Can You Give a Lily Bouquet for a Birthday? Color Meanings, Stems per Bunch and Ho Chi Minh City Prices (2026)

Yes, you can give a lily bouquet for a birthday. Pink or yellow lilies, or a bouquet that mixes lilies with other flowers, suit birthdays, graduations and gifts for mom very well. A bouquet made only of white lilies, though, can be read as a sympathy flower in Vietnam, and it is best not to send lilies to a home with cats. In this post I check four common misunderstandings about lilies one by one, and I have also put together the list prices of Hamy Flore’s 12 lily products (as of October 31, 2026).

Are lilies funeral flowers, so you shouldn’t give them for a birthday?

You can give lilies as a birthday gift. The problem is not the lily itself but a bouquet made only of white. Vietnamese articles about flowers also recommend lilies for birthdays, with the condition that you don’t use white alone.

White lilies are known as a bride’s wedding bouquet and as the flower of the Virgin Mary. But the same white lilies are also often used in funeral wreaths and on altars, so an all-white bouquet can make the person receiving it feel a mood of remembrance. In Western countries, too, white lilies are a flower that brings funerals to mind. That is why Hamy’s post on flower-gifting etiquette in Vietnam also advises avoiding all-white flowers, white lilies included, for celebrations.

When giving lilies for a birthday, choosing like this will put your mind at ease. For birthday flower combinations by recipient, see our Birthday Bouquet Guide — Choosing by Flower, Color, and Birth Flower.

Occasion	A safe choice	Better to avoid
Birthday, mom	Mainly pink lilies, mixed with roses or carnations	A bouquet of white lilies only
Graduation	Yellow or pink lilies with the anthers removed	Flowers with the pollen still on
Shop opening, promotion	Yellow lilies, a brightly colored basket	Arrangements mostly of white and chrysanthemums
Condolences	White lilies, white chrysanthemums	Bright colors like pink or red

The same flower can carry a different meaning depending on its color and the occasion. The lily is a classic example. Just by changing the color, it can become a flower of celebration or a flower of remembrance.

What does each lily color mean?

Many articles agree that white lilies mean purity and respect, pink lilies mean tenderness and gratitude, and yellow lilies mean joy and thanks. Few sources cover orange and red, so please treat those as reference only.

Color	Widely accepted meaning	Good occasions
White	Purity, nobility, respect	Weddings, an elder you respect, condolences
Pink	Tenderness, gratitude, femininity	Birthdays, mom, Women’s Day
Yellow	Joy, gratitude, warmth	Shop openings, promotions, friends
Orange	Energy, confidence (few sources mention it)	Congratulations on passing an exam or a success
Red	Passionate love (few sources mention it)	Partner

Double lilies (ly kép in Vietnamese) have many layers of petals, so they look lavish, which makes them especially popular at Tết. Still, double lilies have no fixed meaning of their own. A few articles attach meanings to them, but the basis is weak, so I have left those out of this post.

Is it bad luck to give lilies at Tết because of “chia ly”?

Giving lilies or displaying them at home during Tết is very common. At Tết 2026, double lilies were so popular that, according to Người Quan Sát, on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month (two days before Tết) at Quảng Bá flower market in Hanoi, one buyer said double lilies had reached about 1,200,000 VND for 10 stems, while a week earlier some varieties were only about 800,000 VND.

There is, however, a folk belief that because “ly” sounds the same as “chia ly”, which means parting, some families do not place lilies on the altar in the first days of the new year. How strictly this is followed differs from family to family. If the flowers are for the altar in a Vietnamese friend’s home, the surest way is to ask an elder in that family first.

If the flowers are for decorating a living room or office, or a bouquet handed over as a gift, you don’t need to worry. For a Tết gift, yellow lilies, which mean joy, or pink lilies are a safe choice.

How many stems are in a bunch of lilies?

At flower markets, a bunch of lilies is usually 10 stems (10 cành, cành meaning stem). Vietnamese newspapers also keep using the unit “a bunch of 10 stems” when they report market prices. In Lâm Đồng, where the flowers are grown, they are also sold in lots of 5 stems.

Here is something that confuses many people. One lily stem (cành) carries 3 to 5 flowers and buds (called tai in Vietnamese). So a bunch of 10 stems has roughly 30 to 50 flowers and buds. If you judge fullness by the number of stems, as you would with roses, a lily bouquet is much bigger than you might think.

How full a bouquet looks depends more on the number of open flowers than on the number of stems. If you want the person to see the flowers in full bloom on the day they receive them, please ask for stems with more open flowers than buds.

How much is a lily bouquet in Ho Chi Minh City?

Lily prices vary a lot depending on the grade and the season. According to a Thanh Tra report (February 2024), around Tết, farm-gate prices in Lâm Đồng for a lot of 5 stems were 200,000 to 300,000 VND for double lilies, 150,000 to 180,000 VND for first-grade lilies (5 tai, meaning 5 flowers per stem) and 80,000 to 100,000 VND for regular lilies. In other words, double lilies cost 2 to 3 times as much as regular lilies.

Hamy Flore has 12 lily products. When I grouped the products that include lilies by type, they divided up like this. These are list prices as of October 31, 2026. A 10% sale on all products is running right now, so the product pages currently show prices about 10% lower than the table.

