Not everyone digs flowers, but if you're getting ready to bestow a bouquet upon someone you know adores them for Valentine's Day, listen up: This flower arranging hack might just be the thing to take your floral gift to the next level. Not only that, but it's super easy, too. Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials, right?
This handy little life hack comes to us from YouTuber DaveHax, whom you might remember from that sneaky pizza-cutting trick we looked at about a month ago. This time, though, he's using his powers for good: Rather than being about stealing extra pizza, this one will help a beautiful bouquet look even prettier. Isn't that nice? It's particularly useful if the only vase you have has an overly wide mouth; it gives the flowers a little something extra to lean against, as well as helping to fill in the extra space. That said, though, you could probably make it work on narrower ones, as well. Either way, it's certainly going to wow your recipient, so go ahead and pat yourself on the back in advance.
Here's the step-by-step in a series of pictures; scroll down to watch the video for the full instructions:
1. Take your vase and fill it with water.
This step should be self-explanatory.
2. Dry off the edges of the vase with a paper towel.
When I say dry, I mean dry — absolutely no water can be clinging to the edges for this trick to work.
3. Grab some clear tape and stick a strip across the top of the vase.
It should lead from one side to the other.
4. Repeat step three a few times until the top of your vase looks something like this:
Depending on the size of your vase, you may end up with a different number of tape strips — but you get the idea.
5. Then do the same thing in the other direction.
At this point, the top of your vase should look like a grid made of tape. See all those holes? Pay attention to those; the next few steps put them to good use.
6. Trim your flower stems to an appropriate length for your vase.
Too long and they'll look weird; too short, and you'll have the same problem. Eyeball it. I have faith in you.
7. Arrange the flowers in the vase, using the holes in your tape grid to support them.
Like so:
The tape helps the flowers stand upright; it also makes the arrangement look fuller.
8. Enjoy!
How about that before and after, eh? How lovely! May you all the most magnificent of Valentine's Days, no matter how you celebrate — or how you don't celebrate. Totally up to you.
Watch the whole video here, and check out more neat-o life hacks over at DaveHax's YouTube channel:
Images: Karim Rezk/Flickr; DaveHax/YouTube (9)
