Its Valentines day and you are visiting your regular flower shop, maybe buying the same flower you bought last year for your partner. As you leave the shop you think to yourself ‘why do I even do this’, ‘why do I do the same thing every year’. Generally, a question that has troubled many people is, “why do we give flowers?”, or more interestingly “ why do we give people flowers, when we know the flowers are going to die soon?”
The first reason why we give flowers, is because we understand the power of giving and how it could make someone happy. When you receive a flower you are not only happy because you have a flower that you did not once have. You are happy because someone was considerate enough to think of you, take time out of their day and choose flowers they think you might like and then present it to you with a smile.
The consideration of the person is the essence of the gift. If you know that someone did not prepare a present for you and later on gifted it to you, you will not cherish the gift as much as if you received it from someone who actually cared. This is the first reason why people gift flowers. We gift flowers because we want to show people that we care.
Another reason why we gift flowers because flowers are a symbol. By gifting flowers we are not only giving them a physical flower, we are giving them an idea, emotion or a feeling. When you love someone you gift them a rose, as the flower rose symbolises love. Calla Lily is a symbol for innocence and purity and hence it is used in weddings, especially in the brides bouquet. Carnations represent a woman's love, beauty and pride and hence it is a norm to gift our mothers carnations on Mother's Day. We gift flowers because we wish to transmit an emotion or idea.
But let's be honest, the main reason why we gift flowers is because everyone else does it : ). The act of gifting flowers is a tradition that was passed down from generation to generation. And when we were young we saw our parents bring flowers to several occasions; weddings, baby showers, funerals and hospital visits. We took this as a social norm and started doing the same. We gift flowers because gifting flowers is a social norm.
Flowers for Everyone has flowers for everyone! Whether its people who want to show that they care, for people who want to symbolise an emotion or for people who want to follow social norms.
