Easy $12 Bouquet

Valentine’s Day is next week—WHAT??!!! How did this happen?  *sigh*

I have always told my husband, “DO NOT get me flowers for Valentine’s Day!”  Seriously.  They hike up the prices just for that one week. Come February 15th, that $50 bouquet is now back to $14.95.  It’s so absurd.

Once again, I have a trick 🙂

MY TRICK: head to Trader Joe’s for your flowers!!!

Seriously, Trader Joe’s always has beautiful flowers and they last at least 7, if not more days.  And they are not expensive.  This bouquet I am showing you today cost me UNDER $12!!!!  Wooohhhoooo!!!  Baby girl, lets bring on the pretty!!!!

What Flowers To Buy

My rule of thumb is to purchase 2-3 flowers in the same color palette.  I fell in love with these white and pink Gerber Daisies ($4.99)  From there, I added the pink lily to compliment the pink in the Gerbera ($3.99) and finished it off with a little white flower to bring out the white in the Gerbera ($2.49) (Does anyone know the name of this flower? If so, please share!).

Now that we have our flowers chosen, let’s get arranging!

How to Arrange The Perfect Bouquet

First, let’s feed our flowers with the flower food they provide with each bunch.  If you remember to do this step (I always forget!), it really does make your arrangements last at least 1 to 2 days longer than without the food.

Second: start arranging!  I grab one of each type of flower and match up the tops of the flower (the stems will be all different lengths).

Third, continue adding one of each flower type and again, making sure to match up the top of the flowers so they are all the same height.

You will have different amount of stems depending on the varietal.  I had a couple more lilies and lots more Gerbera than the others.  When this happens, I just added those extras around the edge of the bouquet until all the stems were accounted for.

Trimming To the Correct Height

Now comes a very important part: how long to make your stems!  You will notice all your stems will be varying lengths.

Trim them all to the same length, cutting the stems NOT FLAT but at a diagonal (this ensures the stem can still suck up water even if it is against the bottom of the vase).

Now, you have to ask: is this the correct height for your vase?  Well, hold it up to your vase.  You want the heads of the flowers to sit just above the top edge of the vase.

This first cut was too tall!  So I trimmed it about another inch off and measured again.

This one is much better.

Final step: stick those flowers in the vase and VOILA!  You have yourself a beautiful bouquet for your Valentine that didn’t cost $50!  Share this post with all you know (especially those husbands 😉 ) and head to Trader Joe’s!!! 🙂  (Pick up their dark chocolate almonds while you are there—they are my favorite!!!)

xo, Melissa