Shop Local

by Colleen Kennedy

Fun and Games

Start with a few nosy and petty neighbors; throw in some theft, vandalism and arson; add a dash of humor and you’ve got a winner. In 2021, Alice Hong co-developed the board game Not So Neighborly ($19.99) with her sister, Jessica. They had been playing a lot of board games with their younger cousins and extended family members during the pandemic. The idea for the new game emerged from a bout of boredom.

“We thought, Why don’t we try making our own board game as an arts and crafts activity?” Hong says, “and it just kind of rolled into this thing.”

Inspired by the style and color palettes of 1990s cartoons, Hong used her iPad to illustrate a cast of lovable, destructive monsters––then tested the game prototype on her cousins, adjusting the rules for younger players. (The game is designed for those 7 and up.) After a successful Kickstarter campaign and positive feedback from customers, the sisters expanded the Not So Neighborly line to include expansion packs, plushies and other related merch ($3.99-$19.99).

Planners from Dotori Designs

They’ve since received a competitive GAMA Horizons Fellowship from the Game Manufacturers Association, and plan to create additional games through their emerging company, FamBam Games (FamBam being shorthand for Family Bonding and Memories).

That’s not Hong’s only side hustle. In addition to holding a full-time job as a UX (user experience) designer at Amazon, she is the creative engine behind Dotori Designs, a minimalist line of organizational tools such as undated weekly planners ($34.99), notebooks ($15), tote bags ($22) and washi-paper stickers ($4-$5). Sold online and at Shop Made in Virginia, these adulting tools come in soothing earth tones such as sage, terra-cotta, cream and charcoal.

Dotori means “acorn” in Korean. Hong says she hopes to nurture her creative businesses like tiny acorns growing into mighty oaks. She couldn’t do it without her family, she adds—crediting her sister and husband for their support, as well as her parents, who’ve graciously allowed her to turn their McLean home into an inventory fulfillment center.

“Before Dotori and FamBam, I didn’t realize this would be a possibility for me,” she says. “My parents are immigrants from South Korea. I thought I had to follow a blueprint— college, corporate job, retirement. Now I realize I can do this. I can take this chance to do something creative.”

dotoridesigns.com; fambam.games

Fresh flowers from The Happy Hour Flowers, with a fresh cocktail recipe to match

Totally Tuber

“Everybody can grow things,” says Mary Shaffer, one half of the duo behind The Happy Hour Flowers.

The floral venture, which Shaffer quietly launched in 2020 and cultivated with colleague Miranda Karr (both work at The Studio Tysons salon), was an outgrowth of her own nascent adventures in gardening. “I found that I just needed to be in the dirt, with wine in my hand and the sky above,” she says.

Shaffer runs the “dirt department,” growing plants in her Westover yard, while Karr, who lives in Ballston, handles graphic design, promotions and business operations, as well as floral arrangements.

For those who want to grow their own anemones, tulips, ranunculus and dahlias—blooms that tend to thrive in Northern Virginia’s climate—they also sell bulbs and corms (rooted stems) online ($10-$25 per clump or group of 10). Catering to novice gardeners, the pair provides growing advice, along with floral-inspired drink recipes, via instruction cards and care tips on social media.

“As a beginner, you can grow dahlias with the very simple instructions that we include,” Shaffer says. “Can you have superior or prolific dahlias with nine months of research and hours in the garden every day? Of course. But growing good tulips or dahlias is something that literally anybody can do. It’s like magic that comes out of this little bulb that already has everything it needs to grow within it.”

Don’t have a flower garden or a green thumb?

The Happy Hour Flowers also sells fresh-cut bouquets ($25) at The Studio Tysons and Westover Market in Arlington, and stages DIY “flower bars” at events ranging from bridal parties to PTA meetings, where attendees can pick and choose stems to create their own beautiful arrangements.

thehappyhourflowers.com