The $25 Amazon Find That Made Me an Always-Has-Fresh-Flowers-at-Home Person

published Aug 3, 2023
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Bud vases in sunny window.
Credit: Karen Chen

Is there anything dreamier than a home filled with fresh flowers? Until I’m able to fulfill my calling as a coastal grandma and cut flowers from my own garden, I’m content to pick up a bouquet every now and then when I’m out grocery shopping. For the money ($7 every couple of weeks), I truly feel that scooping up some fresh blooms while running errands is one of the easiest ways to do something for yourself that will spark a bit of joy.

I used to think “the more the merrier, and the bigger the better” when it came to flowers. Often one bunch of flowers from Trader Joe’s (my favorite place to pick up flowers on the reg) would look a little paltry in the vases I had at home. I’d need to buy filler and more than one bouquet to get the flowers to look anything close to those gorgeous, full arrangements you see in flower shops and on Instagram. So buying fresh flowers was more of a special splurge on something that wasn’t essential.

But I recently made a discovery that has changed my whole outlook on having flowers at home: Small bud vases are your friend, and you don’t need a lot of flowers to make a big impact. Large vases, with their gaping mouths, make your flower arrangements look scant and lopsided. You certainly don’t need big vases in a small apartment with limited storage.

I made this game-changing discovery a few months ago when I was hosting a party at a neighborhood bar and was looking for an easy way to dress up the tables. I didn’t want to bring large vases that I’d have to fill with tons of flowers, so to keep costs down I searched for small vases online and found these on Amazon. They ended up being perfect to hold just a few stems each of the peonies, godetia, and freesia I picked up at Trader Joe’s that morning. 

These adorable mini vases come in a set of 10, each with a unique shape and textured pattern that makes them look vintage, like you spent time curating them from various antique stores around New England. They’re available in clear, amber, and light pink, among other hues to suit whatever your decor theme is. 

Best of all, they’re versatile: You could easily use them to decorate a living room or bathroom shelf even when not filled with flowers, or put stems of leaves or eucalyptus in them for more evergreen decor. Or, use them as holders for incense, reed diffusers, or even candlesticks. 

Now, months after the event I initially bought them for, I continue to use them all around my apartment. Instead of putting a full arrangement of flowers in one larger vase, I put a stem or two into several bud vases and place them in various rooms around my apartment. I’ve currently got a centerpiece on my dining table, flowers at my desk to keep me company as I work, a couple stems on the living room side table, and even a bud to spruce up my bathroom vanity. It’s a fresh-flower dream come true — and they all came from one $6 bunch of flowers. No shade to big, beautiful bouquets (one can really never have too many flowers), but this has been much easier on the wallet, as I can usually stretch one bouquet of flowers across four or five different small vases. 

Credit: Karen Chen

For now, it’s become my new home pick-me-up hack. Buy fresh blooms from the market — my current favorites are godetias and ranunculus, but dahlias and roses make lovely filler, too — and divide them among the bud vases to add some brightness to your living space. Best of all, these sweet bud vases have let me make buying fresh flowers a regular habit, rather than just an occasional treat.