How To Arrange a Grocery Store Bouquet of Flowers

Well, I’ve been saying for a while now over on my Instagram that I would give some pointers on arranging flowers. The problem is that every time I start to do so, it turns out to be way too long for Instagram stories or Reels. One day I’ll get around to make an IGTV or YouTube video. For today I thought I would give some basic tips for arranging a grocery store bouquet of flowers, which can sometimes be the most frustrating to arrange.

Tip #1 Cutting

You never want to unwrap your grocery store bouquet of flowers and just plop them into a vase of water. Not only do each and every one of the stems need a fresh snip so that they can drink water, the flowers aren’t meant to all be the same height. You will want to cut some shorter or taller so that your arrangement has shape and all of the flowers can be seen.

Tip #2 Focal Point

Speaking of cutting flowers, you will want to decide which flower or flowers you want to be the focal point. That flower will need to be one of 3 places: bottom and center, middle and center, or top and center. Unwrap your grocery store bouquet and separate out what you have. Usually grocery store bouquets will give you only one of a special flower, and that flower is meant to be the focal point. In my picture and video you can see that the white hydrangea is the focal point. That was the only flower in the bouquet that there was only one of.

Tip #3 The right size vase

If you find that your grocery store bouquet looks very sparse in your vase, try finding a smaller container to use as a vase. Teapots, vintage drinking glasses, and even small pitchers make great alternative vases. If your arrangement is too big for your vase, try turning it into several smaller arrangements. Another option is to use multiple bouquets to fill up a vase.

Tip #4 Keeping them alive and fresh

Usually bouquets come with a little packet of flower food to add to the water in the vase. I usually only use half of the packet and save the other half in a baggie. After a couple of days, change out the water in the vase and use the other half of the flower food packet. My number one tip for keeping your flowers fresh is to make sure there is nothing but stems below the water line – no leaves, no flowers, no greenery of any kind. This will keep your flowers fresh longer!

Here’s a quick time-lapse video of me arranging this grocery store bouquet!