How to Send Flowers With a Teapot

Ship a teapot full of flowers as a gift

A floral arrangement in a teapot can brighten anyone's day, and receiving shipped flowers is sure to be a delightful surprise. Online services that create and ship floral arrangements can often be costly, but preparing such a shipment might seem overwhelming. Fortunately, sending flowers arranged in a teapot requires only a little careful planning and preparation. With the right tools, your arrangement will soon be on its way to bringing a smile to the recipient's face.

Things You'll Need

• Flowers for arrangement
• Teapot
• Decorative accessories
• Stem caps
• Floral food or floral preservative mixture (enough for each flower)
• Floral wire
• Styrofoam
• Ventilated cardboard box

Instructions

1. Fill the stem caps partly with water and floral food or floral preservative, and place the caps on the end of each stem. The water in the stem caps will help preserve the flowers during shipping.

2. Create the floral arrangement in the teapot. Start by creating a bouquet with the floral wire. Wrap the wire loosely around the stems (being careful not to remove the stem caps). Holding the stems together will help to secure the arrangement and keep the flowers from moving around too much during shipping. Be careful not to overfill the teapot with flowers.

3. Add any accessories to the arrangement. These may include bows, cards, decorative picks or even a stuffed animals. Make sure the arrangement is complete before getting it ready for shipment.

4. Measure and trim the Styrofoam so that it creates a snug resting place in the ventilated box. The Styrofoam will cushion and protect the floral arrangement.

5. Place the floral arrangement in the box, bracing it with more Styrofoam. Make sure the Styrofoam holds the teapot firmly in place but does not crush or bruise any of the flowers.

6. Close and seal the top of the ventilated box, ensuring that all ventilation holes are open for the flowers to breathe during shipment. Mark the box as containing flowers. Avoid leaving the arrangement in the heat for any length of time. If you will not be shipping it right away, place it in a cool or even refrigerated location. Be sure to use a shipping service that offers cooled or air-conditioned vehicles.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to start with a box that is large enough to accommodate the full arrangement. The flowers should not be touching the sides of the box--to prevent any bruising--but the teapot should also be closely fitted into the box.

• If there is extra room inside the bowl of the teapot after the flower arrangement is in, consider adding small pieces of Styrofoam to brace the bottom and sides of the bouquet. This extra Styrofoam will be invisible to the recipient and will prevent the arrangement from knocking around too much inside the teapot.

• Choose next-day delivery when sending flowers. The floral arrangement will begin to wilt if it sits in the box too long, so it is essential to get it to its recipient right away.

References

• Mind Bites: Flower Arrangement: Strawberry Teapot
• Flower Possibilities