Since we moved here to Texas we have noticed some strange traditions around here. At my daughters High School the kids either purchase or make each other Texas homecoming mums!. You may ask yourself as we did what in the heck is a homecoming mum?
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| Texas Homecoming mums- Karins Kottage |
Well I am here to tell you….. It started way back years ago to give the girl you go to homecoming with a mum.
A flower to wear to the game or dance to wear on her dress or shirt. Well the mum has grown to gigantic proportions!! A Texas Homecoming Mum Tradition in Large Proportions!
What is a Texas homecoming mum?
The mum now consists of large silk mums (that you can’t even see) attached to a card board base.
You then can add small stuffed animals like teddy bears or your school mascot. Lots and lots of ribbons and sparkly trim, charms of all kinds, cow bells, whistles, ribbons with yours and your dates names on them. Ribbons embossed with glitter. Some of these mums have battery powered lights on them!!
Where do you wear the mums?
You may be also be asking yourself, do they wear these to the dance over their dresses? No they don’t wear them to the dance. They only wear them to school and to the big game. We teased our daughter that we would have to make her mum like a backpack because it seemed to heavy to wear at school all day!
Emily made hers this year and did a really amazing job. It was huge, sparkly and fluffy…all the things she loves.
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Cost of a Texas homecoming mum
Let me tell you they are not cheap either!! Last year my daughters date paid almost $200.00 for hers!! I personally think it is the craziest tradition I have ever seen but all the kids sure love making them. Wearing them to school is an absolute must! I must say that this year my daughter came home with a neck and headache because hers weighed so much! HA HA.
Another Texas Tradition Senior pants
Another wild tradition in Texas high school is making senior pants. These are jeans that the seniors make. Using a pair of jeans and using iron on letters to spell out things like senior royalty. Emily and her friends all got together and painted their jeans with puffy paint and cut out letters from fabric that had under wonder on it and ironed them onto their pants.
I don’t know if you can see but there are some glitter and sparkles on these pants as well.
Emily’s pants on the back say 2009 Kiss this class goodbye and on the front it says Senior Royalty.
Crazy but fun traditions and definitely school spirit!
The saying is is true everything is bigger in Texas even traditions!
Blue and White Graduation Party
Make sure you check out my blue and white graduation party too! Loads of ideas
Shop mum supplies
mean = meal
I graduated from Allen High in 1994- while it is a fun tradition, it is really another way to allow those who are popular and have money to show off even more. Truly there are kids that go to school there who wonder where their next mean will come from- not if they have 200$ to participate in traditions that if you don't you are made fun of. fun times.
Wow! Awesome mums, their even bigger than they were in 88' when I graduated from Dobie:0) I miss this tradition sooo much! Since we live all over the place and I can buy one, I'm actually going to try and make one for my daughter this homecoming. I hope it comes out half as awesome as your daughters. Wish me luck!
Thank you for explaining this! I'm from the east and I never heard of them.
My daughter is a freshman this year at Clear Creek high. We are having so much fun making her dates garter and her mum. We get to make 2 of each because her boyfriend attends a different school. Love the pictures posted. Love the pants so awesome. Looks like you girls had lots of fun… I agree everything is bigger in Texas. Would not live anywhere else..
Love the their mums. I actually went to and graduated from Allen high school. I made the pants and my mom and I had the best time makeing my mums and the garters for my dates. Now my sister is a freshman at Allen the fun starts all over!
Our band moms make and sell the mums at our high school as a fund raiser! We make LOTS of money every year, but the fun part is the camaraderie of working in the mum shop together, interacting with all the kids, etc. I have friends from other states who want to come help in the shop just cause it looks like so much fun! 🙂
When I moved to Texas i saw these mums for sale at a grocery store. Not knowing the tradition, I asked the florist if they were supposed to be hung on a wall. My husband thought they looked like the award for the winning horse at a horse race. Unbelievable I that they were to worn by the girls! When my kids were in high school, we did the whole mum thing. Everything is bigger in Texas.
thanks for the pictures! my daughter is a sophomore and that means i will be making her second mum! she loved the one i made last year so much, sometimes she wishes she could wear it more than just once…. anyway we live in the heart of Texas :). She has no bf and dads not here sooo its on me. Dont know anything about football or this tradition but i sure love seeing her smile 🙂
I was sitting in the Driver's License Building and two teens came in wearing these giant "mums".
