Come in and visit the kite pro-shop on the Outer Banks. We specialize in kites, games, and puzzles!
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Price drop! These previously flown Supersonics need new homes! They're $150 each with free shipping within the United States. They're super fun and fly incredibly fast!
More info available on our website. Link to that page is in the comments.
You may have noticed that #482 is missing from the CR Quad Index (we were waiting to get a better picture). So, here it is... #482 (40%) built by Eliot for Cath's kite bag using custom painted Michel Gressier fabric she picked up in Cervia!
This is an index of the various Compass Rose Mesh Quad-line kites we've built over the years. Each photograph identifies the kites by number and "version" (40%, 75%, 100%, 135%, 175% or 240%). Note that each kite is unique with it's own particular set of colors and pattern - there are no duplicates. The CR-II kites are smaller (72" leading edge) than the typical 1.5 size.
Ok friends, it's time to make plans for the 2025 Flying Smiles Fun Fly! In the coming weeks, we'll be putting together the registration form, so please watch for that to come out so you can let us know you're coming.
But! Here's why we're telling you now!
Mark your calendars!
The Fun Fly is moving to March in 2025! The event dates will be Friday March 21 - Sunday March 23 2025.
We're working on the following for the event: getting a group rate from the Hampton; getting contact info for the condos next to the shop; making plans to use the indoor space at the Pine Island Racquet & Fitness center for some indoor fly time; and once we know how many people want to share rental houses, we'll get 1-2 houses booked too.
Watch for us to post a link to the event registration in the next few weeks so that we can get headcounts for food and rental houses.
Questions? Comments? Drop them here so that we can answer them for everyone to see!
They're back! We got Vertigos and solid Octopus kites back in stock! Vertigos are updated on the website (and will, by default, come with 14" handles and 65' lines), and we'll add the Octopus kites in a few weeks when it slows down in the shop. If you need an Octopus before we get them online, let us know!
Ocean Shores Kites
How about a Sunday afternoon kite shop walk through?
This is an index of all the AUA quad line kites built by Flying Smiles Kites.
One of the most common questions in the shop is, "Can we bring our dog into the shop?" As long as the shop isn't too busy, the answer is always yes! Now, here's the PSA - if your dog isn't a service dog, we WILL ask if we can pet the puppy. And if your dog as well behaved as our friend pictured here, Tucker, we may even start training them on the register! 😂🤷🏽♀️
Pictured - Tucker and his person, and our amazing summer help, Allie. Allie's last day is Saturday, as she's getting ready to pack up and go to college. We'll miss you, Allie! Thank you for loving the shop as much as we do! Fun fact - almost every time Allie opened and Cassie came in a bit later, Allie would excitedly tell Cassie about her favorite customers of the morning. If you've been in and met Allie, there's a good chance that she told Cassie about how great you were! 💜💜💜
Happy Monday! Listen to Cassie ramble about shop updates and info while you get walked around the shop to see the goodies!
These photos come from roughly a month ago, when Cath took Allie (our amazing summer help this year) and Eilidh (an awesome customer) out to fly. Cath managed to get Allie on her first kite ever while Eilidh started to get a taste of quad flight. It was a great day for all three women! Thank you, Allie, for taking the time to get a couple of pictures that day! 💜🪁💜
Kites pictured - Vertigo by Ocean Shores Kites and Mojo by HQ Kites & Designs USA
One of the best parts of kite shop life is seeing adults act like kids in a candy shop while they wander the shop and look at the ceiling display! So, we thought we'd give you a look at the ceiling today. 💜🪁💜 This is a lot of the single line kites that we've got up around the shop, but only a small selection of the whole range of options!
See anything you need in your kite bag? Let us know!
HQ Kites & Designs USA In The Breeze Into The Wind NewTech Kites Ocean Shores Kites Skydog Kites
Last night, at about 6, Cassie looked outside, and it looked like the banner was missing. Noooope. It was on the ground. She put it back up and went back into the shop. 10 minutes later, it was back on the ground. Y'all. You *know* it's windy when the banner in front of the shop gets knocked over!
Anyways, today is much more reasonable winds, so a GREAT day to fly kites! Come by the shop if you need one to fly while you're on the Outer Banks, or let us know what you need shipped to you. We have a plan to finally get the website updated in the fall, but for now if you don't see what you want on the site, message us and we can send pictures or do a video tour of the shop for you!
How about some more favorites by our friends at Skydog Kites? We've got the Tie Dye Turtle (shown on the wall on the 50" version, but we've also got the huge 10' version!), the Pirate Shark (a favorite every year!), and then two new kites, the Festival Diamond and the Celtic Turtle!
