How to Make a Mother's Day Bouquet with Grocery Store Flowers

October 26, 2023

Mother's Day Bouquet

As much as we love flowers, they can sometimes feel a bit generic. That’s why we love finding bunches of grocery store flowers to create handmade bouquets that feel thoughtful and unique. These personalized arrangements are the perfect choice for a Mother’s Day gift, bridal shower centerpieces, or even a wedding bouquet for the ultimate DIY bride.

Feel a little intimidated playing florist? With a few simple tools and tricks, anyone can make some carefully chosen grocery store flowers into something special. Here’s a beginner’s guide to floral arrangements that anyone can master.

Tools of the trade

Every budding (sorry, we love puns as much as we love flowers,) florist needs the following basics:

2 bunches large blooms
2 bunches medium to small blooms
2 bunches greens

The number one trick to making grocery-store flowers look professional? Choosing a variety of flowers in different shapes and textures. Larger flowers like roses, dahlias, and peonies look stunning pared with the medium-sized iris, tulip, or ranunculus blossoms. And while small flowers like baby’s breath, carnations, or freesia can look underwhelming on their own, they add dimension and texture to your arrangement.

Optional Decorative elements

Pearl-top corsage pins, also knowns as pixie pins, used to secure ribbon or twine around a bouquet
Coordinating ribbon and twine
Vases, mason jars, bowls, etc.

Making bouquets

Once you’ve found your flowers, it’s time to take your blooms from grocery-store to glam. Here’s how to trick the most observant mother-in-law into thinking you ordered her stunning birthday bouquet from a fancy boutique…

Separate your flowers and trim off any excess leaves or thorns with your floral scissors or snips. If you like a more natural look, you can leave a few leaves extending approximately one or two inches below each flower.
Trim your stems to a uniform height. If you are using a vase, bowl, or mason jar (as opposed to wrapping your flowers for a hand-held bouquet,) your stems should be approximately 1.5 times the height of the container. The length of a hand-held arrangement is more variable based on the style of the arrangement and personal preference, but remember—you can always trim down stems, but you can’t grow them back, so err on the side of caution.
Build a base: Use 3-5 medium to large flowers as the base of your bouquet, and use florist wire or tape to bind the stems together. For larger bouquets, use wire first and wrap with tape as a secondary reinforcement.
Layer in texture and color: Surround your base with smaller flowers, like baby’s breath or freesia to add dimension to the bouquet, and wrap with tape. Continue layering big, small, and medium sized flowers until your arrangement is the right size, and secure the final product with a final layer of wire/tape.
Wrap! Hide your wire or tape by wrapping stems in ribbon or twine, and secure the ends with a pretty pixie pin.

There are endless ways to personalize your flowers: consider finding different flowers in a single color for a modern monochromatic look, or mix classic flowers (think roses or daisies) with more unorthodox choices like irises or dahlias. Get to know a friend or family member a little better and show them how much you care by finding their favorite flowers or using ribbon in their favorite color— we love how easy it is to make this gift truly unique and personal.

Can’t make it to the grocery store for flowers or live too far away to drop-off a bouquet?

You can still celebrate a special occasion by sending dinner and dessert to loved ones anywhere in the continental U.S. Find a Mother's Day Soups and Sentiments package that you know will bring extra smiles, and join in the celebrations long-distance.

Love surprising mom with a thoughtful gift for Mother's Day? If she lives far away, send her a box full of soup, rolls and cookies with one of our customizable packages. If, however, your mama lives right around the corner, why not drop dinner by, complete with a handmade bouquet for her table? Here's how to play florist for the day (even if there isn't a decorative bone in your body!) and build a bouquet with easy-to-find grocery store blooms.

See more Spoonful of Comfort Mother’s Day Content

[Mother’s Day Gift Guide]