ohio state football

Homecoming Mums - A Southern Tradition
By Eileen Bergen, Fri Dec 9th

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Homecoming Mums: A Southwestern Tradition By Eileen Bergenwww.theartfulcrafter.com

It�s homecoming season across the nation, but only in parts ofTexas and Oklahoma, is it also "homecoming mum season". Somestudents take homecoming mums just as seriously as thehomecoming football game itself.

For the uninitiated, a homecoming mum is an oversize mum corsagedecorated with three-foot long streamers in the school colors,bells, charms, banners, little plush animals done up in bows,sparkly letters, even Christmas tree lights. It is usually wornin the middle of the chest like a breastplate with the streamersflowing down the front of the body almost touching the ankles.

It is, in short, a fashion statement.

But homecoming mums are so much more than that. They are a signthat somebody loves you. They�re no longer given only byboyfriends. Mums can come from friends, your mom, dad, aunt, oreven a booster boy (a boy-friend who is not your date). Anybodywho's anybody wears one, or two.

These days, a homecoming mum can cost up to $100 and weigh asmuch as 12 pounds!

Homecoming mums have become a status symbol for many junior highand high school students. Designs change every year. The moreoriginal, the better. If you�re a crafter and live in Texas orOklahoma, you should be in seventh heaven. You

can makehomecoming mums for yourself or your favorite high schoolstudent at a fraction of the retail price. Even the boys aregetting into this fad. They�ve started wearing homecominggarters on their sleeves. If you craft for profit, the highmargins make homecoming mums a very attractive seasonal craft.

Homecoming Mums: The Tradition

Chrysanthemums have long been the quintessential Fall flower, soit�s not surprising that they quickly became associated with thequintessential Fall sport � football. In the earliest picturesof college football games, you can pick out the mum corsagesworn by the young women in the stands.

Since everything grows big in Texas, it�s also not surprisingthat the Lone Star State is credited with developing the moreelaborate corsages known as homecoming mums. In the 1960�s,these wonderful concoctions could be had there for $10. Ahh, thegood �ol days.

Over the years, mums were cultivated to grow bigger and biggerand the corsages grew and grew. Today, the silk flower hasreplaced the live chrysanthemum as the centerpiece forhomecoming mums. With silk flowers, the only size limit tohomecoming mum corsages is the size of the wearer! Now ahomecoming mum can be saved as a keepsake or recycled into nextyear�s new unique corsage.

For more information about Homecoming Mums, please visithttp://www.theartfulcrafter.com/homecoming_mums.html.

By: Eileen Bergen The Artful Crafterwww.theartfulcrafter.com/craft-ideas.html

About the author:Ms Bergen has led a varied carer, first as a special educationteacher and then, after getting a MBA degree, as a vicepresident of a major insurnce company. She has been making andselling crafts for the past 8 years.