Birthday flowers in Melbourne come down to two decisions. What suits the person, and how late you can leave the order. Bright mixed seasonal blooms are the safest choice when you are not sure. Roses suit a partner. A boxed arrangement suits someone with no vase at home. Order before 2:00pm on a weekday and the flowers reach most metropolitan Melbourne addresses that day. Saturday orders close at 10:00am. There is no Sunday delivery, and regional Victoria is next-day as standard.
This is written for the sender. You know whose birthday it is. You are not sure what to send, or how late you can leave it.
The person decides the flowers, not the occasion. A bunch for a partner and a bunch for a colleague do different jobs. The difference shows up in size, colour and price.
For a partner, roses are still the straight answer. Which rose bouquet suits which occasion is set out in its own post.
For a parent, pick stems that keep going on a kitchen bench. Lisianthus is a good example. It has rose-like blooms with ruffled petals, and a vase life of about seven to fourteen days.
For a close friend, go brighter than you would for anyone else. Gerberas are large daisy-shaped flowers in strong colours. They read as celebration from across a room. Bright mixed bouquets, gerberas and sunflowers are the popular birthday choices here.
For a colleague, or someone you do not know well, smaller is better manners. The Sandrine starts at $85.00, the lowest price in the birthday range. It sits on a desk without making an announcement. The Allegra Bouquet, $120.00 to $150.00, is the next step up when a small bunch would look thin.
There is one thing worth knowing if you order from a photograph. Each arrangement is made up on the bench at the shop in Carrum Downs Regional Shopping Centre, on the morning it goes out. The stems are whatever is fresh in the shop that morning. Any substitution is matched for value, colour and style.
Colour is where senders hesitate longest. The useful question is not which shade is having a moment. It is whether this person enjoys being looked at.
Someone who does will love a loud bunch. Strong pinks, oranges and yellows, gerberas, and a mix rather than one variety. Someone who does not will be happier with fewer colours and softer tones. If pink is the direction, the differences between blush, pale pink and hot pink are covered in a separate post. Where colour matters more to you than the variety, say so and ask what has come in fresh.
Same-day delivery has a clock on it. On a weekday that clock stops at 2:00pm. Order before then and the flowers reach most metropolitan Melbourne addresses the same day. Order after it and they go the next working day.
Saturday works differently. The cut-off is 10:00am for same-day Saturday delivery, and there is no Sunday delivery at all. A Saturday afternoon order is a Monday delivery. So a Sunday birthday means delivering on the Saturday, with the order in before 10:00am.
Deliveries generally run between 9:00am and 5:00pm. You can ask for the morning or the afternoon. A two-hour window costs an extra $15.00. Regional Victoria is next-day as standard, and timing for remote spots is confirmed when you order.
Fees go by distance. It is $20.00 in Carrum Downs, $24.95 to local suburbs and $44.95 within 20km. The rest of Victoria is $79.95, and remote areas are quoted over the phone. Same-day delivery adds $5.00 and Saturday delivery adds $10.00. The delivery fees and cut-offs are published in full. Peak weeks such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day can close earlier.
An address outside Victoria is a phone call, not an online order. The shop belongs to the Interflora and Petals networks and arranges interstate deliveries that way.
A gift that turns up the day after a birthday is the one nobody forgets. The cut-off is the whole of the difference.
The birthday version of this question is narrow. Will the person be at that address during the day? Will they have to carry the flowers somewhere afterwards?
A workplace delivery has a second leg to it. Whatever arrives has to get home on a train, a tram or a back seat, usually at peak hour. Something compact travels better than something tall.
If the work address is all you have, put a current mobile number on the order. Deliveries to a business go to reception during business hours, and that number is the one used if the flowers cannot be handed over. Timing a surprise, and what to write when you are not signing your own name, are both covered by the etiquette of a surprise delivery.
A florist’s card is small. Around twenty words is the working limit, so the message has to land quickly. These are a starting point rather than a script:
Sign it with your full name if the person may not place you from a first name.
At a milestone, what changes is scale and where the flowers end up. The choice of flower changes less. A larger arrangement needs a spot picked out for it. A hall table, a bench, or a place beside a doorway where it is seen and not in the way.
If the flowers have to travel to a party, send something that stands up by itself. Anything in a vase or a box arrives ready and needs nothing done at the other end. The Peach Pretties, published at $150.00 to $350.00, sits at the larger end of the birthday range.
Cut stems are not always the right call. For someone being given flowers by several people that week, a potted plant lasts past the weekend. Gift hampers, balloons, potted plants and an arrangement in the recipient’s own vase are all offered alongside the bouquets.
If your question is how many stems to send, that has an answer of its own. It is not tied to the age on the cake.
Weekday orders close at 2:00pm and Saturday orders close at 10:00am. Anything later goes out on the next working day. Sunday is not a delivery day.
There is no correct figure. The published birthday range runs from $85.00 up to $350.00. The size you pick within one arrangement’s range moves the price more than changing arrangement does.
Yes, by phone. Interstate orders go through the Interflora and Petals networks. They are arranged with the shop directly rather than placed online.
Give a colour and a feeling instead of a variety, and let the florist choose on the morning. Anything swapped out is replaced with something of equal or greater value, in a similar colour and style.
One last piece of timing catches people out. The shop trades on Sunday, from 9:00am to 4:00pm, although no deliveries run that day. A Sunday birthday can still be covered in person if you are willing to collect.
Otherwise the rule is simple. Order before 2:00pm on a weekday for same-day delivery across most of metropolitan Melbourne. Have a look at the birthday flowers page for what is in the range. If the birthday is tomorrow and the address is three hours out of town, ring Tranquil Blooms on (03) 9782 0077 and sort it out on the phone.
