We hosted a flower arranging party, and because it was a huge hit, we’re sharing the details with you! This party is so easy to host, low in effort but BIG in FUN! And all of your guests leave with the best party favor — a gorgeous flower arrangement to keep or gift! So grab a friend (hosting as a team is so much easier and more fun!) and let us help you get started.
When hosting with a friend, you can easily divide up the tasks detailed in our handy party planning check list below. One person is in charge of ordering supplies (oh hey Amazon, thanks for making this a one-stop shop!), one can plan the menu (divide the cooking — if you follow our menu everything can be purchased or done the day before) and someone does the invite.
Getting Started: The Invitations
Paperless Post to the rescue with the cutest, on-theme invitations! They have all sorts of Rifle Paper floral invites perfect for a “modern garden party.” Send your invitations about 3-4 weeks in advance, and be sure to include a note for each guest to bring a bouquet of flowers.
With Paperless Post, you can also send a reminder a few days before the party to let your friends know you can’t wait to see them (with another helpful reminder to bring some flowers).
Party Planning Checklist
Here at Style Among Friends we LOVE a checklist, especially when someone makes it for us! Checklists ensure that there will be no major hiccups and no fire drills the day of your event. Stress free party planning!
What You’ll Need for Your Flower Arranging Party
Gathering your supplies is easy when everything you need can be found on Amazon! We’re sharing all our links below. Pro tip: We found our vases at the dollar store, but if your local store doesn’t have any, you can definitely order them on Amazon.
- Invitations – send them about 4 weeks in advance (try Paperlesspost.com)
- Ask each guest to bring a grocery store bouquet of flowers
- Vases – one per guest; you can get mason jars from Amazon or inexpensive vases from Dollar Tree
- Several large buckets for the flowers
- Assorted ribbon – to tie around the vases
- Floral Shears/Scissors
- Roll of brown kraft paper – makes cleanup easier!
- Food – keep it simple with a dessert bar, like “make-your-own strawberry shortcake”
- Drinks – plenty of wine, of course, and an assortment of non-alcoholic drinks
- Plates/napkins/forks/cups
SHOP FOR YOUR FLOWER ARRANGING PARTY
What to Serve for Your Flower Arranging Party
You know by now that we like to keep our entertaining simple…including what we serve. And this dessert buffet doesn’t get any easier. You can do everything ahead of time (or purchase at the store) and it’s so delicious. We served a dessert bar with shortcake biscuits and brownies, plus mixed berries and homemade whip cream to top them off. Best part, a sweet treat that accommodates all preferences and diets.
We’re sharing Megan’s biscuit recipe at the end.
Remember, ladies, there’s no shame in boxed brownie mix — especially if you chose what we consider to be the best one, Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate! You could also pick up brownies and shortcake at the local bakery.
And have plenty of wine, of course…variety is the spice of life. We also offered a variety of soda (Diet Coke!) and seltzers.
What to Wear
Dresses are perfect for entertaining. We chose to wear florals because, well, at SAF we kinda love a theme. But any dress will do. We’re sharing a few of our favorites here — bright colors, florals, and of course, summer white!
Setting Up Your Flower Arranging Party
Before guests arrive, arrange everything you’ll need for flower arranging on a large table. Pro tip: The butcher block paper made cleaning up all the cut stems and leaves a breeze! Pre-fill all your vases half full with water and fill your buckets, too.
Don’t Forget the Music!
Don’t forget an on-theme playlist for the occasion…flower songs, of course!
Have Fun!
When guests arrive, have them unwrap and add their flowers to the large buckets.
Save the “flower food” packets to use in your vases.
Start arranging!
We moved the ribbon and had a second “finishing” area for ribbon tying…
Even we were stunned at the magnificence that was created from some basic grocery store bouquets.
One More Idea…
Several guests planned to gift their arrangements to a parent or neighbor. We thought that was a great idea! In fact, next time we host this party, we’re planning to bring all of our finished arrangements to a local retirement center or nursing home for others to enjoy! Buy extra vases to make extra arrangements — you’ll end up with leftover flowers to use so you’ll have more arrangements to give away!
Be sure to tag us (#styleamongfriends and #friendssharethegoodstuff) with your party pics!
A Little More Party Inspiration…
For more inspiration, check out this post with more flower arranging party tips.
And check out this post to plan a Care Package Party with your friends.
Biscuit Recipe
www.StyleAmongFriends.com
Equipment
- pastry cutter
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp sugar *if making dessert biscuits, sprinkle extra sugar on the tops.
- 1 tspn salt *less if using salted butter
- 6 tbsp butter *cold! Irish butter is the best
- 1 cup whole milk *cold
Instructions
- mix dry ingredients in a bowl
- add cold butter butter cut into small chunks
- use pastry cutter or wooden spoon to mix until combined (there will be small chunks of butter and that's ok)
- add milk and stir until shaggy
- sprinkle extra flour on surface and fold dough out, press and fold over, press and fold over for layered biscuits
- cover with saran wrap and let rest for 20 min
- use a drinking glass to cut circles in dough, DO NOT TWIST this seals the edges and prevents the biscuits from popping up when cooking
- put biscuits on a parchment lined cookie sheet
- bake at 425 for 10-12 min.
Notes
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Very nice! Love the ribbon to accent the vase …and great idea about giving the arrangements to a retirement community/nursing home down the road.
Kudos to you both for hosting!
Thanks!!