Make Mine Pink

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Upon the arrival of our daughter's first little girl, (after 3 boys) born at home with excellent midwives who have attended her before, we set about trying to find the perfect floral gift for her and this special little doll! I remembered the porcelin bassinett filled with flowers

that I received when my daughter was born. I searched far and wide for a florist that would supply this for her. My husband ordered one from a local florist to have sent to our daughter in the town she lived in. We were dismayed to see the results at the other end. Instead of a pink ceramic baby carriage that he had picked from the display that they showed him, she was delivered a tacky orange duck with some (in my opinion) cheap looking flowers.












My opinion now is this: if you want someone to have the kind of flowers that you really picked, buy them yourself and have someone deliver them for you or take them to the recipient. I've had several disappointments from the wired flower services, but I won't go into the atrocities they have committed over the years. Suffice it to say that when they know the buyer will not see the display, they seem to be careless in what they deliver.

I promptly returned the vase and explained to the florist that after having three boys and plenty of the orange and yellow duck-type toys and things, our daughter needed some kind of keepsake container for her little girl. I chose the porcelin buggy you see here, in pink, from another store, and put the flowers in it. I took the old vase back and exchanged it for a lovely pink porcelin baby shoe, which the florists were quite happy to trade. As I was arranging the flowers in the new containers for my daughter, she suggested that I become my own florist. I will share some of my ideas.

The grocery store provides very fresh flowers and in some stores you can buy one single rose and put it in your own vase. The bouquets are quite inexpensive compared to the florists. You can be your own florist, and the choices are limitless as to the flowers and the container. Vases can go inside of all kinds of things that the mother will want to keep: chenille covered hat boxes, little luggage sets, tea cups, and even small trunks painted white or pink or the color of your choice. You can paint just about anything with craft paints, which are non-toxic and odorless.
One of these pictures shows a clever gift of baby necessities made to look like a bouquet of flowers.

Gift bags these days, even from the dollar store, are beautiful enough to serve as a vase. Just put a jar inside the bag and fill with flowers. Most people re-use the gift bags, passing them back and forth several times before they need to be discarded. For a dollar, gift bags are a wise buy.

If you feel awkward about arranging a bouquet of flowers, try the new "frog" vases, such as the pink glass ones you see at the top. They provide little wires where you can stick individual stems. Lacking that, all you need is some masking tape which you criss-cross over your container, and insert your flowers. Nothing is more precious, however, than a bunch of flowers tied in a ribbon and put in a simple jar, so one need not be overly concerned about matching the arrangements of professional florists.

You can even make your own little boxes. Check out some of these, which you can print out on card stock. Hide a tiny little vase inside the box or use an empty bottle from your spice cabinet and buy one rose and some filler, or pick a flower from your garden.

At the top of this article is a sample of the rose bag-box that you can print out on cardstock, from the following sites. Check out the other printables here. They are very uplifting. Remember that sometimes new mothers need flowers and gifts several weeks after birth, when that down-feeling can really set in!!

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Don't you think it is nice to make the floral gift a little more lasting by putting it in a useful or beautiful container that will be kept? You might even find something that could be used as a toybox or a baby keepsake box, that you can put a vase in. Small picnic baskets make great containers. Gift boxes with lids, that are already wrapped and have a bow on them, are good, reusable containers.

Decorative birdcages are good flower containers, as well as pretty enamelware buckets and tubs. The container is really the thing that is the most appealing, because it can be kept and used to improve the home. I grew tired of the plain glass vases years ago and look for unusual containers that can be used for something else. If you don't want to arrange flowers, try an ivy or small flowering indoor plant inside a little wheelbarrow or sleigh. Many of these things can be purchased at your Dollar Tree.

If you want to send something, try some artifical flowers and arrange them in a styrofoam piece in an attractive box and mail them yourself. The key to arranging flowers is balance. Check out this sit http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel310043&contentGroup=MSL&site=living&rsc=ns2006_m2 and click on all the 7 pages at the end of the article here to see how to arrange your own flowers. But be that as it is, do not be overly concerned about correct arrangements. Just gather up the beautiful flowers and put them in a container!! The flowers speak for themselves and stand on their own, without special arrangements and techinques.

By the way, the baby was born on Christmas Day, and her name is Lillian Elinor. I found a song that used to be popular, called "Daddy's Little Girl."

You're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold

You're daddy's little girl to have and hold

A precious gem is what you are

You're mommy's bright, and shining star
You're the spirit of Christmas, my star on the tree

You're the Easter Bunny, to mommy and me

You're sugar, you're spice, you're everything nice

And you're daddy's little girl
(Repeat all)
You're the treasure I cherish, so sparkling and bright

You were touched by the holy and beautiful light

Like angels that sing, a heavenly thing

And you're daddy's little girl