Shop ByNeed Help Writing A Gift Card Message?
The card is small and you get 200 characters. That is roughly three sentences. Every example on this page fits, and there is a generator below if you would rather someone else went first.
Say the thing you would say if they were standing there. Then sign it. People forget to sign it.
The 200 Character Rule
Two hundred characters, spaces counted. That is the limit in our checkout and it is the single most useful thing on this page, because almost nobody knows it before they start writing.
The limit is not us being difficult. The card is a physical card, about the size of a business card, and a florist writes your message onto it by hand at the bench. Longer than about three sentences and it stops fitting, or it gets shrunk down to something nobody can read at arm's length in a hospital ward.
Which is fine, because short is better anyway. The flowers are doing most of the talking. The card just needs to say who it is from and why.
Finish your request with the words in 200 characters. Otherwise you will get four beautiful paragraphs and have to cut three of them, which is a worse job than writing it yourself.
The Card Message Generator
Tell it who the flowers are for, what has happened, and roughly how you talk. It will draft something. Then you argue with it until it sounds like you.
What to type in
The more specific you are, the less generic it comes back. Names, ages, what actually happened.
- Help with a card message for my adorable 5-year-old grandson, Jordan.
- Help writing a card message to accompany the get well flowers I'm sending to my friend, Maria. She's got the flu.
- I'm celebrating my 10-year anniversary with my wife, Bella. Help me with a card message. In 200 characters.
- My friend Christine just got a promotion at work, give me 3 card ideas.
- Mark is retiring from work, give me a card message.
- My BFF Sue has moved to Sydney, write an I miss you card.
- Like you are 13 years old, write a card message to my school friend who just had a birthday.
- A Valentine's Day message, in French, for my girlfriend. I'm sending her Valentine's Day flowers.
If the first draft is not right
It rarely is. Type one of these back at it. They all work, and you can stack them.
This is still fairly new technology and it does occasionally fall over. If you get an error message, refresh the browser and it will come back. Or ring us on 1300 360 469 and a person will help you write it, which is how we did it for the first fourteen years.
Messages That Actually Fit
Here are real ones, at the length a real card holds. The number under each is the exact character count, so you can see how much room you have got to work with. Take one and change the names.
Get well
Sue, heard you are stuck in there and hating every minute. The garden has gone feral without you. Take your time anyway. Love from all of us at number 42.
Mum said you are home with the flu. No advice, no fuss, just flowers. Get better whenever you are ready. Tom
Birthday
40 today and they have made you go to work, which is frankly rude. Dinner is booked, the good champagne is hidden, and I love you. See you at six.
Happy 18th Jenny. Ten years of being ridiculous together and now they let you vote. Terrifying. So proud of you. Love Kate
Mother's Day
Mum, thanks for the lifts, the loans, and for never once saying I told you so. You were right every time. Happy Mother's Day. Shaun
Happy Mother's Day Mum. Sorry I am not there this year. Put the kettle on, sit down, and do not touch the washing. Love Tess
Valentine's Day
Ten years in and I would still pick you out of a crowded room. Happy Valentine's Day. B
Not signing this one. You will work it out.
There is a button at our checkout to send no card at all, so the flowers arrive with nothing on them. Valentine's Day is far and away the biggest day for it.
When It Is A Sympathy Card
This is the one people ring us about. It is also the one where the generator is least useful, because the words that come out are the words everybody uses, and that is exactly the problem.
Kingscliff, NSW
You are not going to fix anything with a card, and I think that is the bit that paralyses people. They sit there trying to find the sentence that helps, and there isn't one, so they write nothing, or they write something that sounds like a greeting card wrote it.
Name the person who died. Say one true thing about them. Say you are there. That is it, that is the whole job. "Dean was very good to us and we have not forgotten it" does more than four paragraphs about strength and healing, because it is about him and not about grief in general.
And do not promise to call if you are not going to call. People remember that one.
We were so sorry to hear about Dean. He was very good to us and we have not forgotten it. Thinking of you all this week. The Harpers
No words for this one. Floss was wonderful and we will miss her. We are around any time, any hour. Love Jane and Pete
"May you find comfort as you navigate this difficult time." Nobody has ever said this out loud.
"She is in a better place now." You do not know what they believe.
"Let me know if you need anything." They will not. Say what you will actually do instead.
What Goes Wrong
We have been reading card messages over people's shoulders since 2009. The same four things come up.
No name at the bottom. Comfortably the most common. Flowers turn up, the message is lovely, the recipient has no idea who sent them. Then they ring us and we cannot tell them, because we are not allowed to. Sign it.
The wrong name. Autocorrect, or the wrong Sarah, or a name typed into the wrong field. If you spot it after ordering, ring us straight away. Before the florist writes the card we can change anything. After the van has gone, we cannot.
Jokes that need a face. Something that lands beautifully out loud can read as sarcasm in handwriting on a small card, with no tone and no timing. If you are unsure, read it out flat to yourself. That is how it will arrive.
Writing to the flowers instead of the person. "Hope you like these roses" is a card about a purchase. "Thought of you all week" is a card about them. Only one of those gets kept.
If you want a hand, ring 1300 360 469, Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm. We have helped write a lot of these over the years, including some very hard ones, and we are not precious about it.
Card messages are free with every order and you write yours at the checkout, up to 200 characters. Lily's Florist delivers Australia-wide through a network of over 800 partner florists. Same day when you order before 2pm weekdays. Phone 1300 360 469, or browse all flowers.
