Flower Arrangements for Funeral: 3 Epic Ideas (DIY & Cheap)

We all know funeral flowers are a must in funerals, but have you ever thought of making flower arrangements for funeral as a DIY project?

There are several reasons why making flower arrangements for funeral yourself is a great idea:

💐 it’s a thoughtful way of honoring the deceased: while you make the arrangement, you can look back on the time you shared with the person in question

💐 it’s a meaningful, handmade piece you can make at home (as opposed to lying on the coach while scrolling your phone)

💐 you have full control on every choice: you can pick the flowers and colors you like (maybe even the favorite ones of the deceased if you happen to know them), or you can make a simple, less extravagant arrangement

💐 it’s really affordable (even when the outcome is big, bold, and professional-looking!)

If this is something that interests you, read on to see three different examples, lots of pictures, how much money you can save, and have all your other funeral flower questions answered.

How to Make Flower Arrangements for Funeral? (3 Examples)

Below, I’ll show you three different flower arrangements I’ve made: a casket spray (perfect for on top of the casket or laid on the grave), a large, fan-shaped bouquet with layers (no foam or special tools needed), and a winter spray (ideal during the coldest season with least flower options).

When wondering how to make a flower arrangement for a funeral or for a grave, the actual process looks more or less the same:

🌺 1. Buy several types of flowers. (If you want flowers for funeral for cheap, buy from grocery stores instead of flower shops.)

🌺 2. Pick wild flowers if it’s summertime.

🌺 3. Take some leaves and greenery from the plants you already have at home.

🌺 4. Now that you have all the materials, arrange them beautifully (using pictures or videos for reference).

If you don’t have floral foam that allows you to stick flowers into any position you like, your only choice is to tie the bouquet.

The flowers don’t have to be level with each other, so you can tie them individually whenever you want layers.

1. Unique Flower Arrangements for Funeral: Casket Spray

When you’re interested in this kind or similar flower arrangements for funeral, you’ll need:

• floral foam (pictured below)
• store-bought flowers: lilies, roses, chrysanthemums, daisies… any cut flowers you like
• wild flowers and plants: whatever available in your area; I picked burdock leaves, dooryard docks, and cow parsley
• leaves of indoor plants if available: I used Japanese aralia and philodendron leaves

Many wild flowers and plants are considered invasive and nondescript, but when they’re mixed with store-bought flowers and arranged nicely, they actually look really good!

And no one even recognizes they are wild plants.

Here you can see it for yourself:

When making flower arrangements for funeral, you can and even should always use seasonal flowers.

And if you’re wondering what’s seasonal, all the flowers sold near you are seasonal; that’s why you can easily use tulips, for instance, in springtime, but even though they would be fine for funerals all year round, you can’t really find tulips during any other season.

Brighter flower arrangements will never look out of place during spring and summer. During autumn and winter, you’ll automatically find seasonal flowers from stores, and it’s likely they’re not as bright as some options during spring and summer, which once again, is very appropriate for a funeral.

What about that foam for flower arrangements, what is it for and where can you buy it?

Floral foam not only lets you arrange flowers in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, but it also absorbs lots of water, keeping your flowers fresh for longer.

Floral foam is sold in craft stores and is extremely light when dry. When I used it for the first time, I couldn’t get it to absorb any water. That’s because you’re supposed to let the foam soak naturally once it’s placed on top of water:

“The foam will float at first and after a short while will almost fully submerge, changing color to dark green at which point it’s ready to be used.”

You can also pour a packet of flower food into the water if the flowers you bought came with such packets.

2. Funeral Flower Arrangement Ideas: Bouquet with Layers

This is a perfect choice for anyone without floral foam, and can either be:

• laid on the grave as is
• tied to a stand, making it a standing spray
• sent to a grieving family as sympathy flowers

When you don’t have floral foam, your options are limited.

You may find that without a base of any kind, your bouquet looks like any bouquet – beautiful but nothing about it says funeral. That can be totally okay.

But if you feel you want some kind of foundation, on top of which you can start layering the flowers, huge leaves are a great idea. I personally used burdock leaves:

3. Flower Arrangements for Graves: Winter Spray

This functions just as the first option, either as a casket spray or laid on the grave. What separates it from the previous two, however, is the lack of wild plants that are plenty during summertime.

This means you’re limited to store-bought flowers only (and indoor plants if you happen to have them).

Luckily there’s one thing that’s going to elevate the look of your spray to a whole new level and that you can get from nature even during wintertime: twigs! Spruce twigs, to be exact, or pine twigs.

(Just remember you can’t cut twigs off from someone else’s tree without permission, so either have permission, or use ones on your own property, or go find ones that are laying on the ground after a windy storm.)

