I love giving flowers for birthday gifts, hostess gifts, or just a general pick-me-up for a friend who is going through a tough time. One of my favorite hacks is elevating a grocery-store flower bouquet with a vase purchased for a few dollars at Goodwill.

Finding a pretty vase at Goodwill is so easy. People always seem to have extra vases around to donate,e and the shelves are usually full.

Wait. Come to think of it, I always have extra vases around to donate. to Goodwill.

My friends probably do too.

I stand by my opinion that thrifting vases at Goodwill is more sustainable and affordable than purchasing new ones.

But what if you used a container that did double-duty so you could use it again and again for more than just holding flowers?

Here’s an even more sustainable—and more creative—way to gift a bouquet of grocery store flowers than sticking them in an ordinary vase.

I got this idea on a recent visit to Goodwill. They had a colorful Happy Birthday vase from an online florist that I think is more fun than a generic glass vase. In fact, I’ve purchased this exact Happy Birthday vase at Goodwill before, filled it with fresh flowers, and given it as a birthday gift. At first, I was really excited to find another one and was thinking about whose birthday was coming up so I could give it to them.

Then the “before shot” I took gave me a new idea.

What if instead of purchasing a vase, I used a cute coffee mug instead?

Coffee mugs are also easy to find at Goodwill, and there’s such a wide range of options. You can thoughtfully choose a mug to match the occasion, your friend’s interests, occupation or personality. And they can be reused for coffee, tea or hot chocolate after the flowers fade. 

Here are just a few of the fun coffee mugs I found at Goodwill that day:

I realized that arranging flowers into the coffee mug took a little more care than plopping them into a vase. For starters, a mug is much shorter than a vase so the stems need to be cut more. On my first attempt, I cut the stems too long, still too long, then—oops!—too short. Then I got the length right, but the stems kept falling out of place.

An easy solution is to use a twist-tie or a rubberband to hold the stems in place. Do this first and you can cut all of the stems at once to ensure they are uniform and fit into the mug.

The bouquet I bought in December featured red, green and white blooms. I tried to mix them together at first, before deciding that my little mug looked better with flowers all the same color. I used the white daisies. 

I still had a lot of flowers from the bouquet left. Next time I fill a mug for a friend, I will choose a smaller bunch of flowers knowing they will all fit nicely.

My leftover flowers did not go to waste. I had purchased the Happy Birthday vase (along with the mug) because i thought it would be a fun decoration for birthday parties at my house. And guess whose birthday is coming up this month? Mine! 

So I made another flower arrangement … for me.

I love it!