New Mum. Don't Buy Her Flowers

I had an experience this year, where I decided that flowers are the worst gift idea ever. Don't get me wrong I USED to love them. Let me tell you what happened in May of this year. Interflora in their infinite wisdom sent me a text asking if I wanted to repeat an order I'd done last year. I was thrilled, as it was my Mum's 60th, I had no idea what to get her, and it was too late to get something in the post for it to arrive in time. Turned out that they didn't deliver on bank holidays, at all. So, I rung them up and explained that (a) they should have seen that the date they were offering to send for WAS a bank holiday and that (b) perhaps if they are going to send those texts they should send them 4-5 days before the event (or more) so people can plan. I got all excited and spent ages choosing the flowers, before I realised it wouldn't be possible.

I then had the great idea that I could send her a delivery from Tesco.com except that they do not deliver to the Republic of Ireland. Anyway, I rung them up, and spoke to their tech team and a really patient really lovely guy suggested that I sign up as a member of the .ie Tesco. I did, and began choosing.

My Mum LOVES cake, LOVES Bacardi and Coke, and lots of other things. As the total totted up I came up with a superb idea to spend 60 pounds for her 60th birthday.

Anyway, to cut a long story short she adored everything I sent her and as she doesn't have t'internet or computer, she's never shopped online.

A lady driver delivered the items and brought them right through to Mum's kitchen. They got chatting and as the Tesco lady could see how giddy with excitement my Mum was she asked her "is it your birthday?" to which my Mum was thrilled to hear answering "yes". The chatty lady said "more and more people are doing this now" which my Mum loved hearing, as she always likes to know what's going on in the world, and not just current affairs if you get what I mean (she's not nosey, she just likes to be aware of trends - likes and dislikes - not fashion but sometimes that too ha ha).

Anyway, my Mum must have sent me 20 texts that day, as part of a long SMS convo we had, she was so grateful and the goodies lasted way way longer than flowers would have done. My Mum got to have a drink on her birthday, and she was over the moon. Several times since then, I have often thought, flowers don't make the best present, so with that all in mind, I was very intrigued to see THIS on Twitter:

Looking for a gift for a new mum with a difference? Check out @StephieDoug's amazing new business! Fab ideas here http://t.co/twPk76YJbm
— Katie (@hurrahforgin) November 10, 2014

Being that my URL is New Mum, and being that I don't think flowers make the best gift, clearly I was intrigued by this tweet and wasn't disappointed when I went to the website:

They do free deliveries on orders over 50 pounds, and this is what they say:

A thoughtful alternative to flowers

Flowers are a go-to present when someone has a baby. In a survey 97% of mums told us that they received flowers after giving birth. The average number of bunches was four, some got more than ten. Ten! In all likelihood, mum will still get flowers from someone, but with Don’t Buy Her Flowers you can be the person that gives her something special.

Don't Buy Her Flowers is a site worth visiting as there's even a blog over there which makes for a really great read. Put the kettle on and read Sisterhood and all that.

I'll let you in on a secret, I didn't like the flowers that the husband bought me just after Aaron arrived, so that's the other thing with flowers, they're very very personal and you don't want to get it wrong, or spend 50-60 pounds on something that may not be fully appreciated, or that might be the 10th bouquet they've received.

I'd have much rathered one of those lovely ornaments, you know the ones:

So what'd your opinion dear reader? I'd really love to know your experience. What gifts did you receive as a new mum?

Back to Don't Buy Her Flowers, if I wasn't breast feeding, after 9 months of not drinking whilst pregnant, this would be my New Mum gift of choice:

Liska xxx