The details of a holiday event or party can leave your guests feeling special and in-awe of your thoughtfully crafted decor and gifts. This year’s holiday decor and gifting ideas can all be enhanced by carefully-selected holiday colors, centerpiece fillers, and florals selected based on pure meaning alone. Here are three special ideas for how you can dazzle your loved ones in an appropriate way in 2020.

1. Use Burgundy in Decorating Instead of Red 

Burgundy is especially powerful for the holiday season over red. Red has long symbolized love, especially passionate love. Burgundy is supposed to be a deeper love, one that goes beyond words and traditional romance. Its intensity and sense of beyond the ordinary speaks to the season this year. Here are some of our favorite florals that come in burgundy:

Burgundy Amaranthus 

This flower also comes in green and symbolizes everlasting friendship. It is ideal when sharing with life-long friends, siblings, and romantic partners who are consistently there for us when we need them the most.

Burgundy Astrantia 

Meaning strength, courage, and protection, this delicate star-shaped flower is a stunning addition next to mass flowers such as roses and carnations. When gifting astrantias based on their meaning, they’re ideal for anyone who needs a little pick-me-up.

Burgundy Hypernicum Berries

These extraordinary filler flowers symbolize protection, cheerfulness, and inspiration. Their berry clusters at the top of the stem makes them great for adding texture to any arrangement. 

2. Focus on Gratitude the Whole Season 

We usually wrap up the spirit of gratitude and giving on Thanksgiving, which sometimes we only stop to celebrate for a day or two before we move back into the December holidays and their emphasis on joy, cheer and love. This year, turn the whole season to a spirit of gratitude and giving. Here are some ideas for how to continue sharing thankfulness throughout the season:

Example 1

Write thank you cards or emails for all the little things people do for you in the next couple of months. A thank you is one way to express gratitude and to also let someone know what they’ve done for you was especially appreciated. And, when sent as a note in the mail, the recipient will more than likely take this as a positive surprise!

Example 2

Send “just because” letters and gifts. With over-commercialized holiday gifting ideas, it is easier to feel obligated to buy gifts that might not always resonate with our recipients. This year, make gifting an expression of our thoughtfulness. If there is someone you haven’t heard from in a while, send them a little note to let them know you’re thinking about them and hoping the letter finds them safe, healthy, and loved.  

Thank you sign for essential workers on the side of the road in Connecticut 

3. Select a Unique Floral Symbol for a Holiday Season Theme 

Select a flower that represents what this means to you, and include it intentionally in your cards, decorations and maybe even the bottoms of your emails. Share the meaning and set up intentional actions you will take to honor its meaning this season. 

Gift with pink rose theme and handwritten letter

Quotes to inspire your letter and email salutation

Whatever flower you select as your holiday theme, find a quote or fact about that flower that resonates with the actions you are incorporating into your life. Here are some examples we love: 

“Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.”

-Matshona Dhliwayo

"There's Rosemary for you, that's for remembrance! Pray you, love, remember."

-William Shakespeare (Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’)

“Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it's just a daisy in a jelly glass.”

-H. Jackson Brown Jr. 

Carefully selecting colors, flowers, and meanings for this holiday season creates a loving theme you can share with everyone around you. Use it in your professional circle or with your kids and grandkids, especially when the season nears, as a reminder of what this holiday season means to you. It is something special you can carry with you into the new year, or even continue as a ritual every year.  

For our complete holiday list of the best florals for the holidays in 2020, please visit here.