Grave Blankets

[countrypetal]

Is anyone else making these things?? If so what size are you making and what price range are you selling at? please


IF they only knew how bad I hate making these things !!!!!

 

[countrypetal]

I just want to make sure we are in the ball park because people are so cheap here.

Our blankets are at least 6ft long with bows and pine cones. Plus we will deliver. Plus we go the the cemetery and decorate urns etc.. real fun doing that in the cold and trying to find them etc.. lol

and we are in the $40-$50 price range and yes people look twice when we tell them how much.


It doesnt help when I have a chintzy florist near that undercuts - they claim to be able to do a 4ft blanket for $20 and they are selling their fresh pine wreaths for -GET THIS $ 12.00

I hate making these things and trust me i am not going to do them for nothing as this person is. For crying out loud.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

Please "explain".....

a grave blanket, and WHY do them if 1) you dislike them so much, and 2) the other florist is willing to lose on doing them??

 

[BOSS]

Our blankets are at least 6ft long with bows and pine cones. Plus we will deliver.

Start at $75.00 here to $125.00

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

that's a more....

practical range in prices Boss!!

 

[Joe Mioux]

We don't make the grave blankets. I buy the blanket then decorate them. The blankets that I buy have mixed greens in the center and they measure about 4 1/2 feet.

We do about 30 a year and sell them for $50 delivered.

Fifty dollars is the drop dead price. Anything more than that for a standard decorated blanket and sales fall off.

On some more expensive blankets we make a mixed greens spray, and then add poinsettias and deer and doves, etc. Those ussually sell for about $75.00

 

[NavyBrat]

We don't get many requests for grave blankets these days. We purchase them premade and add decorations-usually consists of large vel-pruf bow, pine cones, some holly-$50.00 price range 4 1/2 feet approximate. Delivery charge $10.00 to any gravesite in our town.

 

[flowerknife+us]

If someone has a picture of these grave blankets, I would be interested in seeing what they look like. I have never heard of these in NY, only the times it comes up on these boards every year. Do you only do them during the winter....maybe because we have so much snow it is not done here. We are next door to a very large cemetery and look for new things to introduce. If you have a picture please post. If not can you explain this in a little more detail.

Knife's Wife

 

[BOSS]

No pics... already delivered, may have one later in the week...

Basically:

We buy our "blanks" from a friend of mine that makes these, wreaths, and roping. They start with a 5 inch by 4 foot piece of 1/2" plywood, then a same size piece of 4" think styro is attached.

After which assorted pines (cut from State land up north) are inserted to form the blanket similar to doing a casket spray but to become a shape of 6 feet + long and 2 or so feet wide. We add in Port Orford Cedar, some Silver Fir, #40 Red Velvet bow in the center on a hyacinth stake, with streamers going to both ends and sides. Next hot glue on pine cones, add a few red painted branches, and millimeter balls. And wala....

Some get silk Point blooms added, some get other decor depending on customer requests.

Many of ours are done year after year for the same grave and families. We also do alot of wreaths on Easels for the same purpose, decorated similarly. We only do this for the prices I mentioned earlier. If the customer wants to do them for a lower price I send them to the guy I get my blanks from and they do them much cheaper, (uglier ??)....he delivers a few hundred to the local cemetaries....

HTH

 

[mlou]

If someone has a picture of these grave blankets, I would be interested in seeing what they look like. I have never heard of these in NY, only the times it comes up on these boards every year. Do you only do them during the winter....maybe because we have so much snow it is not done here. We are next door to a very large cemetery and look for new things to introduce. If you have a picture please post. If not can you explain this in a little more detail.

Knife's Wife

Look here...
http://www.christmastraditions.net/grave.html

or this one...
http://www.denverevergreen.com/?page=grave_blankets
.

 

[countrypetal]

the reason I make them is the money ! and why should i let the other person take away my customers ?

I just dont like making them because I have to stand out in the cold !! Not to mention cutting the branches my hand get stiff after making several of them.

But we get a huge truckload of pine greens from the local tree farm and we dont have to order xmas greens for arrangements either. We just pick off of what we have outside.

The arrangements are available through winter we dont stop at the holidays. They stay fresh at least through april .

But - ours turn out nice and full at about 6 ft long, 4ft wide and about 2-3 ft tall all the branches are cascading

We make our own bases that are wrapped with chicken wire and stuffed with straw.

If anyone does want a picture i have several made up . And we do get a lot of return business from the same families every year.

We also make grave pillows which are just a smaller version - they sit up next to the head stone rather than on the grave itself.

and we do the monument arrangements that sit on top of the headstone.

 

[CFD]

We get several orders for the National Cemetary. Most of them are of permanant not real flowers and greens and the diminsion can not be larger than 2x3. We make them on a styro backing just like a spray and use hiacynth sticks to hold them in the ground so the wind wont blow them away. Our customers love them. We also get request for fresh wreaths which obviosly is a no brainer. We offer to email a digital picture to our out of town customers.

 

[countrypetal]

here is an idea since you have to make these so small - for our grave pillows we get patio bricks from the home depot pretty cheap, we glue a piece of styro on it and then tie it down to the brick.

These bricks obviously dont blow away and we dont have to try to stake anything into the ground.

The bricks we get are about a 20in long x 8 in wide - they are a flat brick and are heavy.

 

[Donna]

I have never heard of a grave blanket here, but at family Thanksgiving my husband's aunt from Illinois asked if we were doing a lot. Guess not! Now I find this thread and the link to the family traditions website.

This means a lot to me. My mother died in August after fighting cancer. She worked as a florist for 20 years. The stone is not ready for the cemetary so there is no place for me to put flowers. Now I know what I will do!

Thanks to all for sharing.

 

[NavyBrat]

Donna,
My sympathies for the loss of your mother. My father passed away just over 4 years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't think of my beloved daddy. I hope that fond memories of your mother bring comfort and peace to you this holiday season and always.