4 Tips For Giving Flowers

Hi friends! Happy almost-Valentine’s Day! This week has been a full one, so in exchange for ZERO posts this week (I’m sorry, I really am), I’ll be posting all throughout the weekend! And all Valentine’s themed of course! Today’s post is a few easy tips to up the ante on your flower game. Aka. MAJOR BROWNIE POINTS gentlemen. 😉 Tomorrow, we’ll share a fun Valentine’s Youth Group game we played last year that was a hit, but never got posted here in blogland. And finally, Sunday morning I’ll show you how to dress up your Valentine’s Day table with just a few easy tricks that won’t break the bank and won’t take so much time and effort that you feel bad taking it down afterward.

Whew, it’s going to be a packed weekend so strap in! Oh, and before I forget… next week, the blog turns TWO YEARS OLD!!! We’re having an all-out celebration, including a look back on the last year, another round of superlatives (here was last year’s), annnnnd most exciting… the launch of a brand new, SECRET PROJECT we’ve been working on! Seriously, this has been months in the making and we are so excited about it. Stay tuned because next week is going to be a wild ride!

Ok, onto today’s post… flower power time. Who here likes getting flowers? Picture me with two hands WAY up. There’s just something about fresh flowers that makes a room come alive (har, har). If you’re not careful, though, a nice flower arrangement can get pretty pricey. I’ve found a few tricks that have really helped when I’m looking to give someone some beautiful blooms that are both meaningful and affordable.

Trick #1: Shop around. The grocery store knows that you’re in a rush and that the holiday crept up on you (how does this happen every year?!) and that you’re more likely to pay whatever they feel like charging for a quick, ready-made bouquet of flowers. So play a little hardball and beat them at their own game… do some research! We found that our local Produce Junction has flowers for a fraction of the cost that our grocery stores were selling them (you can read all about that here). I’m not kidding you… we’re talking a dozen roses for $4. FOUR. Sometimes, they’ll mark them up on holidays like this to $7. 🙂 You can easily drop at least $25 on a dozen roses anywhere else. Find those hidden gems and buy cheap.

Trick #2: Do your own arranging. This is another way to keep your cost down, as most pre-arranged bouquets cost more than just a bundle of cut flowers. While this can be intimidating if you’ve got a lot of different types of flowers and you’ve never done an arrangement before, don’t panic because there are ways around this. Th secret? Keep it simple. Stick with one type of flower and one accent. For example, a dozen of the same color roses and a bit of baby’s breath is all you need. Cut the stems at an angle and plop them in. Add a sprig of your accent here and there. Done. Gentlemen, YOU CAN DO THIS. Ladies, you too.

Trick #3: It’s all in the presentation. Don’t you DARE give her those flowers still wrapped in the cellophane they came in. Well, you can if you want… don’t let me tell you what to do. 🙂 But if you’re looking to steal a few extra brownie points, stick them in something else. My favorite trick is to nix the fancy glass vase (this is especially handy if you don’t have a glass vase to use) in exchange for a regular old glass jar. It can even be a spaghetti sauce jar! Take the label off, wrap some twine around it, secure with glue (hot glue is best), and all of the sudden it looks personalized.

Add a little tag with “Happy Valentine’s Day” or place your card next to it and I guarantee you, the end result will look like you put in some serious effort and thought.

Trick #4: You can give flowers that are not cut! A potted flower or plant is great too (and sometimes cheaper than the cut and arranged ones). Plus, the potted ones will last longer and some of them can be planted in the ground come spring time.

So there you go, a few flower-y tips to help you win at Valentine’s Day. Now go get ’em! 🙂