Sending sympathy flowers is a symbolic gesture that’s been around for thousands of years.

But after the funeral, families sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do with all of the arrangements. Especially when they have to focus on other tasks, such as writing and sending out thank-you notes.

Sometimes, families will request “in lieu of flowers” or “please omit flowers” simply because they don’t know what to do with all of them. Here’s one way to give beautiful floral arrangements a new purpose, all while brightening someone else’s day.

Random Acts of Flowers

Random Acts of Flowers is an organization that helps recycle flowers into new bouquets for healthcare facilities across the country. According to their site, the company’s mission is to “bring moments of kindness in the form of a beautiful floral bouquet.”

Many times, these floral donations go to those who haven’t received any visits or gifts while in the hospital, hospice care, or nursing home. And studies have found these donations have an extremely positive impact on improving the patient’s emotional well-being.

Random Acts of Flowers’ story began back in 2007 when founder Larsen Jay was in a near-fatal accident. While recovering in the hospital, Jay received dozens of floral arrangements from friends and family to help lift his spirits and to show their support during the multiple surgeries needed to recover.

It was during this time that Jay “noticed how many of his fellow patients did not have visitors or flowers — the very thing that helped him so much in those early and difficult days. The first ‘Random Act of Flowers’ delivery was made moments later as Larsen repurposed his flowers and delivered them from his wheelchair.”

Since then, the organization has helped repurpose and donate more than 200,000 bouquets.

Partnership with Funeral Homes

Since the beginning, Random Acts of Flowers has partnered with funeral homes across the country. Together, funeral homes and Random Acts of Flowers have worked to:

• Repurpose and donate the baskets, vases, sprays, stands, and flowers to area hospitals and senior centers.
• Bring peace of mind to families, knowing their floral arrangements have gone on to brighten the lives of those in their community.
• Honor the memory of a family’s loved one, and at no extra cost. Random Acts of flowers picks up and delivers the flowers for free, and even acknowledges the donation was made in memory of the family’s loved one.
• Help reduce the cost of waste disposal of flowers.

To learn more about how your funeral home can partner with Random Acts of Flowers, click here.

Other Ways to Reuse Flowers

There are other ways you can encourage families to use and repurpose their memorial flowers. Below are some ideas:

• Construct a dried flower shadowbox.
• Create potpourri from memorial flowers.
• Create pressed flower mementos, such as bookmarks or frame-pressed memorials.
• Turn flowers into memorial jewelry.
• Check out our articles on what to do with sympathy flowers after a funeral and how to make the most of your funeral flowers for even more inspiration and ideas!

What does your funeral home do with extra flowers? Share with us in the comments below!