Sure, it might be a tad cliche, but 99.99999% of girls still love flowers.

Yes, it is the thought that counts… but it doesn’t hurt to get the rest right, too. So, I am going to share with you some tips on how to get her flowers. I previously mentioned flowers at work as a way to surprise her, but now we’ll go into more detail.

First of all, the kind of flowers

Girls attach invisible messages to many things, flowers included.  For example, it’s often best to avoid red roses unless you want “love” to be the message (similarly, avoid yellow, which is the color of friendship); pinks and purples are often your best bet.  There are many kinds of flowers outside the rose variety, so don’t be afraid to mix it up with lilies, orchids, or daisies.

It is important not to be cheap about it, especially if you’re ordering online. Photos always look bigger and better than what actually shows up. The least expensive arrangement may look decent on your screen, but when it’s sitting in front of her it may not look as good.

In that same vein, when ordering online, you should probably order the deluxe version of the bouquet with whatever the upgraded vase option is. Likely, that is what initially will be shown in the nice photo anyway…

When you get her flowers

As I touched upon before, sending her unexpected flowers is a great way to surprise her. On the contrary, if it’s Valentine’s day she might be expecting flowers, so you might want to put your thinking cap on and decide how you want to handle that. You can be a conformist and send her that dozen, incredibly marked up, roses, or you be unique and do something different and quite possibly better. All I am saying is think about it first.

You’ve got two main choices

1. Depending where you live, you can go to a local florist, or even a deli in some cities, and pickup some pretty nice flowers. This is the quickest option and often will offer the best value for your money (by a long shot, because you won’t pay a marked up price and a bunch of extra fees). However, this only works if you plan to deliver said flowers in the very near future, like that day. Also, although the selection can be good, but it’s nothing like the insane variety of choices available online.
2. If you want to send flowers to her, meaning they’ll be delivered to her by someone other than you, you will need to place an order either with a local florist or online. If you go to a good Florist, at least you’ll get to see a realistic idea of what your girl will be received, as opposed to a potentially misleading photo.

Order carefully online

When buying flowers online, there is a VERY important distinction. Some flowers you order online are then hand-delivered by a flowers, others are sent overnight by UPS or FedEx. The major distinction is that the former are nicely arranged in a vase, and the latter come in a box and you have to do the setup yourself. So, for example, if you’re sending flowers to her office and want it to look impressive, make sure to order flowers that get delivered by a florist. Luckily, the online flower companies have come to understand this is a little confusing, so they try to make it fairly clear which you are buying.

Where should you order from?

Reviewing a bunch of flower companies is beyond the reach of this article, but I’ll point you in a couple directions. Pro-Flowers specializes in flowers through the mail so if you aren’t in a rush, and don’t mind arranging them yourself, they’re a good choice. 1-800-flowers and teleflora focus on florist-delivered flowers (although 1-800-flowers also ships some products). I’ve personally used Pro-Flowers and 1-800-flowers myself. I’ve heard good things about teleflora and plan to try them soon.

My 1-800-flowers experience(s)

I also wanted to briefly share with you a summary of my 1-800-flowers experiences. In the past, I’ve places orders to be delivered in Washington DC, St Louis, and New York. Two orders worked out quite nicely, one was terrible, and one was below average. Luckily for the latter two I got a full and partial refund, respectively. I have to respect them for making the situation right with a refund, but it was still quite embarrassing to have a mess of a bouquet show up at my girlfriend’s parents house.

Anyway, get her flowers and she’ll be gushing to her friends about the guy who sent her flowers. So, you definitely will earn some brownie points.

Ladies, if you have any sage advice to share with us dudes on this topic, do it!