As always, Skydog Kites are extraordinarily well made and come with line and a high-quality kite sleeve. These kites won't be on our website until we've had a chance to update the site, but if you need one sooner than that, message us, and we can send you an invoice for one!
Hey friends! A couple of things on this lovely Monday!
1 - If you've ordered in the last few days, please know that your order is packed and waiting for UPS to pick it up. We should get a delivery tomorrow, so your packages will start showing movement after we've handed them off!
2 - The Ocean Shores Kites quad package extends to the Vertigo Max and Whiplash kites (which we don't stock at this time, but we can order them for customers as needed!). We're working on an order with OSKUSA, so please let us know by tomorrow afternoon if you want us to add a specific kite to the order. Otherwise, we're just gonna restock the Vertigo's that were sold last week.
3 - Speaking of the Vertigo package, a huge thanks to folks who placed orders last week! All of the packages with 85' lines have been claimed, so moving forward, you'll be receiving 65' linesets in those orders. You'll still get 14" standard handles in those packages.
We'll be back tomorrow to show some more of the cool kites that we received from Skydog Kites!
We just got in an order from Skydog Kites and will be showing you some of the awesome kites that we've got from them this week! First up is one of our favorites, the Justice Rises diamond. This is a great kite for 6-20mph winds and comes complete with the kite, streamer tails, 30 # line (on a spool), and a nice kite sleeve.
Need to fly one of these soon? We've added it to our website. We'll drop a link in the comments.
Measuring in at 116" wide by 55" tall, this is the kite you've been dreaming of! Rated 4 out of 5 on the "power" scale, the Diva will take you on a super fun ride while you can throw all of your favorite slack line tricks along the way. Thanks to our friend Jesse Kapsten we've even got an awesome online review that you can watch!
This kite is available for $300 and ships for free within the United States. Check out the comments for a link to Jesse's YouTube video and a link to the order page on our website.
Get yours now, we only have 2 available to ship out!
These 13' Octopus kites are back in stock! They fly like a dream, and the bag is sewn into the kite so you'll never lose it! Need one for your kite collection? Let us know! They're just 24.99 each.
Guess what! We've got an awesome special for you! We're working with Ocean Shores Kites to put together the ultimate quad package for you! If you order a Vertigo, you're gonna get a FREE set of lines and handles. The first 4 ordered will get an 85'x90 # lineset and standard 14" handles. After that, the package will come with 65' lines and the same 14" handles. This package will ship to you for $225 with free shipping within the United States.
The Vertigo is a fantastic kite to not only learn on, but also grow with it! It's rated for roughly 4-15mph winds and makes a perfect solid sail in any kite bag. Contact us for your package today, or go to our website and order your Vertigo. If you order from our website, please order the kite only, and include a note "line and handle package" on your order!
We have the following Vertigos available to ship: Warm, Steel, Green, Red White & Blue, and we'll have a Cool later on this week.
Let's finish the shop tour!
Come walk through the shop with us!
Did you know that we've got a batch of Cath's CR Hata's that are ready to ship? The first photo shows the kites ready to ship. The second photo shows the options available for the Compass Rose legs. On the left is Fancy, in the middle is Floral and on the right is Traditional. Just let us know which design you prefer and we'll show you what we've got! The CR Hata's come ready to fly with line in the bag!
A customer asked us a great question today - "what is the most popular kite?" Now, we're the first to admit that we gave them a bit of a vague answer. "We could show you the inexpensive single lines that we sell by the case load, but it really depends on the kite flyer. If you're talking about which kites sell to first time flyers, we go in one direction. But if we talked to serious kiters the answer would vary strongly from person to person."
So now, that opens up the question we want to ask you! If you had to pick your favorite kite, could you? Which would it be? Also, what kite would you recommend to a new flyer, versus what kite would you recommend to someone getting more serious about their kite collection?
There are no wrong answers here! We thought this would be a great conversation with our kite flying friends!
Check out this gorgeous photo of a Delta Conyne flying with super long transition tails behind it! This photo comes from our friend Mark Stevens, who visits every summer with his family. Fun fact, when Mark's family comes to town, we schedule a time for everyone including Cath and Eliot to come into the shop so that we can share stories and catch up. They've been coming to visit us every year for over a decade and it's truly one of the highlights of the summer. Thank you, Mark, for sharing this photo with us. We can't wait till we see you again next year! (The second photo is from our wall of fame in the shop, featuring 3 photos of the family over the years! Big love to Linda, aka "grandma", who is the leader of this fantastic family!)
If you want a Delta Conyne, contact us and we can let you know what's in stock. We also have a nice selection of tails to add some pizzazz to your sky display!
Let's do a shop walk through!
