I have four girls. That’s a lot of little friends’ birthdays. It’s always hard to find the perfect gift on a budget, but there’s one gift that has been a hit each time: artificial flowers.
We discovered this with our older children. They loved their flowers and used them all the time, to decorate their rooms, for table settings, when someone was sick, to play restaurant and wedding and tropical forest, and for celebrations. Whenever they entered the dollar store with money in their pockets, they would invest in more flowers.
So when it was time for a little friend’s party, we would go to the dollar store and choose a bouquet of the prettiest flowers available, as well as a real, grown-up vase. The little friends were always thrilled. Flowers and a vase are a dramatic gift that acknowledges that they are growing up. What’s more there are dozens of imaginative ways to use them.
In fact once a mom called me out of the blue to tell me all the ways her children played with the flowers. They had even shared them with her for her birthday!
So if you’re looking for the perfect gift for a special girl, try artificial flowers and a pretty vase…although for very young children you might want to buy a plastic vase.
And don’t forget your own little ones. As my teens discarded their much-loved, tattered flowers, I forgot that the Little Misses would like some of their own. In fact, after buying two bouquets for her friends, Miss 9 asked wistfully if she could have some too…. Oops! Somehow parental amnesia had set in and I’d forgotten all about giving her flowers. I know what she’ll be getting this December!
For more great tips, see Works For Me Wednesday , Women Living Well Wednesdays, Raising Homemakers, Encourage One Another Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, and Frugal Friday.
What a lovely idea! I had never thought of that! 🙂
I’ve never even artifical flowers a second glance. EXCELLENT idea!
(visiting from Raising Homemakers’ Homemaking Link-Up)
Good tip. My daughters love to have fake flowers to decorate everything. I need to buy them some more!
Annie Kate,
What a practical and sweet post! It is a blessing to read of how your daughters loved to receive flowers, and it gives me an idea for my almost 19 year old daughter!! You have encouraged me, b/c I too sometimes have amnesia 🙂 LOL
I am thankful that you could join us for ‘EOA’ Wednesday, and I hope to see you next week, too! Great post!
Hey, don’t limit it to girls! My six-year-old son is interested in stagecraft and often uses fake flowers to decorate the “sets” he builds in the house. He has also used them in his Thomas train layout, despite the difference of scale!
We learned that in Michael’s craft stores, they will let you pick up fake flowers that have fallen off the stems (there are always a lot lying around) and keep them for free! They would only be sweeping them up and throwing them away anyhow. I wouldn’t give these for a gift, but it’s a thrifty way to get some loose flowers for gluing onto crafts.
Yes, little boys will like them too, but at a certain stage peer pressure sets in so that they don’t like to receive them in public as birthday gifts. It’s too bad.
GENIUS idea!! My daughter has some flowers left over from a wedding that she plays with a lot…but I never thought about giving them in a beautiful vase as a gift.