For Loved Ones in Brussels

Flowers for family: the bouquet that gets looked at twice

Family is the audience that remembers every previous bouquet. That is the whole difficulty of this section. There are almost no rules about colour or composition here, but there is memory: what you send this year is compared with what you sent last year, not with what anybody else sends.

Sorted by recipient

The list runs by person — mother, father, wife, partner, daughter, sister, grandmother, granddaughter, niece, aunt, godmother, the household as a whole — and it keeps mother-in-law separate on purpose. That is genuinely a different order.

A bouquet for your own mother can be anything, down to a bundle of field daisies wrapped in paper. A bouquet for your partner's mother is safer as a classic in a calm palette: mixed stems, chrysanthemum, roses in pastel shades. One is affection, the other is respect, and they do not look alike.

Flowers for men

Fathers, brothers and husbands receive flowers less often, and the objection is usually to the shape rather than the gesture. What works is structure: straight stems, very little wrapping, foliage used as a real component instead of filler. Iris, anthurium, protea, single-head chrysanthemum, eucalyptus.

What does not work is a pastel cone tied with a bow. The reliable alternative is a wooden crate arrangement or a potted plant — neither needs a vase and neither is finished in a week.

Children

A child's bouquet is sized to the child. Adult proportions cannot be held, and strongly scented flowers with loose pollen are best avoided altogether. Five to seven short stems, or a small basket with a handle, works better than an arrangement that an adult immediately takes over.

The vase problem

Most homes have a vase, but not always the right one. An armful of a hundred stems needs a wide neck and three litres of water; in a standard glass vase it does not stand at all, and the recipient ends up splitting it between jars. If you are unsure, send a boxed arrangement or add a vase to the order.

Delivering to a household

When the address is a family home, someone other than the recipient usually opens the door. Say on the order who may accept the flowers, and keep the card short — one line and a name. A bouquet arriving in Brussels as a surprise should not carry a delivery time on the card, or the recipient spends the day waiting.