Small businesses nationwide are getting ready for Small Business Saturday. It's held every year on the day after Black Friday, to spotlight mom-and-pop stores.

Arranging bright yellow, pink and purple flowers to pass along happiness and help bring smiles to peoples' faces.

That's why Ana Ventura started her small flower shop with her daughter, Exquisite Designs, two years ago in Alamo.

"Because when someone gives you something, and it's with love, it doesn't matter if it's one rose," Ventura said.

Ventura's love for flowers started over 20 years ago when she got a job as a florist in Houston. She brought the designs skills she learned back home to the Rio Grande Valley to create unique arrangements.

Alamo Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Leticia Luna is encouraging more people to support mom-and-pop shops like Ventura's for Small Business Saturday. 

"We want the money to circulate within our city. We want people to know they don't have to go far to find what they are looking for to give the businesses the opportunity to thrive," Luna said.

She says people should trickle into small businesses' year round. Which is why the Alamo's Economic Development Corporation created an incentive to encourage shopping local.

Every year the EDC orders about 2,000 shirts. Starting October 1, if people collect three receipts from local Alamo shops, they will get a free shirt.

So anyone planning on shopping for the perfect Christmas gift, should consider shopping local.