{"id":411825,"date":"2022-12-19T15:49:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T20:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/?p=411825"},"modified":"2023-11-30T17:11:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T22:11:51","slug":"big-red-bows-for-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/big-red-bows-for-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Person Behind Those Big Red Bows for Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Affiliate Disclosure:<\/em><\/strong> Automoblog and its partners may earn a commission when you use the services or tools provided on site. These commissions come to us at no additional cost to you. See our <\/em>Privacy Policy<\/em><\/a> to learn more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In every advertisement for a holiday car sales event, there are a few critical elements. The smiling family. A snowy winter morning. There is, of course, a brand new car. And sitting atop that car is an item that has become as important to the mystique of giving \u2013 or getting \u2013 a brand new vehicle for the holidays<\/a> as the car itself: a big red bow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it\u2019s not as if one can just walk into a store and buy a 30-inch bow. Few holiday gifts require an ornamental ribbon of that size. We wanted to find out where the hundreds of car dealerships across the country get these bows from, and who makes them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Big Red Bows For Cars are a Holiday Staple<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The bows have been a part of the imagery of automakers\u2019 holiday sales ads for decades, and those bright red ribbons are now a big part of the holiday sales business. According to Erick Kirks, Marketing Director for Johnson Lexus in Raleigh, NC, \u201cThe red bows are very important to our guest delivery experience,\u201d he says. \u201cWe love them so much \u2026 we always order extras.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main places dealerships like Johnson get those bows from is King Size Bows in Costa Mesa, CA, owned and operated by Amber Kingaard-Hughes. She says that as important as the bows are to car dealerships, they can be even more important to the people who buy cars from those dealerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe get calls from dealerships that the bow was part of the negotiation process,\u201d she says. \u201cWe also get calls from clients that didn\u2019t get to keep the bow from the dealership on the car, and they want one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Accident Drove Kingaard-Hughes to the Bow Business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kingaard-Hughes hasn\u2019t always been in the giant ribbon business. She was working as an emergency dispatcher before a car accident changed her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy accident, literally,\u201d she says as she explains how she got into the business. \u201cI was a 911 dispatcher and was in a bad car accident on my way to work. I had major facial injuries requiring surgery and could not speak for a year. I had to resign from dispatching.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the car accident and resulting surgeries prevented Kingaard-Hughes from working the emergency lines, it didn\u2019t stop her from moving forward. As she recovered, she decided to start a new line of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mom and I went into business together,\u201d she continues. \u201cShe was the voice of the business, and I was designing. In the meantime, after countless specialists\u2019 care and speech therapy, I got my voice back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, King Size Bows has become one of the first places dealerships turn to when they need their holiday sales event bows. Despite the company\u2019s growth and success, Kingaard-Hughes says the company has kept its family nature and tight focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a woman- and family-owned business,\u201d she said. \u201cOur products are made in the USA, by us, in our design studio. Our materials are locally sourced. We love what we do, and we think it shows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Car Dealerships Buy Lots of Bows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

King Size Bows makes bows and ribbons for many occasions and purposes. However, Kingaard-Hughes says that car dealerships buying big red bows for their holiday sales events make up a substantial part of her business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would estimate 40-50% is to car dealerships, TV commercials, and car giveaways during the holidays for both ready-to-ship bows and custom bows,\u201d she reports. \u201cDealerships are not only putting bows on cars for photo ops, but are putting bows on their buildings, in their showrooms \u2013 and some keep bows on hand to give to the clients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Kingaard-Hughes, holiday car bows also take up a significant portion of her business calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we are a year-round business, by far the busiest time of year for us is end of May through December,\u201d she says. \u201cOur custom orders for Christmas start coming in at the end of May, beginning of June. By the beginning of fall, our production schedule for custom orders is booked for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Size Bows To the Moon?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While dealerships selling cars as holiday gifts make up a substantial portion of Kingaard-Hughes\u2019 business, it\u2019s not all of it. King Size Bows makes decorative ribbons and bows for many other purposes, even while the company is busy making holiday car bows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmid the holiday shuffle, we are also creating health-awareness loops for childhood cancer [which the month of September is dedicated to] and breast cancer awareness [which takes place in October], to name a few,\u201d says Kingaard-Hughes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while those red bows from the car commercials are iconic in part due to their massive size, the company makes some that are much, much larger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have made several 20-foot breast cancer awareness loops for hospitals, buildings, and amusement parks,\u201d she details. \u201cWe make bows and health-awareness loops in a variety of sizes, colors, and styles to help [people] celebrate, honor, or remember.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kingaard-Hughes says that her company has had some requests for bows that were out of this world \u2013 quite literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had someone inquire about putting a bow on one of the spaceships a couple years ago,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning a Transaction Into a Celebration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But while the company\u2019s products have adorned everything from buildings to roller coasters, it\u2019s still the holiday auto sales events that are at the heart of the business. A tradition that started just over 20 years ago to help drive December car sales has become part of the American holiday season, albeit a commercial one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tradition has, in turn, created an annual need for big red bows for cars. Kingaard-Hughes believes that the bows have endured over the years because they add a little holiday magic to the gift of a new vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe the bow transforms it from a transaction to a celebration,\u201d says Kingaard-Hughes as to why the bows are so popular. \u201cEveryone has seen the car commercials with the bows on top and many think it is just for TV, and won\u2019t happen for them. The bow makes the dream real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Affiliate Disclosure: Automoblog and its partners may earn a commission when you use the services or tools provided on site. These commissions come to us at no additional cost to you. See our Privacy Policy to learn more. In every advertisement for a holiday car sales event, there are a few critical elements. The smiling family. A snowy winter morning. There is, of course, a brand new car. And sitting atop that car is an item that has become as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":411835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58164,43031],"tags":[],"model":[],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Kristin McClure","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411825"},{"taxonomy":"model","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/model?post=411825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}