring them back to life,” she says. She began gluing silk flowers, ribbons and bows onto the rims and bases and adding themed greetings like “Happy Birthday.” She gave the items away as gifts, and her friends loved them. This encouraged her to continue exploring other gift ideas.

“I started to think about other common gifts we give to a host or hostess when attending a dinner party or special event. It then struck me how many times we gift a bottle of wine or champagne and that maybe there could be an alternative presentation to the gift bag,” says Fox. “That is when I thought of a decorative wine collar—a way to gift a bottle of wine that also expresses a theme or greeting, and the intent of the gift.” That was the start of her wine tag collar company, Flashy Greetings.

In 2018, she began attending wine-and-craft events to see if her wine collars would be popular to the community at large. The response was overwhelming. “People asked if I sold them online and why wasn’t I on Shark Tank!” she says. In May 2018, she formed an LLC.

Some of the company’s most popular wine tags include “Wine and Friends, the Perfect Pairing,” and “Love is a Four-Legged Word,” as well as “Thank You” and “Happy Birthday” messages. “My latest design requested by many Realtors was titled ‘Welcome Home,’” says Fox. “Realtors can write the buyer’s name on it and clip their business card onto the back of the design before they gift wine to a new home buyer.”

Wine collar greetings can also be customized in two ways. “We can re-label the text with a personalized message on several of our current designs to meet customer’s messaging needs,” says Fox. “For larger orders, we can personalize both the design and text to create [the client’s] own unique wine collar.”

Looking ahead, Flashy Greetings recently announced the release of a line of illuminating wine collar bows and clip-on designs, which feature fiber optic lights that flash multiple colors for up to 12 hours. Simply slip the bow onto a wine bottle or other adult beverage or clip on a wreath or other gift item.

“One of the main objectives of gift wrapping and adornments is to make the recipient feel you put time and thought into their gift and its presentation,” adds Fox. “Flashy Greetings offers both a personalized message and touch that will delight everyone.”
For more information, visit flashygreetings.com.