Create the Perfect Display for Your Flowers—Bottle Them In Baby Oil

Buying or growing flowers, cutting their stems, and carefully arranging them in a vase is a time-old tradition that hasn’t experienced much of a transformation throughout generations. And there's a reason behind that—flowers and vases are a classic combination. But if you’re looking for a way to spruce up your arrangements that keeps them bright and lively for longer than a week, a new hack from TikTok has you covered: Bottling them in baby oil.

All you'll need for this viral trick is baby oil, an empty bottle you love, something to place the flowers into the bottle—think a chopstick or wooden skewer—and your flowers, with the stems cut extra short. The final product gets you a gorgeous display of colorful flowers suspended within the clear glass.

“Looking for a fun way to display your flowers? I got you,” TikTok creator @gardengalugc said in a video while taking viewers through exactly how to create the vessel. In the TikTok, which currently has nearly 240,000 views, she explains that oil makes the best option because it’s clear, has a lot of glycerol, and won’t strip the color from your flowers.

“Simply stuff [the flowers] all in layer by layer,” she explained. “I’ve used a chopstick to push all my flowers down, and you just keep going around and around and around until you have them placed exactly where you want them.”

She slowly adds flowers and baby oil to her jar, turning it around as she goes to ensure the flowers are visible from every angle. Because this process can create “a bit of a mess,” the creator recommends putting a cloth underneath the glass to catch any dripping oil. She also said light-colored flowers might look transparent when surrounded by baby oil, so the brighter the flowers are, the better.

If you're a pet owner, this technique is definitely worth trying: "oh this is perfect," one user commented. "my cat eats all my flowers and most of what's in my garden is toxic."

In response to a comment about reusing the oil, @gardengalugc said the arrangement should last about a year before you’ll need to refresh it by sifting out the old oil, picking some new flowers, and doing it all over again.