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Homecoming Mums

A Southwestern Dream

When it’s homecoming season across the nation, only in parts of Texas and Oklahoma is it also homecoming mum season. Some students take homecoming mums just as seriously as the homecoming football game itself.

For the uninitiated, a homecoming mum is an oversize mum corsage decorated with three-foot long streamers in the school colors, bells, charms, banners, little plush animals done up in bows, sparkly letters, even Christmas tree lights.

It is usually worn in the middle of the chest like a breastplate with the streamers flowing down the front of the body almost touching the ankles. It is, in short, a fashion statement.

But homecoming mums are so much more than that. They are a sign that somebody loves you. They’re no longer given only by boyfriends. Mums can come from friends, your mom, dad, aunt, or even a booster boy (a boy-friend who is not your date).

Anybody who's anybody wears one, or two. These days, a homecoming mum can cost more than $100 and weigh as much as 12 pounds! Homecoming mums have become a status symbol for many junior high and high school students. Designs change every year. The more original, the better.

If you’re a crafter and live in Texas or Oklahoma, you should be in seventh heaven. You can make homecoming mums for yourself or your favorite high school student at a fraction of the retail price.

Even the boys are getting into this fad. They’ve started wearing homecoming garters containing a smaller version of the mums on their sleeves.

If you craft for profit, the high margins make homecoming mums a very attractive seasonal craft.

Homecoming Mums: The Tradition

Chrysanthemums have long been the quintessential Fall flower, so it’s not surprising that they quickly became associated with the quintessential Fall sport – football. In the earliest pictures of college football games, you can pick out the mum corsages worn by the young women in the stands.

Since everything grows big in Texas, it’s also not surprising that the Lone Star State is credited with developing the more elaborate corsages known as homecoming mums. In the 1960’s, these wonderful concoctions could be had there for $10. Ahh, the good ‘ol days.

Over the years, mums were cultivated to grow bigger and bigger and the corsages grew and grew.

Today, the silk flower has replaced the live chrysanthemum as the centerpiece for homecoming mums. With silk flowers, the only size limit to homecoming mum corsages is the size of the wearer!

Now a homecoming mum can be saved as a keepsake or recycled into next year’s new unique corsage.

Here are instructions for creating your own homecoming mums..

We have a lot of articles on how to make mums and find supplies. Visit the Homecoming Mums Index for a full list, including weaving instructions for the most popular streamers.

Rays Floral of Terrell Texas specializes in award winning Homecoming Mums. [Homecoming Mum photo courtesy of Ray's Floral.]

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