Wondered if anyone had ever done their own prep work for pot-planting daffodils and then mailed it to someone. I've got the sterile mix and perlite, was thinking of picking up some tete a tete bulbs; planting them dry in the mix with a touch of fertilizer at bottom of pot; saran-wrapping it closed, and then mailing, so that all they had to do was open it and add water. The recipient is convalescing and I didn't want them to have to do the prep work. Would this be feasible? I think they'd get a kick out of watching them grow as opposed to cut flowers that would be dead inside a week.

Alex,

While a great idea, the contents are going to shift in transit. Also, depending on the type of container, shipping will get expensive very quickly.

I send amaryllis bulbs to family for the holidays. Just the bulb. Sending 3 bulbs to Oregon this past Christmas was $27.00.

While I understand your desire for your friend to do minimal work, you may actually be better to put each item in a zipper bag with a note similar to:
1) Put a small amount of bag #1, soil, into pot
2) Empty contents of bag #2, fertilizer, to put
3) Put a small amount of soil into pot
4) Put bulbs into pot, pointed end up
5) Put remaining soil into pot
6) Water gently and wait for the bulbs to sprout

I'm sure they will be thrilled to receive such a thoughtful gift. Any, by having them actually plant the bulbs, it will give them something to do, even if only for 5 minutes.

The pre-potted bulb kits that you see around the holidays follow a similar method. The difference being that rather than loose soil, they include a compressed soil mix disk.

Back 'in the day' they used loose soil and it ended up everywhere.

Thanks, Rick.
Yeah, I'd considered the shifting, thus the saran-wrap, which I'd figured would go over cottonwool stuck on the dirt first - but you're probably right in that it could end up an awful mess! Best to do as you suggest: put each ingredient in a separate numbered baggie, along with simple instructions - so as not to strain the "possibly" weakened and/or drugged sensibilities - lol. It's a low-key process, not too much work and won't be too heavy even when watered. Considered doing amaryllis, but have decided tete a tete daffodils will be better if I can get them when I go out shopping tomorrow. That was another reason I wanted to do this myself - want to see it in the mail right away - if I relied on mailorder, I'd have less control - in timing as well as product.