How Big are Texas High School Homecoming Mums?
ICYMI: In 2023, all heck broke lose in Texas to build the world’s largest homecoming mum and exceed the reigning Guinness World Record holder. If you want to learn about the current World’s Largest Homecoming Mum according to Guinness (at least for now), click here. World record-holding mums are too big to wear.
Instead of those mums, this story is about really, really big mums that seem like they would be to big to wear but they’re not.
Say it enough and it’ll come true:
Everything is bigger in Texas
Attempting to be the biggest or the best at something comes naturally for Texans.
“‘Everything is bigger in Texas’ is both a motto and a call to action…” I told the New York Times in September 2023.
I said it because there’s overriding evidence to prove it.
High school football season — which is a sporty way of saying homecoming mum season — is just one way Texans put their passion to work.
It seems like all mums are huge. Are they?
Fact. Most of today’s homecoming mums, especially those in Texas, are much larger than their ancestors: a corsage made from one live chrysanthemum flower.
A not-huge mum (although that garter is pretty big), Arlington High School
But the majority of homecoming mums in Texas today are probably not as large as you think, and there is at least one reason why this is true. Despite what your newsfeeds deliver, most mum-wearing students are not driven solely by TikTok-inspired one-upmanship. They are driven more by personal taste, their friends, their budget, and the unwritten customs in their high school. What I’m saying is…
We inaccurately think all homecoming mums in Texas are gigantic because the photos that go viral disproportionately favor gigantic mums over typical ones.
Here’s another important factor.
Besides being fascinated with extremism (such as, extreme houses, weddings, promposals, weight gain, weight loss, cakes, or mums), our culture places importance on commemoration, particularly as it relates to rites of passage. The rites of passage from childhood to young adulthood—such as quinceañera, bar mitzvahs, confirmations, or the final year of high school—are particularly cherished.
Mums and garters worn by high school seniors, therefore, tend to be much bigger and more flamboyant than underclassmen mums and garters. They are taller, wider, heavier, louder (more cowbell!), more embellished, and more dense.
And because the senior mum is the final mum, they are also more frequently photographed and shared. I have no way of knowing for sure, but my guess is that the volume of senior mum photographs shared on social media outnumber all other mum photos combined.
Now, let’s take a look at mums that are considered big, really big, and really, really big.
These Homecoming mums are big
Mums from: Frisco in 2022 (photo by Hunter Rutledge); El Paso in 2023 (photo by Rudy Gutierrez of USA Today for People); Southlake in 2019 (photo by Dallas Morning News); Arlington High School in 2017 (photo by Amy J. Schultz)
Senior Mums
Do you remember the feeling of finally, finally, FINALLY being a senior in high school? Every day is the last day of something. I’ve talked with many seniors as they were wearing their mums on homecoming day, and here is what I learned.
Every senior wearing a homecoming mum—and in particular, if she’s wearing a big homecoming mum—has likely excelled on campus or within her community in some way that is meaningful to her. Maybe she is the cheer captain or an athlete or a student council officer or an honor student, or maybe she’s a leader in her church or FFA or Girl Scouts. Maybe she’s in love. Maybe she’s found her calling. Maybe she’s a survivor. Her family is likely involved in her life, and they’ve all been waiting a dozen years for her high school curtain call. No matter what, after this year, she will begin to separate from all that was and begin her ascent into the next stage of her life.
It’s hard for a senior to articulate all this. Besides, homecoming is a time to let loose, laugh, and have fun! But she doesn’t have to say anything, because the mum says it for her.
This Homecoming mum is really big
Brittany Eicker and her senior mum, Alvarado High School, 2017. Source: Wall Street Journal
The story in the Wall Street Journal that accompanied this photo began with:
“In Texas, You Don’t Wear a Corsage to Homecoming. It Wears You.”
When Erin Ailworth wrote this story back in 2017, I hadn’t yet published my book, Mumentous. It would have been awesome to talk with a Wall Street Journal reporter about the economics of mum-making. Bless her heart.
What’s up with the made-up word “Mumentous”? For the answer to this and related questions, check out this blog post >
This homecoming mum is really, really big
Source: KSAT 12
In 2022, Hannah Theiss was a senior at Veterans Memorial High School in San Antonio, TX when she talked the talk and walked the walk in her double-sided mum that is as ridiculous as it is awesome. I think that’s the point.
Thanks to Hannah, surely we’ve hit the unbreakable ceiling of homecoming mum size and proportions. Right? Can mums possibly get any bigger?
Darlin’, hold my glue gun.
oh wait. maybe what you’re really asking is…
How big a deal are Texas homecoming mums?
The big picture answer is they are a really big deal. Mums are a tradition in nearly every high school in Texas, and by last count, that’s over 3,200. Between the suppliers, distributors, retailers, florists, DIYers, and custom mum-makers, homecoming mums are a multi-million dollar industry in Texas. And remember… Texas-style mums continue to migrate into other states. So yeah. BIG.
in step, © Amy J. Schultz (photo presented in black & white to give it a nostalgic look)
When it comes to individuals, the answers are as different as the students themselves.
For some students in Texas, especially seniors, homecoming mums are a very big deal and so they opt for the largest and/or the most popular styles. Others prefer an unconventional approach to their mum size, theme, and design. Some students watch from the metaphorical sidelines, either because they don’t understand homecoming or the mum tradition, they don’t like it, they’re indifferent to it, they think they have to have a date to wear a mum, or their budgets don’t allow them to participate (which is too bad, because upcycling is a thing).
And I know this might come as a shock: some students, especially those whose families moved from other states or countries, have never heard of mums until they see their first one, riding through the halls or sidewalks of their school on homecoming day.
Shameless Plug for Mumentous
If you enjoyed reading this, I think you’ll enjoy my book, Mumentous: Original Photos and Mostly-True Stories about Football, Glue Guns, Moms, and a Supersized High School Tradition that was Born Deep in the Heart of Texas.
You don’t have to take it from me. I have loads of independent reviews like this one scattered throughout my website:
“Aside from my own experiences with mums, this book scratched an itch that is very particular to me (it might be to you too, but I digress) - I absolutely love works that show the passion or obsession we have with places, things, or events. Where there is passion, there is a deep dive into something I didn't even know I wanted to know.”— Celia, Book Fidelity
