How to Make a Boutonnière

Like a corsage for girls, a boutonniere can be a classy and elegant gift to give a man, whether you are giving it to your date for the prom, your husband for Father's day, or a brother, son, or dad for graduation. The list goes on. But, unfortunately, the money in our purses does not. With the economy as shaky as it is, there is never a better time to save money and find new talents. Learn to make your own boutonniere. It will save you money and it will mean a lot more to the recipient than if you'd bought it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fresh or artificial flowers
• floral wire
• floral tape
• floral pins
• baby's breath
• artificial or fresh greenery (leaves)
• scissors and/or wire cutters
• ribbon (1/4 inch to 1/2 inch)

1. Go to your local grocery store instead of a flower shop. Your grocery store will have flowers for much less than a floral shop.

2. Pick out the flowers you want. Carnations and baby roses are the most popular, but feel free to experiment to match personality, and colors. Call the store in advance and reserve flowers if you're ordering them close to a holiday.

3. Secure the necessary floral supplies (i.e., tape, pins, and miscellaneous greenery). This can be purchased fairly inexpensively at your local fabric store or Wal-Mart.

4. Cut the flowers, baby's breath, and greenery to your desired length. In general, you do not want it to be smaller than 2 inches or longer than 4 inches. But, again, you can experiment. It is best to cut them longer and trim them down as needed than to cut them too short and have to start over.

5. Take your greenery and baby's breath and lay them down; this is often called bedding. Use one green fern-like leaf, if it is big, or two or three green leaves, if they are small, and one to three pieces of baby's breath.

6. Take your flower and place it down on the bed, making sure that the leaves and baby's breath do not extend too far beyond the top of the flowers (about 1/2 inch is just right). The number of flowers you use is up to you. You can use one for a simple boutonierre or 2 or 3 flowers for a little more depth.

7. Practice different positioning of heights and different quantities of flowers until you find the style that you like.

8. Wrap the stems of the flowers with a small amount of floral wire, so they stay together.

9. Take your green floral tape and, pinching the flower stems together, wrap it tightly around the boutonierre. Make sure you wrap it a couple of times and it extends at least three-fourths of the way up the stem. You do not want any flowers coming out.

10. Take your ribbon (any material will do, but silk looks especially elegant) and tie a simple bow around it, so that the bow faces forward. For added elegance, do a search on-line for more complicated floral bows.

11. Take your pin and pin it to their lapel.

Tips & Warnings

• At the store, you will get a lot of flowers for the few bucks you spend. Use these flowers to make more than one, then sell them to friends or students, if the occasion is appropriate, such as a prom.
• Make sure you keep the flowers in water as you work with them. Also make sure you keep the finished product in the fridge until it is time to use it so that it stays fresh.

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