Most people buying flowers are not florists. They know the occasion and roughly the budget, and beyond that they are guessing. This guide is the answer to the question we get asked more than any other: what should I actually send?
Anniversaries
Red roses are the obvious answer and there is a reason they are a cliché — for a romantic anniversary they are correct, and a departure from them reads as a message in itself. The variable that matters is not colour but scale. Twelve roses says one thing, fifty says another, and both are right for different couples.
For a milestone — ten years, twenty-five — consider mixing in white lilies or lisianthus. It lifts the arrangement out of the ordinary and away from the bouquet you sent the previous three years.
For an anniversary that is not romantic — a business anniversary, parents’ anniversary — go to mixed brights or soft pastels rather than red, which carries a meaning you may not intend.
Birthdays
Birthdays are the most forgiving occasion. Colour and abundance matter more than variety: gerberas, sunflowers, mixed roses, anything bright. If you know the person’s favourite colour, use it — a birthday bouquet built around someone’s actual taste lands far better than a more expensive arrangement in colours they would never choose.
Pairing is where birthday gifts get better. Flowers with chocolate, a bottle of wine or a teddy for a child turn a delivery into an event.
Condolences and funerals
This is the occasion people most fear getting wrong, so here is the short version: white, cream, soft green, and understatement. White roses, white chrysanthemums, lilies. Avoid bright multicolour arrangements, and avoid red.
Two practical notes for Kenya. First, ask where it should go. Flowers sent to a funeral service and flowers sent to a bereaved family’s home are different arrangements — the first can be larger and more formal, the second should be something that fits on a table in a house that is already full of people. Second, timing matters more than size. Flowers that arrive during the days when the family is receiving visitors are worth more than a grander arrangement that arrives after everyone has gone home.
On the card, short is better. “Thinking of you” and your name is enough. People reach for elaborate wording and it rarely improves the message.
A new baby
Soft, light, and small enough to fit in a hospital room or on a crowded shelf at home. Pastel roses, gypsophila, alstroemeria. Skip anything with a heavy scent — a strong fragrance in a small room with a newborn and an exhausted mother is not a kindness.
Consider sending to the home a week later rather than to the hospital. Everyone sends flowers in the first three days. Almost nobody sends them on day ten, when the visitors have stopped coming and it is quiet.
Congratulations — a promotion, a graduation, a new business
Bright and confident. Sunflowers are unbeatable here; they look like the emotion. Yellow and orange roses, gerberas, mixed brights.
If it is going to an office, size it for a desk. A magnificent arrangement that the recipient cannot fit anywhere becomes an awkward object they have to deal with in front of colleagues.
An apology
White roses, or the recipient’s favourite flower if you know it. Modest rather than enormous — a vast bouquet after an argument can read as an attempt to buy your way out.
The flowers are not the apology. The card is. Write the actual words.
Corporate and client gifts
Structured, neutral, and tidy: white and green, or a single-colour arrangement. Nothing that could be read as romantic. A hamper often works better than flowers for a client — it can be shared around an office, which multiplies the goodwill.
Three rules that apply to everything
- Red means romance. In almost every context. Do not send red roses to a colleague, a boss or a friend’s mother unless you have thought hard about it.
- The card is the gift. Flowers fade in a week; people keep the card for years. Spend more time on the message than on choosing between two similar bouquets.
- When in doubt, ask us. Tell us the occasion, the relationship and the budget. We arrange for these situations every week and we will tell you what works.
Browse the full range, or message us on WhatsApp and describe the occasion — we will suggest two or three options.