The Holiday Flowers Report: What People Really Send for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Every holiday season we send tens of thousands of bouquets between mid-November and Christmas Eve, and every year we find ourselves wondering the same things you probably do, like how early everyone else orders and whether we're the only ones who write “miss you” on just about every holiday card. So this year we finally dug into our real Thanksgiving and Christmas orders from 2025 to see when people send holiday flowers, what they choose, who they send them to and what they write on the card, and we're calling it the Farmgirl Flowers Holiday Flowers Report. Wow, did a few of the numbers surprise us!

The short version

Here's what Farmgirl Flowers' 2025 Thanksgiving and Christmas orders showed:

• December 23 was the busiest delivery day of the entire holiday season, with about 9% of all November and December deliveries landing on that one day.
• For Thanksgiving, more people picked the Tuesday before than the Wednesday, and about half of Thanksgiving-week orders were placed three days or less ahead.
• About 43% of Christmas-week orders were placed four to seven days ahead, which makes a week out the sweet spot.
• 55% of Christmas-week bouquets crossed state lines on their way to someone.
• About 60% of people who chose a bouquet size went with Just Right, our second size up.
• “Love” appeared in more than half of holiday card messages, and “Merry” in about 46% of December cards.

When do people send Christmas flowers?

Most people send Christmas flowers to arrive in the last few days before the holiday, and December 23 was our single busiest delivery day of the 2025 season, carrying about 9% of every delivery we made in November and December. Christmas Eve came in at about 3%, so the real rush lands a day earlier than you might think, and if it ever feels like the whole country is sending flowers the same week you are, it kind of is!

Christmas shoppers are also planners, which we love. About 43% of orders delivered December 19–24 were placed four to seven days ahead, another 27% were placed more than a week out, and only about 7% came in a day or less before delivery, so if you're a get-it-done-early person, you're in very good company.

If a specific date matters (and at Christmas, it usually does), check delivery availability with the calendar on each product page before you fall in love with a bouquet.

When do people send Thanksgiving flowers?

Thanksgiving flowers are much more of a last-minute thing. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving was our second-busiest delivery day of the whole season, ahead of the Wednesday, and about half of Thanksgiving-week orders were placed three days or less before delivery. About 1 in 5 came in a day or less ahead, which is basically the floral version of the pre-Thanksgiving Costco run, and honestly, same.

Thanksgiving is also when the most orders head straight back to the buyer's own address. About 19% of Thanksgiving-week orders were delivered to the same address they were billed to, compared with about 12% at Christmas. We'd bet a lot of those ended up as the Thanksgiving centerpiece, and we fully support a little self-gifting.

What are the most popular holiday flowers?

Our most-sent Christmas bouquet in 2025 was Sledder Weather, which showed up in about 27% of Christmas-week orders, followed by Jingle Belle at about 13%, and we're so happy to say our Christmas best-sellers are back this year starting November 15, along with some other great new options. For Thanksgiving, Fall Guy was in more than 1 in 5 orders, and we're so happy to say it's back this fall

And if red and green aren't really their thing, our year-round best-seller Lindy Hop comes in pinks, lavenders and peaches and is available all season long.

And here's one we're really excited about: peonies are back for the holidays right now, which still feels a little bit like magic in December, and it's all thanks to Chile, where the seasons run opposite ours, so their peony season lands right in our late fall. Peonies and hanging amaranth, those long, draping tassels that spill over the side of a bouquet, are two of our most popular flowers this season, and our Little Miss Russet with Peonies bouquet has both. Most people think of peonies as a spring flower, so they make such a fun surprise this time of year, don't you think?

The size question had a really clear answer, too. Of the holiday bouquets that came in sizes, about 60% were Just Right, 17% were Fun Size, 14% were Big Love and 10% were Fancy Pants. So if you're stuck between sizes, the middle one is a pretty safe bet, since that's what most people went with.

And one we're especially proud of: about 1 in 11 Christmas-week orders was our With Heart bouquet for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital®, with $10 from every one going to St. Jude.

Who are people sending holiday flowers to?

Most holiday flowers go to people the sender can't be with. About 55% of Christmas-week orders and 47% of Thanksgiving-week orders were billed in one state and delivered to another, and honestly, that one made us a little teary b/c helping people be there when they can't is our very favorite part of what we do. Flowers are how you show up at the table when you can't actually be at the table.

The cards back that up. About 1 in 20 holiday card messages mentioned missing someone or wishing they could be there, and about 1 in 18 said “thinking of you,” which is a good reminder that the holidays can be hard for a lot of people. If you have someone in your life having a hard first holiday, a few kind words and some flowers really do go a long way.

What do people write on holiday flower cards?

Most people write something, with about 87% of December orders and 78% of Thanksgiving orders including a card message, and those messages are short and so sweet. More than half of them (about 54%) used the word “love” at both holidays, which we think is just the best. In December, about 46% of cards said “Merry” and about 6% went with “Happy Holidays” or “Happy Hanukkah,” while about 28% of Thanksgiving cards said “Happy Thanksgiving.” The average message runs about 115 characters, which is roughly the length of a text to your sister.

