Valentine's Day. The holiday of love. I've always felt Valentine's Day to be a flower holiday. And that has always caused me a bit of trouble, from the time I was old enough to have a boyfriend on Valentine's Day. It's not so much that it caused a problem for me receiving the flowers on that special February day. Certainly not an issue there - I'll take flowers any day of the year without complaint, as I'm sure most women will. The problem arises as rose-day approaches and I begin, yet again, to wonder what to give my significant other on Valentine's Day.
I have tried (and failed) many times to think of a good "manly" Valentine's Day gift. From time to time, I did manage to come up with a good idea or two, while still respecting the flower-ness of the holiday. Candy roses (most often chocolate) were an ok choice. Still better were the cookie bouquets, though even those can seem a bit, well, girly what with the hearts and all. Most often I would opt for the edible flower-type gifts, and that would satisfy my desire to give flowers on the great flower holiday, while attempting to save my husband from endless ridicule from his buddies at work. But I have lately begun to be conscious of health issues, specifically of losing weight, and my husband is attempting (in his own way) to do the same. So of course this year presented an additional challenge to me in my search for the acceptable Valentine's Day gift.
So as I stewed on what I could possibly give my husband that would approach flower-like and yet still not add to his waistline, I happened upon the idea of a necktie bouquet. So I set to finding a good example of how to make such a thing. I'm surprised to say I never did find a single mention of a "necktie bouquet" anywhere on the wide internet, in my hour or so of searching. This is possibly because I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but also possibly because nobody has been desperate enough (as I was this year) for something like this. So no how-to was found. I was left to my own devices.
In spite of the lack of instruction and very small amount of time I had left (I finally came up with this idea the day before Valentine's Day) I did manage to pull off a fairly acceptable version of a bouquet of half-dozen roses, made from neckties. I'm proud to say the whole thing cost me less than $40, about what I would have expected to pay for a decent flower bouquet or even a cookie bouquet. And this will (hopefully) even satisfy my husband's recent desire for new ties for the next several months or so. Dried roses don't hold a candle to a necktie when it comes to usefulness. And of course you can't beat the low-maintenance necktie bouquet - requires no watering or pruning, and never dies. Can be reconstructed at any time, if so desired.
Here is a picture. And of course the color of the "roses" will depend upon the color of the necktie.