Twigs not only go hand in hand with winter, making them a perfect choice for the season, but they also give you a really sturdy foundation for all the flowers you’re going to be using.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the most appropriate flower for a funeral?

There isn’t just one option although white lilies are the most commonly used.

Other widely used and “accepted” funeral flowers are roses, iris, calla lilies, chrysanthemums, daisies, orchids, hydrangeas, and peonies.

When asking what flower is appropriate for funeral, most flower shops agree that virtually all cut flowers are suitable.

2. What is the etiquette for funeral flowers?

The etiquette is not as strict as some people think: you definitely don’t have to choose a boring white bouquet (although it’s always the safest choice), but can use any flowers in any colors you want.

You can see this clearly with any funeral flower shops too: there are many colorful options full of life to choose from. Funerals are not just about death and gloom, but for some, a celebration of life and (depending on the religion) about rebirth.

What you want to consider the most is how close you were to the deceased, and whether you want to pay respects to them directly (= get funeral flowers) or more so to their grieving family (= send sympathy flowers to the family).

If you were not that close to the deceased, you don’t want to send/show up with a lavish bouquet that cost a lot more than what the immediate family spent on flowers.

But if you were really close, no amount of flowers is too much. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to invest in an expensive bouquet; a simple flower arrangement for funeral can be very appropriate even from a close family member or a dear friend.

3. How to keep flower arrangements fresh?

Floral foam is your best bet here: it ensures your arrangement stays fresh for the longest possible time. If you make your arrangement the previous night, once it’s finished, you can place it on a plate with water; the foam will absorb even more water during the night.

When making a bouquet without using floral foam, you can keep it in a vase/bucket with water and remove it from water only when you’re about to head out.

Once you have passed on the flowers or laid them on the grave, you no longer have to try to keep them fresh. Flowers that aren’t given water will wilt more quickly than flowers with foam, but as long as your flowers look good during the funeral, it doesn’t matter.

4. How to transport flower arrangements in a car?

Secure your arrangement so that it can’t slide and fall (off the seat), and so that nothing can fall on it. Avoid speeding. In some cases, it would be easiest if one of the passengers could hold the flowers.

We had our flower arrangements in the back of our van, held in place by cooler bags full of funeral foods. Once we dropped off the bags at the venue we had the memorial service in, we had to hold the flowers in our hands till we arrived at the chapel.

Luckily these places were very close to each other, and there were three of us, so the driver didn’t have to hold anything!

5. How much should you spend on funeral flowers?

There’s no amount you should spend, but oftentimes the cheapest bouquets cost between $50 to $80 USD, larger ones between $80 to $170 while the most expensive ones cost more than $200.

But when we’re talking about the price of a DIY flower arrangement, we get drastically different numbers: I paid $33.37 for the chrysanthemums and roses I used in both arrangements (numbers 1 and 2 above), meaning they cost $16.68 each!

6. What flower symbolizes death of a loved one?

Chrysanthemum. It’s the most versatile of all cut flowers: the color, size, number and shape of the flowers can vary so much depending on the variety that you can’t necessarily even tell they’re representatives of the same species.

In some countries chrysanthemums are only associated with death, making them perfect funeral flowers and candidates for planting on graves.

In many other countries, nearly all flowers, chrysanthemums included, have both positive and sorrowful connotations and can be used in wedding flower arrangements, for instance, just as likely as in funeral bouquets.

7. Why are filler flowers necessary for a floral arrangement?

They’re not absolutely necessary if you really want to avoid using them for some reason, but generally you get a more balanced look, and the main flowers really stand out when they don’t have to compete with flowers that are as beautiful/big/colorful as they are.

Also, while you want an abundant-looking arrangement, you don’t want it to look too heavy and stuffed. But you don’t want it to have large gaps either, so it makes sense to fill these gaps with something else than your main flowers.

Using filler flowers also reduces the cost as you’re mostly paying for the main flowers.

Final Thoughts

If you were searching for flower arrangement ideas for funeral, or wondering whether you can make flower arrangements for funeral yourself, I hope this post delivered.

While you by any means don’t have to be a professional florist to achieve a beautiful result, it helps to have an eye for what looks good, and you should have patience and like the process.

After I made a sauna whisk from birch, using a traditional tying method with a withy, I was confident I could make flower arrangements for funeral. And I was right.

Who would’ve thought that tying birch with birch is more difficult than sticking flowers into foam or tying them? So rest assured, if you’re intrigued by DIY flower arrangements, you should give them a go.

Making flower arrangements for funeral can also be meditative and/or part of the grieving process, helping you get through the most chaotic phase.