How to Spread Happiness One Bouquet at a Time

Yvonne Ashton, Mayesh, Marketing Committee Chair

If you are looking for a movement to support that solely focuses on “spreading happiness and smiles, one flower at a time”, then look no further! It started as a weekly activity for one woman to share flowers from her garden with strangers to help brighten their day. Fast forward a year later to 2013 and Emily Avenson of Fleuropen has launched (inter)National Lonely Bouquet Day to encourage participation from others. I asked Emily how she came up with the name “Lonely Bouquet” and she said, “… I tried to think of something that would appeal to the average passer-by. People often hesitate to take the flowers, and the word ‘lonely’ seemed like something that would trigger an empathetic response and encourage someone to take the flowers home, whether they need them or not.”

So how does one participate? The idea is pretty simple:

• Create a small bouquet
• Put it in some sort of container (recycled/repurposed is great)
• Attach a “Take Me” tag
• Abandon the bouquet somewhere public for an unsuspecting recipient

I reached out to Emily about the growth of the movement because from my viewpoint, it seems to keep on gaining momentum. To validate my feeling, she said:

“Lonely Bouquet Day has most definitely grown since it launched in 2013 with lots of help from flower forums, blogs, gardening organizations, wholesalers (like Mayesh!), local florists and media outlets. Word of the Lonely Bouquet has reached thousands, if not millions worldwide. It's hard to estimate the total number of bouquets that have been abandoned and adopted, but I would put the number in the tens of thousands. For the past three years we have had over 1,000 participants spread flowers on International Lonely Bouquet Day, and many (myself included) continue to leave behind Lonely Bouquets all throughout the year. We also see a surge in activity during holidays like Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc., and most participants put together at least five Lonely Bouquets, which leads me to believe that there are a LOT of bouquets that have been left behind, found, and loved.”

There is one official Lonely Bouquet Day (this year it is Sunday, June 26, 2016), but the idea has morphed from a one day event into a movement that can happen any day of the year (as indicted above). For the past two years, Mayesh has hosted our own Lonely Bouquet design day, where we invite our customers to participate with us. Our customers provide the containers and talent and we provide the flowers and tags. The first year, we sent out over 250 bouquets and the second we were able to help spread over 400 bouquets across the country on a single day. The most rewarding part? Reading all of the messages and seeing all of the pictures posted on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

I asked Emily if she had any other thoughts that she would like to share with WF&FSA and she wanted to emphasize:

So now the question is, are you going to get your company involved with Lonely Bouquet? We would love to hear about your plans! Shoot us an email or leave a comment below.