This past weekend, we had family in town, which is always a treat! We played games and did a puzzle and did what we do best, enjoying each other's company. 💜
This is Owen, Cath & Eliot's grandson, who decided at 7 years old that he needed to design a quad line kite. "Gammy and Pa" and Craig Young helped him with stage one, which was designing and sewing the sail. Next time he visits, we'll work on framing it and figuring out a bridle that will work! Let's be real, this may end up being a single or dual line kite in flight, but we LOVE that Owen got so involved in a project from his own imagination based on what he's seen his grandparents do his whole life. We love you, Owen!
Tomorrow, we'll come back around for more official kite shop posts, but for now, we wanted to share what warmed our hearts this weekend! We hope you've enjoyed this moment of feel good with us. 💜🪁💜
Hey friends! We've got some huuuuge 16' Deltas in stock and ready to ship from our friends at Ocean Shores Kites! The first picture shows you the size of the kite, Cassie for scale. The second and third photos show you the colors we've got in stock. One is a cool fade in purples and blues. The second is a patriotic red white and blue. Due to limited availability, these are not on our website. Contact us if one of these needs to come home to you!
$245 each, line not included. 250 # or greater line recommended. Ships free within the United States.
Happy 4th of July to all of our American friends! Our favorite thing to do today is fly a kite, and it seems like everyone else agrees! If you want to join in the beautiful display at the beach today, be sure to pop by the shop for a sweet new ride! We'll be here till 5.
For a long time, we assumed that Katamino Tower was too similar to other building games in the store, so we didn't bring it in right away.
Y'all. We were wrong. So. Very. Wrong.
We finally brought it in this week and it is SO good. It's harder than classic Katamino, but a very similar game play. You're told which pieces to use and how many layers tall your tower will be. We've got a demo open in the shop so you can come try it before you buy it! We haven't added it to the website yet, but if there's enough interest, we'll get it added online!
1159 Austin Street
Corolla, NC
27927
| Monday | 10am - 7pm |
| Tuesday | 10am - 7pm |
| Wednesday | 10am - 7pm |
| Thursday | 10am - 7pm |
| Friday | 10am - 5pm |
| Saturday | 10am - 5pm |
| Sunday | 10am - 5pm |
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How about a Sunday afternoon kite shop walk through?
Happy Monday! Listen to Cassie ramble about shop updates and info while you get walked around the shop to see the goodies!
Let's finish the shop tour!
Come walk through the shop with us!
happy July friends, I hope you've got time to fly a kite! look at that gorgeous blue sky with a Delta Conyne and a spinning star on the line! this video comes to us from our friend Mark Stevens who spends time every summer with his family on our happy little sand bar. #livethelifeyoulove #beachlife #flytheworld #outerbanks #obx #kitetok #findyourjoy #corolla
Let's do a shop walk through!
Come walk through the shop with us!
Let's do a shop walk through!
Info about our website for the next few weeks
How about a walk through? I'll show y'all what we've gotten in and what we're moving around!
First walk through of 2024! Come see the shop with us
Let's do one last walk through for 2023!
Let's visit the corner of previously loved sport kites!
Time for a kite shop visit! Come on a walk with Cassie!
One more time for more kites! It's time to visit shop categories that weren't included in the Small Business Saturday sale! Let's look at multi-line kites today! Be sure to watch if you want to see our flash sale. This sale is good until December 7th. If you want anything you've seen, let us know and we can send over an invoice. If you're an AKA member, be sure to let us know!
Time to visit shop categories that weren't included in the Small Business Saturday sale! Let's look at bigger and specialty single line kites today! And kite bags! If you want anything you've seen, let us know and we can send over an invoice. If you're an AKA member, be sure to let us know!
Time to visit shop categories that weren't included in the Small Business Saturday sale! Let's look at easy to fly single line kites today! If you want anything you've seen, let us know and we can send over an invoice. If you're an AKA member, be sure to let us know!
Happy Saturday! Let's do a kite shop walk!
Fun fact! There's an art and wine festival every Weds in the summer across the street from the shop, at the Whalehead Club. They run from 3-6pm and it's a really nice chance to see local artists showing off their creations. Maybe next summer we'll set up a table for our handmade creations, but until then, be sure to check it out and then come by the shop to show us what you found! #flyingsmiles #flyingsmileskites #kiteshop #nostalgia #familytime #outerbanks #vacationtime #corollanc #worldwidewindtribe #shoplocal #shopsmallbusiness #familybusiness #shopfamilyowned #goodvibes #custommade #goflyakite #kiteshopswag #peaceloveandkites
LilyBeth OBX in Corolla Light Resort
Amory Court
