Homecoming started at the University of Missouri over 100 years ago, but Texas has taken the tradition and run with it in its own way. One of the most notable—and decorated—traditions in Texas homecomings is the homecoming mum.
Rebecca Hayes, founder of Peace Love and Mums by Rebecca in Cypress, said the tradition started shortly after the first homecoming in 1911 when men gave their female dates a chrysanthemum ornamented with ribbons.
In the 1970s, the tradition evolved into the mum adornment, which often involves trinkets, stuffed animals, garland and numerous ribbons.
Students wear mums, which feature the colors of the school’s homecoming they are attending. Hayes said colors differ by school and can differ within classes as well. She said seniors always have different color mums than the other students.
Dates buy mums for one another, with female students often sporting a large mum and male students wearing something slightly smaller, called the garter. The garter is comprised of an elastic band, often worn high on the arm, with similar but more subdued components of the mum itself.
Hayes said students don’t need dates to have a mum, though.
“You don’t need to be asked to go to homecoming to go or to get a mum,” she said. “It is a school tradition.”
Hayes starts preparing for mum season in March so she has the proper amount of time to assemble all of the mums once orders start rolling in. She said each mum can take up to five hours to put together depending on their size.
Hayes advised students to order as early as they possibly can.
“If you are seven days out from homecoming and without a mum, you’re in trouble,” she said.
Mums vary in cost depending on how ornate the decorations are; Hayes estimated her mums sell for anywhere from of $40 to $800.
While some games have already past, these are the Cy-Fair ISD match-ups on the horizon to celebrate the homecoming tradition.
- Cypress Creek High School: Sept. 16 vs Cypress Lakes High School
- Cypress Falls High School: Sept. 16 vs. Langham Creek High School
- Cy-Fair High School: Sept. 30 vs. Jersey Village High School
- Jersey Village High School: Oct. 7 vs. Cypress Creek High School
- Cypress Ranch High School: Oct. 14 vs. Langham Creek High School
- Cypress Ridge High School: Oct. 14 vs. Cypress Falls High School
- Langham Creek High School: Oct. 21 vs. Cypress Springs High School
- Cypress Woods High School: Oct. 21 vs. Cy-Fair High School
- Cypress Springs High School: Oct. 28 vs. Cypress Lakes High School