Type	Number of products	List price
Small single-color lily bouquet (yellow, pink)	2	400,000 VND
Lily bouquet mixed with roses, carnations and other flowers	7	1,000,000 VND
Large pastel mixed lily bouquet	1	2,000,000 VND
Lily basket (pink, white)	2	2,000,000 VND
All	12	400,000 to 2,000,000 VND

The 200,000 VND “Pink Lily Bouquet” on the product pages is made with whatever flowers are in season, so I left it out of this table. If you would like to see the real thing, take a look at the Pink Lily Lace Bouquet or the Pink Lily Grand Bouquet.

7 of the 12 products are 1,000,000 VND. Because one lily stem carries several flowers, the lilies hold the center of the bouquet even when mixed with other flowers. On days when demand for flowers peaks, such as just before Tết or on Women’s Day, flower prices can rise and the arrangement may change, so please check the product page once more before ordering.

Can you give lilies as a graduation gift?

Lilies make a lovely graduation gift. Yellow carries joy, pink carries congratulations and thanks, and because lilies are tall flowers, they stand out nicely in graduation photos.

There is just one thing to keep in mind. If the anthers of a lily (the brown clumps of pollen at the tips of the stamens) touch a graduation gown or a white blouse, they leave an orange stain. For a graduation bouquet, please ask the florist to remove the anthers in advance.

If pollen does get on clothing, please don’t rub it with your fingers. Mississippi State University’s horticulture publication explains that the oils on your skin push the stain in deeper. It recommends letting it dry in the sun and then brushing it off with a soft brush.

How do you keep lilies fresh longer in a vase?

Lilies last longer if you remove the anthers early and change the water often. According to the Mississippi State University publication, once the flowers are pollinated, a gas that ages flowers increases and they wilt faster. It is best to remove the anthers just as the flower opens, before the pollen dries.

From the day you receive them, please do the following.

1. As each flower opens, wrap the anthers in a tissue and gently pull them off.
2. Cut the stem ends at an angle and put them in water right away, removing any leaves that sit below the waterline.
3. Change the water every day, and trim the stems a little each time you do.
4. Pick off faded flowers right away so the remaining buds open better.

If you buy lilies yourself at a market, be careful with lilies that have been kept in cold storage. According to a Tuổi Trẻ report (2017), regular lilies usually last 10 to 15 days, but lilies kept in a refrigerator for a long time lasted only 4 to 5 days, and their buds did not open well.

Is it safe to send lilies to a home with cats?

Please don’t send lilies to a home with cats. The same goes for the white trumpet lilies that bloom in Hanoi in April (Lilium longiflorum, also known as Easter lilies), because they are true lilies too. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises that lilies (Lilium) and daylilies (Hemerocallis) are toxic to cats, including the flowers, leaves, stems, pollen and even the water in the vase. Eating even a small amount can damage a cat’s kidneys within 24 to 72 hours.

If you think a cat has eaten a lily or licked its pollen, take it to a vet right away, even if there are no symptoms. If treatment is delayed, the damage is said to be hard to reverse.

On the other hand, some flowers have “lily” in their name but are not true lilies. According to the FDA, calla lilies, peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) and Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria) do not cause kidney failure the way true lilies do. Calla lilies and peace lilies can still irritate the mouth and cause drooling or vomiting, though, and Alstroemeria can cause a mild upset stomach if a lot is eaten. If the person receiving the flowers has a cat at home, we can switch to a rose or gerbera bouquet instead.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can I give my girlfriend a lily bouquet for her birthday? A. Yes, a bouquet of pink lilies or lilies mixed with roses makes a lovely birthday gift. Please avoid a bouquet of white lilies only, and since lilies have a strong scent, think for a moment about whether she is sensitive to fragrance.

Q. What can I do if the lily scent is too strong? A. Removing the anthers reduces pollen in the air, but the scent also comes from the petals. It is better to place them in a spacious, airy room such as the living room rather than a bedroom. For a hospital visit, I recommend flowers with a lighter scent.

Q. What should I do if the lily buds don’t open? A. Cut the stems again at an angle and change to clean water. If you place them in a bright spot away from direct air-conditioner airflow, they usually open within a day or two. Flowers that were refrigerated for a long time sometimes never open, so when buying, check that the buds are not too green.

Q. Which occasions suit a lily basket and which suit a bouquet? A. A bouquet is easier for gifts you hand over in person, such as birthdays, graduations or confessing your feelings, while a basket works better for an office opening or a gift to keep at home and enjoy for a long time. Hamy Flore’s lily baskets, such as the Pink Lily Flower Basket, have a list price of 2,000,000 VND.

Q. Can I get a lily bouquet delivered today in Ho Chi Minh City? A. Yes. Within central Ho Chi Minh City, delivery usually takes about 2 hours after your order is confirmed. We send you a photo of the finished bouquet before delivery. For details, please see our Ho Chi Minh City flower delivery guide.

With lilies, if you think of the person and the occasion first and then choose the color, you can’t go wrong. If you are curious about the meanings of other flowers, take a look at Vietnamese Flowers and Their Meanings, and if you are torn between lilies and roses, see our Rose Bouquet Guide — How Many Roses, Color Meanings and Ho Chi Minh City Prices (2026) as well. Just tell Hamy what the occasion is, and we will help you choose. Take a look at our lily bouquets first, and if you are unsure, feel free to ask us on Zalo.