Gifts in London

Gifts in London: fruit, cakes and balloons to send with flowers

Since 11 November 1974, when the wholesale market left Covent Garden for Nine Elms, London's fruit and flowers have been traded wholesale at one market, New Covent Garden, Britain's largest for fruit, vegetables and flowers. Gifts in London follow the same pairing: a fruit basket, a cake, balloons or a soft toy travel alongside a bouquet or on their own, and the choice comes down to who receives it and how long it needs to last.

Gift delivery in London with a bouquet: one order, one basket

A helium balloon, a box of sweets or a soft toy can go straight into the basket alongside the bouquet, making one order out of what would otherwise be two. The card carrying a short message costs nothing extra, whatever else travels with it.

Flower combos pair a bouquet with a gift already put together, so there's one basket to pick rather than two separate items to match. Choosing gifts in London this way leaves the matching to the florist rather than the sender.

Send two baskets to two addresses, say a desk in the City and a flat in Nine Elms, and delivery is charged for each one separately; a single order only covers a single door. Whatever the basket holds, the courier hands it over in person, card included, rather than leaving it on a step.

Inside the centre, delivery is free; zones and rates further out are on the same page.

A young man walks down Columbia Road in London on a Sunday morning, holding a pastel cake box in both hands in front of him, three foil balloons on a ribbon looped round his wrist, Victorian shopfronts behind — A cake box and a few foil balloons travel together, and the box travels best held flat.

Bento cakes and cupcakes: a short message and someone at home

A bento cake fits in one hand, boxed in cardboard, with a short message piped straight onto the cream for whoever opens the box. Cakes and cupcakes cover both the single bento and a tray of cupcakes meant for sharing round a desk.

The Bento Cake with Zodiac Sign suits a birthday, the inscription swapped for whichever sign fits. A cream cake doesn't keep: left at room temperature for more than two hours it starts to turn, so the time it spends waiting matters more than with most gifts.

Nobody is called ahead of a delivery unless the sender asks for it, but a cake is one of the few gifts worth that call. A text or a ring beforehand is more reliable than a surprise, because it means someone is actually in when the courier arrives rather than a box left to sit.

If nobody answers, the courier waits up to fifteen minutes and tries calling. With the sender's go-ahead the cake can be left with a concierge, at reception or with a neighbour, and the courier reports back exactly who took it in.

Balloons for the City and Canary Wharf: latex for the day, foil for days

The City and Canary Wharf are dense with office towers, and a delivery there usually means reception rather than a desk. Helium balloons come in two kinds that behave quite differently once they arrive.

An untreated latex balloon stays up for about half a day, which suits a party happening that same afternoon. A foil balloon holds its lift for several days, so a foil star or heart can still be sitting on a desk once the celebration itself is over.

An office order needs the company name and the floor rather than a street address. Where a pass is required to get past the lobby, the balloons go through reception instead, and the courier reports who accepted them.

A courier's hands set a weight holding five pastel latex balloons on white ribbons onto an office reception counter, the receptionist's hands reaching for an envelope, faces out of frame — A weight keeps a bunch of latex balloons upright on a reception counter.

Hampers and fruit baskets: fruit for the table, stems for the vase

Fruit and flowers have shared one market since New Covent Garden opened in Nine Elms, and a hamper keeps up that pairing in a single gift. Hampers and fruit baskets are built for a table rather than one person, enough for a family or a small gathering to share out.

Ripening fruit gives off ethylene, which shortens a cut flower's time in the vase, so where a basket and a bouquet arrive together it's worth keeping the fruit away from the flowers once both are home. A fruit basket on its own suits a table with people gathered round it rather than a single recipient.

A bear in a paper bag: soft toys, sweets and a bear of preserved roses

A soft toy needs no water and no box to keep it fresh; it can be handed straight over at the door exactly as it arrives, with nothing left to arrange afterwards.

The Coral Bear Made of Eternal Roses is shaped from preserved roses, which keep their colour and shape for one to three years without any watering. Kept indoors, away from direct sun and away from radiators or a warm windowsill, it outlasts almost anything else on this list.

Belgian Chocolate Lips are made with cocoa butter, which starts to soften between 34 and 38 degrees; a London afternoon rarely gets there, even in July, when daytime temperatures sit around 24 degrees. A pale bloom on the surface of the chocolate afterwards isn't a sign it has gone off.

Many NHS intensive-care wards do not allow live flowers because standing water is not allowed there, a point covered on the flowers in London page; whether a soft toy or balloons would be welcome instead is a question worth putting to the ward directly.

A courier under a black umbrella hands a paper gift bag with a teddy bear peeking out to a smiling woman at a white terrace doorway, a red post box on the wet pavement beside them — A soft toy in a paper bag is handed over at the door just as it is.

For a first run through gifts in London, start with what the moment needs. Soft toys ask for no water or timing at all. Sweet gifts are small enough to tuck in with a card. And for anyone adding something extra to a bouquet already chosen, there are gifts to go with bouquets.