Even after the passing of Valentine’s Day, many seek chocolates and flowers as a classic, fragrant gift to give to their special someone. Celebrating love with these gifts, student organizations like the Garden Club hosted bake sales providing chocolates and other sweets while the Malden High School band provided the flowers: red carnations.
The sale was hosted at a booth near the cafes from January 30th to February 6th. There, during all lunch periods, band members took preorders for carnations at $3 apiece. Students and staff could preorder as many as just one or a complete bouquet.
This was not the first time the band hosted a special fundraiser for Valentine’s Day. “Last year, we sold fresh roses, and it was really successful,” said Lyra Gold, senior President of the band. “But, we realized carnations would be greater of a choice as they’re more durable and have a better shelf life.” She emphasized that carnations are “just as beautiful and will last even longer.”
Senior band member Meryem Hakkaoui, who proposed the idea of and helped realize last year’s rose sale, agreed with the switch in flowers: “I think it's really cute; it’s new. I think everyone usually buys roses and it ends up being expensive, but carnations are cheaper and they’re still perfect for Valentine’s Day.”
One buyer at the sale, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed her approval of the carnations. “I bought a bunch of carnations for people and I’m really excited. The idea is just really cool, telling your friends and maybe even teachers how much you love them.” She also found that despite the switch from roses to carnations being rather untraditional, “it’s different—I mean, I like it—and they’re still pretty.”
The carnation sale is not only provided for Valentine’s Day gifters but for the band as well. As the president of the band, Gold appreciated that the profits they received from the sale will go towards the band essentials, which include transportation to competitions, band sweaters, and instrument repairs. The sale was only one of more initiatives to “help make the band more successful.”
While hosting the sale, the band also enjoyed the opportunity of helping the community. “Supporting our local vendors is really important,” Hakkaoui emphasized, “and because our carnations are being bought from Martin’s Flowers in Malden, we get to do just that while still supporting our band.”
Ultimately, the band found the carnation sale to be a huge success, having sold roughly 250 carnations in total to teachers, administrators, and students. “For the first time, some people even asked if they could give us their flowers to sell,” Hakkaoui said. “So I was like, ‘sure, why not?’ and I see the sale has just been a big hit.”
With many orders to fulfill, Gold finally expressed that the band is “very much looking forward to delivering them on Valentine’s Day.”
