Fifteen styles. Thirty-three photos. Now you get the picture.

Click on each photo for a link to its source.

Early Homecoming Mum Corsages made from Live Chrysanthemums & Early Silk Flowers

These six photos range from 1936 to 1987:

fast forward to today…

In nearly all Texas communities, homecoming mums are primarily or solely a high school tradition. Generally speaking, senior mums and garters are the largest, junior mums are smaller, sophomore mums are smaller still, and so on. The artificial chrysanthemum flower(s) within the mum design are usually white, but not always.

For several decades now, the tradition in Texas has been that from top to bottom, senior mums are made entirely of white with either silver or gold accents, while underclassmen mums incorporate school colors. This being said, rarely do schools today have hard-and-fast rules, so it’s more about understanding conventions that you either choose to follow or break.

Express Yourself

How do students express their individuality through their homecoming mums? Sometimes it’s subtle. For instance, I’ve seen many seniors choose to incorporate an accent color (like lavender, pink, or teal) instead of or in addition to white, silver or gold.

Other mums make much bolder statements. I’ve seen a gigantic senior mum that was entirely black, and another that was head-to-toe Barbie pink. I’ve seen a couple mums with a dream-catcher instead of a flower at its center. I’ve seen another that incorporated grass skirts and tropical flowers instead of ribbons and chrysanthemums. Once, I saw an origami mum entirely out of paper maps, representing the places the wearer had lived and visited.

And then there was the surprising and powerful “Don’t Shoot” mum, created by Kenya Brown in 2017. Kenya, an African American in her senior year, had several police officers in her family and wanted her mum to generate thoughtful conversation about both the Black Lives Matter movement and the important work of police. School administrators permitted her to wear her mum to school and her fellow students responded positively to her sincere intentions. They even elected her homecoming queen.

Without further ado, here are the different styles of homecoming mums:

Homecoming Mums

As you can see, even standard-bearer homecoming mums vary considerably. High-end or “couture” custom mums are the most recent sub-category of mums to have emerged in recent years. Driven by mumtrepreneurs, high-end mums are typically very dense, fashion-forward, and highly complex in design and execution.

Sash Mums

Two-sided Mums

Theme Mums

Mega Mums

Garters

Small, Mini- and Micro-Mums

Just as mega mums are a form of “extreme” mums, small mums are extreme at the other end of the spectrum. In 2024, small, mini- and micro-mums are popping up everywhere! Below you’ll see some examples including a hair bow mum, wristlet, ring mum, pee wee (or 'lil sis) mum, Croc charm mums, and mums for pets. Stanley Mug micro-mums are also an emerging trend.