<p>Those mums were horrid.</p>
<p>(I still have all of mine hanging up in my closet at my parents’ home, she said sheepishly… You can take the girl outta Texas, but…!)</p>
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<p>There are some boys I wouldn’t be thrilled about, but most kids go in groups, the school is close, and they all have cell phones, in case there was some type of problem.</p>
<p>I had no idea all these things go on for homecoming. Those mums are hysterical. </p>
<p>My D’s high school doesn’t have a football team, so there’s not much hoopla. They do have a dance - not anything nearly as fancy as prom, though - thank goodness.</p>
<p>steal an outhouse…paint it with names and school spirit stuff…burn it and have a big bonfire. the school has tried to stop this for years, but the tradition continues on…no longer on school property, however.</p>
<p>yes, there are still outhouses in the amish countryside…</p>
<p>monetary reparations are made, but the incovenience to that poor family!</p>
<p>I wrote a paper for my folklore class on the traditions behind mums and garters. They’re really quite fascinating. Most of what people I interviewed said was that they represented both the football spirit and the “everything’s bigger in Texas” attitude. A florist who makes them made the comment that it’s fun to be silly, ridiculous, and slightly gyspy-esque for a few days.
When I was presenting my paper (not in Texas, incidentally), I pulled one of my mums from high school out of the box and everyone in the class, including the teacher, immediately said “oh my God, what is THAT?”</p>
<p>+1 to the horror of making a girl date a boy she doesn’t like…ewwwwwww! Good luck to anyone who tried to make ME (or any daughter of mine) do that!</p>
<p>+1 to ‘those mums are hideous’. I can remember after just moving to Texas seeing one in a Michael’s craft store. I had to ask some total stranger what ‘ugly thing’ was!!! Girl’s at my son’s school often attend the dance without dates, but I don’t think they would want parent-bought-mums. That would be kind of embarrassing.</p>
<p>By virtue of the name–HOMEcoming–aren’t former graduates recognized? Are there class reunions during this time? My niece was on the court a few years ago–Dads or brothers escorted them at the pep rally introductions and both parents escorted them at the pregame ceremony introductions. Believe they also had a parade and bonfire the day before the football game.</p>
<p>Ah, the memories, Texas homecoming mums circa 1976… In our day, they went shoulder to floor with lots of glitter & cowbells on the bottom.</p>
<p>I was describing them to DS and his girlfriend after he rushed in after, yet again, having to beg the florist to make her corsage on the spot after forgetting to order it.* Had to dig out photo evidence because they didn’t believe me.</p>
<p>*Back to the current century, we found the best, and cheapest, corsages from the floral department at the local grocery store. And they were particularly sympathetic to the clueless HS boys with last minute requests.</p>
<p>I was just introduced to the Texas homecoming mum tradition this year. S1 was a nerd, and never went to homecoming. S2 made me change our travel arrangements for out-of-state college tour once he found out it conflicted with homecoming. (But Mom, I’m a senior… I have to go…) And then, 3 days before the event, he asks for help making a mum for his date. I had to look mums up on the internet, and then off to Hobby Lobby we went. I won’t say how much we spent on the materials, and the kitchen got covered in glitter, but it was sort of fun, because I know these mother - son opportunities will become less common over the course of this year. And, the result was only a little “over the top”. She made a garter in school colors for him. (The garter had both their names; he put her name on the mum, but I did not know it was supposed to have both names.)</p>
<p>They got dressed up and wore the garters / mums on Thursday (Friday was “Fair Day”, another local tradition). Today is the homecoming game and dance, and they don’t wear the mums, because they don’t want them to get ruined. I thought that was strange after all that effort…</p>
<p>ps - making mums together is a whole lot more fun that making your kid study for the SAT…</p>
<p>When I was in h.s., our mums were sold at the school so all looked the same. Not as large as the Texas mums, ours were 6 inches in diameter and were always sprayed gold with red ribbons (sch. colors) about a foot long. There was a plastic gold metallic football anshored into the middle of the mum. Since we had no dance, everyone wore their mums to the game and we all went out somewhere afterwards.</p>
<p>The mums were def. a must have. When I was a senior and my bf was in college, I was worried sick that he wouldn’t find someone to buy the mum for him to give me,lol.
