Make your own Corsage and Boutonnière on a Budget!

Corsages and Boutonnières can be pricey. And when you are already spending quite a bit for a wedding, prom, or Daddy Daughter Dance – saving some money on a corsage and Boutonnière can be a big help! Making your own corsage is also great for customizing a particular color or look that you might want. Once I taught myself how to make a corsage and Boutonnière – I have never bought a store bought again. The corsage and Boutonnière I made below cost $6 dollars total – for both!

How to make a corsage and Boutonnière:

Making a Corsage – You will first need to decide if you are looking for a wrist corsage or pin on corsage. You will buy the base for the corsage, and you can find them very cheaply at craft stores or on Amazon. We used this wrist corsage base, and it cost under $3. But there are lots of options online from fancy jewelry corsage bases to simple elastic wrist bands. You will also see corsage pins as well.

Once you have found the base you like, you are ready to decorate it.

1. You will need:

• Bunch of faux flowers or plant leaves (try the dollar store!).
• Floral tape (for Boutonnière only),
• glue gun
• wire snips
• wrist base (for Corsage only)

2. Snip your bunch of faux flowers and plants into individual stems. Move the florets around and see what sizes will work for the wrist you are designing for. We went for one large white rose, and two small white rose buds. I also used a piece of a faux plant for extra interest.

Start by layering leaves on your base, and then adding flower buds in a way that looks pretty from most angles. Decide what the front of your corsage is, and design with buds facing more that direction than any other. Now add smaller plants or baby breath to fill in between the larger buds.

3. Bend prongs on wrist corsage up, to better hold the flowers, and to keep floral pieces from snagging on clothing as the wearer moves their wrist. Make sure to glue any pieces that look loose.

*TIPS*

• Buy a corsage box online or just ask in your local grocery floral department if they have an extra. Many floral departments will give them to you free!
• Faux Flowers are great keepsakes of the event, and in photos look just as beautiful as real flowers! But be sure to look over your corsage and pull off any extra spider web like threads of glue gun. These tiny glue threads can give away the fact that your corsage may not be real!

Making a Boutonnière – this is very similar to making a corsage in the you need to hold pieces of flowers in your hand and move the buds around to see what looks best. However, you will want to keep the stem of your bud short, but still on the flower. Once you like your arraignment, you will wrap the stem with flower tape.

While you can buy pin or magnet Boutonnière starters, you can also just use a straight pin to attach it to the lapel! For our Boutonnière we kept the look simple with a single white rose bud, and a piece of plant branch.

I hope this post convinces you that it’s easy to make your own corsage and Boutonnière. Let your creativity come out! Add rhinestones, colored ribbon, multiple kinds of flowers. The sky is the limit!

Happy Crafting!