Buying Flowers – Grocery Store Pickup or Florist Delivery?

Another question in the spirit of giving!  Nice to see so many generous readers here at Ask a Woman.

So, fun fact about me: I nearly became a statistician for the U.S. Census Bureau.  So many days I dream of what could have been–me and a Texas Instrument graphing calculator alone in a cubicle, the fluorescent lighting casting a chartreuse glow over everything, my rear shaping itself in the flat mold of my hard, plastic chair.  Sigh…  This is relevant here only because somehow I ended up with numbers and equations in my answer below.  Just go with it, mm-kay?  There are four considerations:

1. flowers for big, special occasions–birthday, anniversary
2. flowers for no reason
3. flowers for someone you’re dating
4. flowers for your spouse or long-term partner.

Let’s do some math!

1 + 3 = delivery from the florist. It’s a romantic gesture; all her coworkers will see it; her affection for you will grow every time she looks over at the vase.

2 + 4 = grocery store flowers. Forgive me, but by the time you get married, routinely spending $50-$100 on a bouquet and delivery seems a bit foolish.  I am NOT saying that romance dies with the marriage vow, only that with marriage comes a certain amount of practicality.  Plus, there is something lovely about coming back to the home you share, after a long day at work, to find your handsome man clutching a bouquet of flowers–it’s intimate and touching in a way that a public delivery is not.

1 + 4 = could go either way. The occasion could warrant more expensive flowers, but it’s not a given.

2 + 3 = could go either way. I fully endorse being yourself when you’re getting to know someone, but there is a certain amount of impressing that goes on when you are wooing someone.  She shaves her legs on a more frequent basis than later on; you remember to put on cologne on a more frequent basis than later on, that sort of thing.  So you might choose to have them delivered, but it certainly wouldn’t be a faux pas to bring them home to her.

3 + 4 = you evil, two-timin’ snake. No advice for you!

Let me also say that grocery store flowers can be just as beautiful and last just as long as flower shop flowers.  Sure, from time to time, you’ll happen upon a crummy grocery store bouquet and within two days those things will be brown and wilting.  But I bet you can find a store in your area whose reasonably-priced flowers you can trust.

Next week: SAT analogies.