Handmade Mother’s Day presents sure to melt her heart
Surprise mom with a homemade wreath or floral arrangement
Fresh flowers for Mother’s Day? Groundbreaking.
While not exactly revolutionary, the idea feels much more fresh when there’s a do-it-yourself element sure to make mom smile.
“With Mother’s Day being a spring holiday, gifting florals is a nice way to bring some brightness and freshness into the home, reinforcing that winter is behind us,” Eleanor Coyle, interior designer at Jack Brown Interiors and owner of the Vancouver-based floral business Twig & Co., says. "Giving florals is a nice flexible gift option, as it provides the opportunity to custom design your gift to suit her style, her home, colours that she likes, etc. You can really have fun with this and play up things like scent, so the gift has another layer of experience to it.
“Whether it is made by you, or a professional, there is a nice personal touch to this type of gift.”
After all, there’s a reason flowers are a fail-safe gifting idea for all occasions. Practically everyone loves them, whether one type of flower, or the whole big bunch. But, adding a level of personalization means gifting mom fabulous florals doesn’t have to mean picking up any old boring bouquet.
When it comes to getting started with a DIY floral arrangement, Coyle says it’s all about composition.
“Determining the direction or style that you want to achieve is a first step. Think about your mom’s design style through the home and her fashion for cues,” she advises. “Then, decide on a format for the flowers. Is it a loose bouquet? Something in a vase? Keep in mind where the piece is most likely going to be placed, so you are aware of things like scale for the design.”
And, don’t get too hung up on the type of blooms.
“Instead of focusing on getting her a specific flower, look to what the overall composition is,” Coyle says. “There are thousands of varieties in many different colours available, and then a multitude of ways that they can be arranged together.”
Coyle says it’s important to consider balance, contrast, texture and scale when choosing the blooms — and arranging them in the chosen vessel.
“Depending on the types of flowers that you are using, you can achieve some interesting forms and compositions,” she says.
And it’s also important to keep an eye on the cost.
“It’s easy to get carried away and spend way over your budget on DIY materials,” Alice de Crom, owner of Floralista in Fort Langley, says. To keep costs down, she advises planning ahead and setting a budget. Then, choose only a few focal blooms from your local florist and foraging for “greenery and filler textures” from your own backyard.
“You don’t need to break the bank on a DIY,” she says. “Make it a creative challenge to see how much you can find just from foraging.”
Rather than focus solely on the “biggest, lushest blooms” such as roses or peonies, de Crom suggests finding a variation of shapes, colours and sizes to create a more interesting arrangement.
“Flowers with different colour tones make the biggest impact,” she says. “We look for flowers that have a variation in colour that can act as a transition flower between bolder colours. For instance, a Fritillaria flower is a muted mauve-y brown colour with yellow edges. Using a flower like this in an arrangement of purple and yellow will pull the two colours together and add a beautiful softness to an otherwise bright, contrasting arrangement, and elevate the look.”
If you’re looking to make mom something unique, or you’re crafting a Mother’s Day creation for a woman who already knows the allure of fresh flower arrangements in one’s home and therefore has a few on display at all times, consider opting for a fresh flower wreath instead.
“Wreaths are often associated with winter, however, we like creating wreaths for all seasons and a spring Mother’s Day wreath is a beautiful option to hang on the door or wall for a fresh touch of spring,” de Crom says. “You can also lay it flat on your table for a gorgeous centrepiece.”
To keep the fresh flowers looking alive longer, de Crom says it’s important to add fresh water daily while keeping the blooms in a cool place away from heat.
“Fragrant flowers like lilacs and garden roses will have a shorter life than the more hardy flowers like yarrow and foliage,” she says. “You can expect your fresh flower wreath to last about 3-5 days. Remember that their beauty is fleeting, but that’s what makes them so special!”
And, if you have a mom who is a DIY diva, gardening pro or just likes to get her hands dirty, arrange a DIY day on Mother’s Day to craft the floral arrangements or wreaths together.
“As much as gifting fresh cut flowers is a great gift, creating an experience together is so much more special,” de Crom says. “You’ll both enjoy working on the wreath together and it will become a special memory.”
You don’t need to break the bank on a DIY.” Alice de Crom