Thanksgiving cards are where the thank-yous live. About 23% of Thanksgiving cards said thank you (not counting the word Thanksgiving itself!), compared with about 12% at Christmas, which tells us a lot of hosts are getting some well-deserved appreciation.

If you're staring at a blank card and suddenly can't think of a single thing to say (why is this always so hard?), here are a few you can steal:

• “Wish we were sitting around your table this year. Eat an extra slice of pie for us. Actually, make it two. Sending lots of love!”
• “Thank you for feeding all of us. Again. And somehow making it look effortless, even though we know better. We love you and appreciate you more than you know!”
• “Merry Christmas from way too far away! Wish we could be there in person, but sending all our love instead. Not quite the same, we know.”

For more ideas, our guide to what to write in a birthday card works for just about any occasion.

How to time your holiday flowers this year

For Christmas, order about a week ahead and aim for delivery a few days before the 25th, like most of our customers do. For Thanksgiving, if the flowers are going to a host, the Tuesday before gives them time to settle in before the oven takes over the kitchen. For either holiday, check delivery availability with the calendar on each product page, since popular dates fill up fastest. Our Holiday shop and Thanksgiving shop are both open now, so you can get a head start (and look very organized doing it).

Either way you do it, we'll be here at the Farmquarters cheering on every last box headed out this season, and we can't wait to help you be there, even if it's from a few states away. So which are you, a week-ahead planner or a Tuesday-before sender?

How to keep holiday flowers looking good

To keep holiday flowers looking good through the big day, give the stems a fresh angled trim, put them in clean water with flower food and keep the vase away from heat vents, the fireplace and the oven (which, during the holidays, feels like it's basically everywhere). Our bouquets sometimes arrive in bud on purpose, so ordering a few days early means they're opening up right around the time everyone shows up. Our guide to how to use flower food has the rest, and we promise it's way easier than wrapping presents.

Holiday flowers FAQ

When should I order Christmas flowers?

About a week ahead is the sweet spot. In 2025, about 43% of Farmgirl Flowers' Christmas-week orders were placed four to seven days before delivery, and another 27% were placed more than a week out. Check delivery availability with the calendar on each product page, since the days right before Christmas are the busiest of the year.

Can I get flowers delivered on Christmas Day?

Our last delivery day before Christmas is December 24, so we can't deliver on Christmas Day itself. If you miss the window, you can still pick up our Farmgirl Flowers line on the 25th at select Albertsons family stores, and we promise we won't tell anyone it wasn't the plan all along!

What are the most popular Christmas flowers?

Classic Christmas flowers include red and white roses, amaryllis, paperwhites, poinsettias and evergreen foliage like pine and cedar. At Farmgirl Flowers, our most-sent Christmas bouquet in 2025 was Sledder Weather, which appeared in about 27% of Christmas-week orders.

What are the red Christmas flowers called?

The red Christmas flower most people are thinking of is the poinsettia, and fun fact, those big red “petals” are actually leaves called bracts. Red amaryllis, red roses and bright red ilex berries are the other classic reds you'll see in holiday arrangements.

What flowers make a good Thanksgiving hostess gift?

A Thanksgiving hostess gift works best when it arrives a day or two early and is ready to go, so a vase arrangement saves your host from hunting for a vase mid-gravy. Our Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie! arrangement, which comes in a pumpkin vase they get to keep, is the most popular one this year, and our mum and rose Thanksgiving vase arrangement is a lot like last year's best-seller. Most of our Thanksgiving customers chose delivery on the Tuesday before the holiday.

Why are flowers so expensive?

Flowers are expensive because every single part of getting them to your door costs so much more than it used to, from the flowers themselves to the packaging, the shipping, the marketing and every other cost that comes with running a business. Shipping is a big one for us, and it actually costs more to ship a bouquet than to buy the flowers inside the box. It isn't really about holiday demand, either; it's that everything along the way has gotten more expensive.

Are holiday flowers safe for cats and dogs?

Some are and some aren't. Lilies are highly toxic to cats, and a few holiday plants can upset pets' stomachs, so it's worth checking before you send to a pet household. Our guide to flowers safe for cats and dogs covers the details, straight from the ASPCA list. And if you'd rather skip the guesswork, our pet-friendly flowers and plants were chosen with cats and dogs in mind.

How we pulled this data

This report uses Farmgirl Flowers order data for deliveries during Thanksgiving week (November 20–27, 2025) and the December holidays (December 15–24, 2025), with lead-time figures based on deliveries November 24–27 and December 19–24 and the busiest-day figure based on all November and December 2025 deliveries. It includes web, phone and corporate orders and excludes cancelled, refunded and recurring orders. Card message figures come from an automated keyword analysis of the orders that included a card message (individual cards are never shared), “crossed state lines” means the billing and delivery states differed, and all figures are rounded. Writing about holiday gifting? You're welcome to use any of these numbers, just please link back to this page so your readers can find the full Farmgirl Flowers Holiday Flowers Report.

