While we’ve never doubted the familiar adage asserting that “everything is bigger in Texas,” it becomes strikingly clear when fall comes around and homecoming comes along with it—because Texas homecoming corsages aren’t the delicate flower you might be used to seeing. Instead, you can expect to see countless colorful, massive “Homecoming Mums.”
What Are Texas Homecoming Mums?
A beloved high school tradition in Texas, homecoming mums are basically a slowly transformed version of a classic corsage, but in wonderfully epic proportions and packed full of personality befitting the wearer. What started as a simple flower corsage—using fall’s classic flower, the chrysanthemum—slipped onto the wrist or pinned onto clothing turned into elaborate floral arrangements that span from shoulders to waist.
The Texas tradition has become a teenage rite of passage and a kind of folk art, too. Today’s mums are usually made of a colorfully themed combination of oversized silk flowers, ribbons, bows, feathers, sequins, charms, and glittery letters. The makings are attached to a backing and hung proudly around the neck for homecoming events. Frequently, they’re made in school colors or might display the wearer’s interests and personality via color and design. Boys wear smaller versions called garters on elastic bands on their arms.
How Much Do Homecoming Mums Cost?
Since Texas homecoming mums are not exactly subtle and sized quite gigantically with ribbons and lace trailing to the floor—sometimes they are so large that they can’t be pinned to the dress, but have to be worn around the neck or with built-in back support—it is not surprising that they can cost a pretty penny.
Corpus Christi resident Rachel Ritualo posted a video on TikTok showing just how expensive mums are. In the now-viral video, she asks a handful of her classmates at Tuloso-Midway High School how much each of their mums cost.
One of the mums was nearly $500, while most fell between $200 and $300. Another cost $20, showing how some choose to make their own using more affordable materials. The more elaborate, typically the more expensive!
While some high schoolers are grabbing glue guns and poring through Pinterest pages to make their own mums, professional mum makers are kept busy in the fall. Kroger sells mums during homecoming season, and sometimes teams or clubs or parent-teacher organizations will make and sell mums as a fundraiser.
Are Homecoming Mums Only in Texas?
While mums started in Texas, the tradition has been spreading across the South with larger-than-life mum creations popping up at homecoming celebrations in Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, and Virginia. However, Texans would likely say they’re not quite big enough!