It was so very odd-looking to see these huge ribbon-bedecked creations worn over t-shirts and shorts! It was a Friday. I guess the big game was that night!
It is true, our traditions and everything else are bigger here in texas! lol
i just got done writing a whole week's worth of Homecoming Mum How-to's because it is that time of year!
Another rule of the mum is that only seniors wear the white and silver mums. Underclassmen wear mums made of the school colors.
Let's not forget to mention that the boys get a Garter, which is like a mini Mum, that they will wear on their arm. So it's not just for the girls. My daughter and I will be making one for her date this weekend.
My friend from Montana went to a local craft store here in Texas and saw a MUM. She was too embarrased to ask what it was so she asked me. I have lived in Texas my whole life and I thought she was nuts for not knowing what a mum was for. Man the Yankees are so far behind! lol
well That is just Some Awesome Mums!! im Here in Texas also and mums are just a Huge deal at My School!! its really Crazy and they are just Enormous! We just end up doing nothing that homcoming dayy at sChool beCause everybody is so distracted with the noise! well its an awesome blog and just a perfect wayy to describe a Texas Tradition!!(:
That sounds like so much fun! Our school doesn't do mums, but we take the pants to the next level. Everyone makes jeans up until high school, then your pants are assigned colors (white for freshmen, black for sophomores, red for juniors, and gold for seniors). They get way out of control, but its super fun.
Hi, I'm Susan's friend from Oregon and I just think these are AWESOME!! Very Over-the-top and I can see why they say that now (everything's bigger in Texas! LOL) We don't have this tradition of decorating ourselves… but we have contests on which class can decorate their hallway the LOUDEST, craziest etc. and they make huge floats and have a parade for homecoming. Thanks for sharing this!! I'm glad I got to see what Susan was talking about now. CRAZY FUN!! =0)
hi there! i just found your blog as i am making a homecoming mum today and your post for it came up in my google search. i am trying to "explain" them to my friend in Oregon who's never heard of them! haha! these came out gorgeous!!i'm in north texas, so howdy neighbor!!
I grew up in Oklahoma and then lived in Texas for years. The mum reference cracked me up! I think they are even bigger now then they were then.
Thankfully, the hair is not as big as it was then though.
I love it!I’m from TX too…It’s nice to meet you! Awesome MUMS! And pants! I have a senior as well! 🙂
I grew up in South Texas and mums for Homecoming were a BIG deal. The ribbons and bells and glitter were quite heavy. I love the idea that they are making their own. They are ginormous and look like a lot of fun.
I have never heard of that tradition either, but it sure is cool…not to mention that it looks like a heck of a lot of fun! Hope they had a blast! Like your front entrance too!!!
Can I say, “Scary.” I think we’ll definitely have to move before high school. (Although, Emily is as cute as all get out– just as she always is! Was she on the Homecoming Court, hence the “royalty?” Or is that in reference to the superiority of seniors?)
Boy things have come a long way from the single Mum corsage with tiny football charm we used to have back in 68’……the girls are so adorable…
WOW….That is a great tradition. Only thing we did was steal the school mascot..the other teams…lol…
Now my daughter graduated in 98 and during homecoming they put hay bales out in town where the opposing team’s school was. See there are three high schools in my town. City slickers, Westside country boys on side of county and then Eastside rednecks over the river. Well Westside played City boys so we took hay bales and cowpatties and put them out in front of the school and the road where the shamrocks are on the road. City folks are Irish. Anyway thats the sum of it. I like your kids tradition…Original! Love the pants also. Our kids do something like this also in there colors during homecoming week. Boy it is great the kids have a good time with these activities…Better than being out and in trouble.
Great blog!
I never did anything fun like that in high school.
Sigh.
Only thing crazy we did was steal bowling shoes from the bowling alley & wear them.
Weird,yes!