Looking for ideas to freshen up your home and save money too?  Check out these easy DIY ideas for arranging inexpensive grocery store flowers with favorite vintage vessels!  You’re going to add pretty touches around your home in no time with these budget-friendly and simple ideas!

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, pretty flowers are probably on your mind too!  But here’s the real question…would you rather receive an expensive, already-made arrangement or a bouquet with which you can inexpensively arrange grocery store flowers in your favorite vintage vessel…or maybe splurge on a pretty vase that you can keep and enjoy?!

You probably already guessed my answer!

It’s the perfect excuse to pull out some favorite vintage vessels and take some time to be creative!  Plus, I love that some fresh flowers sprinkled throughout our home gives us a little touch of that early spring decor too!

If your answer was to create your own unique flower arrangements with budget-friendly grocery store flowers too, then you’re in luck today.  I’m sharing my favorite simple tips throughout this post.  

At the same time, you’ll also find ideas that you can use throughout the spring season too!

Is it cheaper to make your own flower arrangements?

I give a 500% YES answer to this question!  If you go to a grocery store that carries a nice selection of cut flowers, you should be able to put together a lovely arrangement for much less money than you’d spend at a florist.

For me, the real cost is in the vessels I use.  Over time, I have invested in vintage and new vessels that I truly love.  Even though they may not have been cheap, they pay for themselves many times over in the long run.

Plus, the combination of pretty flowers and an amazing vessel or container can create a true statement piece that adds to the character and warmth of your home.

Pro Tip: When you find vases, containers, or vessels that you really love, they are usually worth your investment.  

You can use them for many years and throughout every season.

At the same time, you may come across your favorite piece ever for a great deal at a thrift store or flea market.  I’m always keeping an eye out for pretty vessels and containers for floral arranging!

How do you make a flower arrangement on a budget? 

Use grocery store flowers!

We are going to look at some of these ideas in more detail in this post, but here are some general ideas to consider for arranging inexpensive grocery store flowers:

1. Use a small bowl to create a low, table top arrangement.
2. Cut fresh greenery from your yard to save on the arrangement cost.
3. Thrift for pretty vessels and containers for flowers.
4. Make a statement arrangement by choosing a vessel with a lot of patina and character.
5. Break up a bouquet to make several smaller arrangements.  Grouped together, they can make a big statement or add simple, subtle touches throughout a room.
6. Incorporate fresh fruit or other fresh produce.
7. Create a beautiful arrangement with just greenery (this could be a totally free option!)
8. Make pretty arrangements using only the cheap filler flowers, also referred to as stock bunches.
9. Cut bare branches from the yard and add in the center to create height for a larger arrangement.
10. Mix realistic faux flowers and fresh greenery to create an arrangement that will trick everyone!

What are some key tips when arranging flowers?

1. Remember to cut the stems at an angle.  (My Memaw said to always cut them under running water, so I do!)
2. Clip off greenery that will be below the water line in the vase.
3. Refresh the water often, daily if needed.  This also depends on the kind of florals you are using.
4. Use fresh, local flowers when possible.
5. Consider the balance and height rule.  The best arrangements are usually when the flower height is one and a half times the height of the container.  However, I don’t always follow this.  For example, you’ll see an arrangement in this post where I did exactly the opposite.  (Obviously, I think it worked. Haha!)

How to Arrange Inexpensive Grocery Store Flowers with Vintage Vessels

Grocery Store Flowers Idea #1:

Make Beautiful Grocery Store Flower Arrangements with Small Bowls.

My current obsession with vintage ironstone jelly molds made me want to see how I could create a small flower arrangement with some Trader Joe’s roses and my newest jelly mold find!

At the same time, you could easily use any favorite, smaller-sized bowl or dish that you already have on hand!

Also, while the roses were a great price for the bouquet, you could make a similar low, tabletop arrangement with a bowl and other stems that have a more open bloom.  For example, hydrangeas or sunflowers work great in a bowl like this too.

Pro Tip: Before going to buy flowers, decide what bowl you want to use.  Take it with you to the store so you can see how many flowers you need.

If you don’t want to take the actual bowl, at least have a pretty good idea of the size.

(I speak from experience because I did NOT decide ahead of time.  Haha!  In full transparency, I would love this arrangement more if I would have had about 4-5 more rose stems!)

How do you arrange roses in a grocery store?

Step One for grocery store flowers:

I used clear scotch tape to create a grid across my ironstone.  Since I was using smaller roses, I made the grid pretty tight.  If you are using larger blooms, make the grid squares larger so there is enough room for the blooms to open after a day or so

Pro Tip: This tape technique also works great for large arrangements in wide vessels, such as a crock, wide glass hurricane, or bucket..

Step Two for grocery store flowers:

I added water after creating my grid.  Trust me; you’ll save yourself a mess. ???? I did fill my jelly mold pretty full since my flower stems will be so short.  You’ll want to add water each day, too, so the cut flowers are getting enough water!

Especially since the bowl is short and the rose stems had to be cut short, they drink up the water very quickly.  Try setting an alarm to help you remember to add water.  Your roses can last for quite a few days if you keep the water fresh!

Step Three for grocery store flowers:

The next step is the fun part!  I clipped my flowers to about 4 inch stems.  Short enough to fit in my ironstone dish but long enough to support the bloom.  Then just fill each grid square with a single flower!  So simple but looks so pretty!

Pro Tip: Measure the height of your bowl so you know how short to cut the stems.  If they are too short, the stem won’t support the weight of the bloom.  So, make them as long as possible.

(In full disclosure, I would have loved to have 3 more roses, but I made do with what I had and spaced them out just a tad.  It still worked great and made a really pretty little arrangement.)

You could also create several of them, using different dishes and bowls, to create a unique table centerpiece!