I was a cheerleader and could not imagine standing in front of all those people mumless at homecoming…big LOL now that I think about it…what drama.</p>
<p>Our h.s here usually schedules homecoming to coincide with Fall Break at our big state u’s in Oct.</p>
<p>D2 just went off to the Homecoming dance with a girlfriend. It is a big alumni weekend. Football is not featured, but there are a lot of other games - soccer, lacrosse, tennis, field hockey…Alums get drunk under the tent and school gets a lot of donations. For the kids it’s really not that big of a deal.</p>
<p>The Mum is now in the house…adorable stuffed teddy bear wearing a cowgirl hat and tutu in the middle…yards and yards of ribbon and bells and trinkets.</p>
<p>And the glitter poster is complete. Yes, my feet are currently covered with glitter (after having swept, vacuumed, etc.)</p>
<p>I’m both excited and sad that I am commencing to make my LAST mum! I’ve been making them for the last 9 years, and now the last of my son’s is a senior! Boohoo (but YAY, no more glitter!!)</p>
<p>Anyway, it’s the big ole Texas kind - complete with teddybear in skirt, cowboy hat and tiny megaphone, all the bells and whistles (literally) dangling down to the ground, even feather boa around the flower! The wilder and crazier the better - and now that they’re seniors - no more green, just gold and white to designate their “maturity”. LOL</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll go into business next year 
I don’t know if I can quit cold turkey!!</p>
<p>We made the garter D’s freshman year…what a horrible experience…we had never really seen one but the other moms told us it was easy and a lot less expensive. We were WAY too conservative…I think it probably was tasteful which means it was all wrong. I think D was ashamed to give it to her date. From then on we’ve supported the other moms who make them.</p>
<p>I just googled “Texas homecoming mums” images … I had no idea that’s how they’ve evolved. Makes my '70s version look very understated. Gosh I miss Texas.</p>
<p>Of course they hang on the bedroom wall for years… one of mine later got mad the homecoming date, but didn’t want to take down the mum, so she and a girlfriend brainstormed other male names that could be made from the letters already there. Some careful peeling, rearranging, and trimming a few letters with nail scissors - that boy was out of her life and the mum was still on the wall bearing another name paired with hers!</p>
<p>Homecoming 09 is now a memory…thousands of dollars in mums that I guess will hang on bedroom walls for years to come. From a distance so many of the girls looked like they were wearing long fringed dresses. The most oboxious one I saw was the drill team captain’s - the teddy bear in the center was a full 10-12". The drill team dad/daughter dance was fun (Blues Brothers this year) and we had the good fortune to play a team that was much worse than we were - even our second string quarterback scored.</p>
<p>Well, ya learn somethin’ new every day. Never heard of Homecoming Mums before, and I wouldn’t have pictured it correctly without the link. All I can say is… wow.</p>
<p>Homecoming at our h.s. is kind of a non-event. They have a dance the night before, but it’s not a big deal. A couple of years ago D was on student council and they were trying to come up with a theme for the dance. D and I thought, “Isn’t Homecoming enough of a theme? How about <em>Go Mascots</em>?” </p>
<p>Each grade does vote for homecoming King and Queen, and then there’s an overall King and Queen who have to be Seniors, so basically Seniors get 2 Kings and Queens. The winners ride around the football field at halftime on the back of convertibles. They won’t let football players or cheerleaders win because of this. The football prohibition I understand - they’re supposed to be in the locker room at halftime, strategizing. But the cheerleaders? They spend halftime in the stands chatting with their friends! Why can’t they win?</p>
<p>Our h.s. has a Spirit Week but it’s the week before the Thanksgiving game. Different colored t-shirts for each grade one day, then different themes the other days. It changes each year. The last day before Thanksgiving is a big Pep Rally in the gym. The senior boys do a “dance” which is really a take-off on the cheerleaders’ competition routine, they wear the cheerleaders’ sweatsuits and it’s usually hysterical. Then the faculty play against team of seniors in either volleyball or dodgeball. There’s a few other fun events as well.</p>
<p>This a college rather than HS homecoming tradition: at D2’s college, homecoming is a Big Deal. And one of the big traditions on Homeoming night is a huge bonfire in the middle of the main quad. Once it gets going good the freshman all come forward and run laps around the fire (at a distance where they won’t get scorched), and the number of laps is based on the year of their class. So this year the class of '13 must run 113 laps around the fire - which adds up to a distance of several miles. So each class must run one lap farther than the class before. (Rumor has it that not all the freshman complete all their laps).</p>