What is up with these Texas sized Homecoming Mums?

     Mums are staples at most Homecomings all over the country. But highschoolers, across the state of Texas, take this rite of passage much bigger than most. 

    But the tradition’s origin is largely obscure and surprisingly, not Texan. Last year I was introduced to the Texas Homecoming Mum craze. Yes, I say craze because coming from Indiana this tradition was so over the top I couldn’t believe it. Coming from a small town, the flowers for homecoming have always been reserved only for the Homecoming Court. Now granted, those flowers have evolved slowly over the years from a big live chrysanthemum flower encased in netting with a little baby’s breath and some ribbon to now they are carrying bouquets. 

      But as they say, everything is bigger in Texas, mum makers are taking this old adage to heart. The bigger the better it appears to be the motto when creating a homecoming mum for some. As I am not familiar nor do I have the knowledge of where and how this tradition started and grew, I had to know. Here are a few of my findings. 

•What is a Homecoming mum? It is an extravagant faux chrysanthemum done up in glitter, lights, and stuffed mascots, with ribbons and braids trickling down. Some so large they require handles or are worn as huge necklace style pieces. 

• Homecoming mums are said to have appeared in Texas during the 1930s, but the first known homecoming mums were worn in Missouri, which also hosted the first-ever homecoming football game in 1911. Some claim the tradition of wearing mums, at the time, made from real chrysanthemums, began before the 1930s. As mums grew in popularity, the tradition spread into neighboring states like Oklahoma and Louisiana and beyond.

•The Homecoming “mum” began as a sweet Texan token of affection given to a girl by her date in honor of the high school homecoming football game and surrounding events

•Chrysanthemums became the unofficial flower of high school homecoming events. A boy would accent a simple bloom with a few ribbons or adornments and give it to a date who would proudly wear the floral brooch to the homecoming game or dance. Back then, a typical mum cost around $3.

•Cost today depends greatly on intricacy and size, but the price for a high-end mum can go upwards of $1,000.

•As popularity has grown, so has the average size of a mum. By the 1980s and ’90s, mums became increasingly elaborate, and real chrysanthemum blooms were replaced with artificial flowers in varying shades, carefully selected to match school colors. Rather than attempt to pin the larger arrangements to their clothing, young women wore their mums around their necks. 

• Today, mums often include more than one flower and extend wider than the shoulders, with ribbons trailing down to the feet, so that only the wearer’s head is visible. The more elaborate in design, size and structure, the better. 

•The bigger the mum, the heavier, and the more durable the backing material must be. Today, cardboard is often replaced with plexiglass, and some mums can weigh more than 20 pounds. The dimensions are sometimes covering a student’s entire torso.

•The spectacular displays are only to be worn on the day of the fall homecoming game, sometimes to the dance.

•Historically, mums were fashioned by mothers, who learned how to make the contraptions from scratch or simply incorporated more detail onto store-bought versions. Today, mums are far more complicated, with companies meeting the demand for over-the-top, blinged-out creations.

• You think guys are off the hook? Nope they often wear a garter on their arm that matches their date’s mum. Garters have stayed relatively tame in size, although they’re frequently decked out in the same manner.

     Elaborate Homecoming mums are a distinct Texan tradition. The importance of wearing this version of an outlandish boutonniere to homecoming is woven into the psyche of Texas girls.  Some reports show that even if a family moves out to the state of Texas, they will order mums to be shipped to their new homes in other states. 

    I will say there is no doubt there are some very creative people out there who take the time to create these massive masterpieces. I am a crafty person and know what kind of commitment this would take especially if you are a mother with a precise design to create for the daughter who knows exactly ‘what she wants. 

     I applaud you and will continue to watch the mums evolve over the years. Maybe even next year the Lockhart Post-Register will host a mum decorating contest and have people vote on their favorites.