Grocery Store Flowers Idea #2:

How to make grocery store flowers look expensive?

Arrange inexpensive flowers in an amazing vintage vessel or pretty vase to create a statement piece on a budget.

This chippy bucket is undoubtedly one of my favorite home decor accessories!  Best I understand, it is a vintage wooden sap bucket and the dealer I purchased it from got it from France.

Vintage + chippy + French is a pretty exciting find!

Even though this bucket isn’t French, I love the color and patina!

You can find some other pretty, vintage bucket with lots of patina:

• This antique French grape hod
• This old bucket with lots of great patina
• This vintage well bucket

This bucket is also one of my favorite vessels for flowers.

Pro Tip: My favorite trick for using unique vessels…especially ones that don’t hold water…is to put a jar or vase of water inside the vessel.  

An inexpensive carafe and slender decanter happen to fit perfectly in this chippy bucket.  Since they are tall and slender, it’s a great fit.

Most vintage vessels, buckets, and containers no longer hold water very well.  However, you can still use these amazing old pieces to create incredibly unique and beautiful arrangements.

Pro Tip: Watch at thrift stores for slender, plain vases that might fit down inside your vintage vessels.  

They don’t even have to be pretty vases.  Remember, you’re just putting it down inside of your favorite vessel to hold the water!

You could use a narrow drinking glass or plastic cup from the dollar store.  Whatever fits the dimensions of your vessel the best and holds water will be perfect!  Once you find just the right insert for your vintage vessel, you’re ready to go!

Step One:

I put my eucalyptus in first, making sure that it casually hangs out around all sides of my bucket.  I purposely don’t make it too “perfect” or “matchy” so that it has a casual, easy look.

Step Two:

Step two is super simple!  Just put your hydrangeas, or bloom of choice, in the middle!  I prefer to have an odd number of flowers, but one of my hydrangeas was a dud and didn’t make it.

How do you make supermarket flowers look nice?

Pro Tip: In general, follow the rule of odd numbers when arranging flowers.  For example, 3 or 5 stems usually makes a better arrangement than 2 or 4.

(Which leads me to ask…why can’t I buy a bouquet of 9 roses instead of 12?!  Haha!)

For my simple arrangement here, I had to be content with 2 stems.  Since there are two “vases” in this bucket and it has the oval shape, I just added the two and we will pretend it was intended that way all along!  I still think it looks pretty and I enjoyed this bouquet for a full week!

Grocery Store Flowers Idea #3:

Remember, pretty grocery store flower arrangements can be really simple and still amazingly beautiful!

I don’t think I could even come up with enough to write to create a step-by-step tutorial of these arrangements.  They are just that simple!  However, I still wanted to include it for two reasons:

Pro Tip: Simple and subtle is almost always a fail-proof look for natural beauty in flower arranging.  Don’t overthink it!

First of all, I love old vintage bottles.  What’s not to love, right?!

In the fall, I love to use amber bottles.  Then, when spring and summer roll around, these bottles with a tint of blue and green, mixed with clear ones, are my favorites!  I often style them on my dining room shelves with nothing in them at all!

The little touch of cool colors are so pretty.  Again, simple and subtle is the goal here!

Pro Tip: If you don’t care for the red seal on the clear bottles, either add a dab of white paint or pull that red seal off.  You don’t need the seal to use these for florals!

Find some great bottles for flower arranging:

• Wicker demijohns for a larger bottle
• Set of 3 aqua bottles
• Old vintage glass soda bottles
• Antique seltzer bottles

Bottles on a budget:

• Clear flip top glass bottles
• Medium sized clear curvy glass bottle
• Set of mini amber colored bottles
• Set of mini glass vintage-inspired vases

Secondly, vintage bottles make even the super inexpensive stock flowers, wild flowers, or even carnations, look special!

Pro Tip: Sometimes, I just put a single greenery stem if I don’t have flowers!

You don’t need any expensive or fancy blooms for this arrangement!

The third reason that I like to use bottles for arrangements is that I can use them in different ways.

Pro Tip: Move your flower arrangements around your home to create different refreshing views.

First, I can group them all together for a statement centerpiece.  Lined up down the middle of a spring tablescape, they make a simple and lovely statement.

Secondly, I can sprinkle them throughout a space to give a fresh touch all around while still having a cohesive look to my decor!  For example, I could add a bottle to each of the accent tables around our living space for instantaneous freshness!

I combined them in the dining room for a a pretty, early spring tablescape.  

Then, I moved them to my bedroom to freshen up the night stands!  

Pro Tip: Bottles of flowers give you flexibility for using them in a lot of fun and pretty ways!

Find more beautiful vases for flowers here:

• This rattan wrapped vase
• Pretty shape of wicker vase
• Unique round shape of this neutral vase
• High end look of this white terra cotta vintage style vase
• These square rattan vases, available in multiple sizes
• Woven whitewashed vase set
• Textured clay style pot with vintage style, black or terra cotta
• Amber recycled glass jar
• Clear recycled glass jar (looks like a vintage European pickling jar
• Natural wood curvy vase

I hope this gives you some inspiration to take an inexpensive bouquet of grocery store flowers, pull out a favorite vintage vessel, and create some unique flower arrangements for your own home!

It’s the perfect way to freshen up your space and even give it a touch of Valentine’s Day in a little different way!

You may also enjoy these posts:

• How to Beautifully Decorate a Coffee Table for Spring
• 27 Ways to Use Old Thrifted Books in Home Decorating
• How to Decorate for Spring with Vintage Finds
• How to Style a Gallery Wall in 3 Simple Ways
• 7 Custom Kitchen Island Ideas and Needs to Consider for a Kitchen Renovation

I’d love for you to follow me on social media!  You can find my home decor inspiration on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!  

Blessings,

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