This Discounted Floral Service Is So Easy to Use That I Bought My Mom a Year’s Worth of Flowers

Buying gifts for my mom can be difficult because—lest I sound like a Hallmark movie—nothing feels quite big enough for the hours of love and service she’s devoted to me and my siblings. For Christmas, I discovered a monthly floral delivery service that turned out to be a winner. I’d intended to continue the service for about three months, but ended up stretching it out to over a year because I loved the ritual and her reaction so much. Why shouldn’t I buy my mom flowers all the time?

While it’s undoubtedly lovely to receive flowers on special occasions, 92 percent of women say that the best reason to get a bouquet is “just because,” according to a study conducted by the Society of National Florists. When all the siblings pool together for Mother’s Day or her birthday, my mom is grateful, but not nearly as surprised or happy as when I bring her a small bundle of peonies I tossed in my cart at the grocery store. 

I researched various direct-to-consumer floral deliveries, settling on The Bouqs Co. because I consistently love its farm-fresh offerings—and because it's one of the cheapest options with its subscriber discount. You save up to 30 percent on each bouquet and get free delivery (a $25 value). Á la carte bouquets are also discounted for a limited time ahead of Valentine's Day—save 25 percent with code BOUQSDAY.

In evaluating the Bouqs subscription plan options, I discovered that there are three tiers of bouquets to choose from: the Original (10 to 16 stems for $44), the Deluxe (20 to 32 stems for $56), or the Grand (30 to 45 stems for $69). I chose the Original, figuring that my mom appreciated flowers showing up more so than the size of her delivery. You can also add on one of Bouqs’ signature vases to your shipment.

I was able to adjust the delivery frequency to weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or every other month depending on my preference. I chose monthly, figuring it was frequent enough to shower my mom with love the way she deserves while still allowing me to schedule around her regular travels and commitments. You can also skip your monthly delivery as needed.

Once you select your subscription, you only have to fill in your recipient’s details once. You’ll input your relationship as well (there’s also a self option—rock on!) so the Bouqs algorithm can provide you with the best bouquet suggestions.

Each month, I’d log into the The Bouqs Co. dashboard and evaluate my options. I needed to make any necessary changes within nine days—longer if it was around a holiday—of delivery. First of all, I loved how easy the interface was to use. I could immediately see the delivery date, bouquet selected, address, payment method, and more. I’d click the bouquet selection to change it, and be taken to a page of different floral options with care tips and notes. For example, Bouqs will point out that one bouquet is pet-friendly while another takes one to two days post-delivery for the petals to fully bloom.

The service defaults to “freshest picks” (seasonal selections) as the flower choice so you don’t have to personalize your bouquet, but I enjoyed poking through its rotation and picking the blooms most likely to wow my mom. With each delivery, I learned a little bit more about my mom's preferences—no to baby’s breath, yes to sunflowers, roses in moderation—and felt I could more accurately pinpoint what she’d enjoy. The subscription even gave me access to exclusive seasonal blooms.

The Bouqs deliveries always arrived in a narrow cardboard box from which my mom would retrieve her flowers. They traveled well, including my note and the company's care instructions. The bouquet generally lasted about a week-and-a-half to two weeks depending on the floral selection and season. (My mom is also very good at extending the life of her flowers.)

After the first month’s surprise, I did end up having to coordinate the best dates for deliveries with her. While you’d think that the planning might remove some of the serendipitous magic of the ritual, it doesn’t; my mom knows roughly the window in which the flowers might arrive, but she won’t know what they look like and I can customize a note with each one.

I often considered the best timing in which to optimize her flower enjoyment. For example, when we lost her own mother, I chose a date past when the casseroles and condolence notes had stopped—a day right when the tough cadence of “regular life” would kick in. And since my grandmother’s favorite flower was a yellow rose, I picked a bouquet to honor her. While I hope we don't have similar mourning occasions coming up, the easy navigation of the Bouqs interface helped me to pick the right bouquet for the moment.

The Bouqs Co. delivery service ended up being a bonding experience for us, even from opposite sides of the country, and I appreciated how effortless it was to use. A few months in, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to give my mom flowers—and the subscriber discount sure helped it stay sustainable for my budget. Try out this floral subscription for your loved one today, starting at $44 per bouquet.