A note from our founder, Christina Stembel

Fall has always been my favorite season for flowers, but Christmas? Christmas is hands down my favorite time of the entire year.

I think a lot of that goes back to growing up in our old farmhouse in Bremen, Indiana. We didn't have a lot of money, but my parents made the holidays feel pretty magical. In the fall, we'd decorate the house with tall cornstalks, pumpkins and gourds from our garden. And the day after Thanksgiving? Forget Black Friday shopping, that was the day we went full-on decking the halls. Our old farmhouse wasn't anything fancy, but I swear it felt every bit as grand as the houses in the Christmas movies.

My mom would cook and bake for days, making more Christmas cookies than any family could reasonably eat, her famous ribbon Jell-O “salad” (if you grew up in the Midwest, you know) and pretty much every other Midwestern staple you can imagine. My dad would make things for us, like the dollhouse he built for me that my mom painted. They put so much time and love into making the holidays special, and looking back, I don't think I appreciated nearly enough how much effort that took. I just knew that Christmas felt cozy and happy and like the best time of the whole year, and I think I've spent a good part of my adult life trying to recreate that feeling.

Which is a little ironic, considering Christmas is one of the hardest times of the year to be in the flower business. Turns out flowers aren't all that interested in growing in the middle of winter (who knew?), selection is a fraction of what we have the rest of the year, and anything red seems to double in price the minute December rolls around. But somehow, after 16 years, I still love every bit of it, even when we're working late into Christmas Eve and I'm wrapping presents at 1 a.m. on Christmas morning, wondering why, once again, I thought this would be the year I'd have everything done early. I probably don't have to tell you how that works out, but I'm guessing I'm not alone!

And while we're talking about Christmas flowers, I should probably confess that my personal holiday style is a little less traditional than most. Give me all the deep burgundies, moody reds, dusty pinks and browns. Our Little Miss Russet with Peonies is pretty close to my ideal Christmas bouquet. Unfortunately for me, I've spent the better part of 16 years trying to convince everyone else that a slightly moodier Christmas is the way to go, and the people have spoken: traditional red and green wins most of the time. I've finally (mostly) accepted defeat, and I've learned that just because I love something doesn't mean everyone else will, which is a pretty important lesson when your job is designing flowers for other people. So now, before we start designing our holiday collection, I turn on the fireplace (even if it's July), make some peppermint hot cocoa and watch The Family Stone, my favorite Christmas movie, to get myself into the traditional warm-and-cozy holiday spirit. Whatever it takes!

But my favorite part of the holidays, and honestly one of my favorite parts of owning Farmgirl, is getting to send flowers to people I can't be with. My family and closest friends are scattered across Indiana, Oregon, California and the East Coast, and I always spend way too much time picking out what I think each person would love, then writing a card telling them how much I wish I were there instead. Judging by those numbers up above, more than half of you are doing the exact same thing! I know flowers aren't the same as being together, but I like knowing they have something pretty sitting in their home that reminds them they're loved and missed.

I also really love sending flowers to people who aren't expecting them. Sometimes I'll see that someone I haven't talked to in years is going through something hard, and I'll send them a bouquet just because. The holidays can be wonderful, but they can also be really lonely or difficult for so many, and getting to brighten someone's day when they might need it most is genuinely one of the greatest privileges of having a flower company. And you certainly don't need to own one to do that. A phone call, a handwritten note, showing up with a green bean casserole (my mom would approve!), it all counts.

If there's one thing I've learned after 16 years of sending flowers, it's that letting people know they're loved matters, in the good times, the hard times, the holidays and all the ordinary Tuesdays in between. I also think people tend to be just a little kinder to each other around Christmas, and I wish we could figure out how to hang on to more of that the rest of the year. We could certainly use it right now.

And if our house isn't quite as beautifully decorated as I'd planned, Christmas dinner is a little less homemade than the incredible spreads my mom used to make, and I'm still wrapping presents well after midnight, that's okay, too. Because I get to think about all the homes across the country that will have Farmgirl flowers in them on Christmas morning, and all the people who will know that someone, somewhere, was thinking about them. And that really does make the late nights and holiday craziness worth it.

Because when I think back on those Christmases in our old Indiana farmhouse, what I remember most isn't what was under the tree. It's how much love my parents put into everything they did for us, and more than anything, that's what I hope we're helping people send to each other.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and lots of love from all of us at Farmgirl!

xx,

Christina

About the authors: Christina Stembel founded Farmgirl Flowers, a woman-owned, bootstrapped flower company, in 2010, and it's since been featured on TODAY and in Forbes, People and Oprah's The O List. Team Farmgirl is the incredible team that helps her ship millions of bouquets across the lower 48.