How to Make the World’s Most Obnoxious Texas Mum for a Friend

I’m not from Texas, but I did go to high school here. I just kind of assumed that every high school had the tradition of homecoming mums. Apparently I was wrong. It turns out that homecoming mums are a uniquely Texas tradition, and that these mums have become 500% bigger since I was in high school. So when it was time to say goodbye to two members of my local blogger’s group, OF COURSE I had to send them off with a loud, obnoxious Texas mum. Keep reading to learn how you can make one, too!

I am extremely fortunate to live in a city where we have a very close, very active bloggers group. Led by Colleen at San Antonio Mom Blogs and Stacy at Kids Stuff World, our bloggers chat online daily, network, help each other out, and host fun local events. I consider so many of these bloggers friends.  So when two of my favorite people, Lisa at Crazy Adventures in Parenting, and Claire at Half Hearted Housewife, announced that they were leaving San Antonio, I knew I wanted to send them off with something to remember. Cue the homecoming mum.

One fall, a blogger in our group posted asking what was up with the ginormous flower things girls were wearing.  Turns out she was asking about homecoming mums, and she was right, they were obnoxiously large.  Like out of control.  Just google “homecoming mums” and you’ll see what I mean.  Here’s a screenshot:

When I was in high school, our mums were petite compared to these.  Apparently, high school kids have taken “everything’s bigger in Texas” to the next level.  I just wonder how girls can walk with these things on.  But I digress….

As I was saying, when I found out that two of our bloggers, who were not from Texas, were leaving, I wanted to send them off with something fun, since saying goodbye is not fun. So I made them each the biggest, most colorful, most over-the-top mum I could come up with.

Supplies:

• Oly*Fun Fabric
• Ribbon
• Foam Core
• Glue Gun

I drew my mum flower inspiration from another San Antonio tradition, fiesta flowers.  Typically, I’ve made these flowers with tissue paper, but the paper rips easily.  To avoid that and to make the mum more durable, I used Oly*Fun Fabric.  It’s a colorful, lightweight fabric that does not fray and is perfect for projects like this.

Step one:  Cut 5-8 rectangles of Oly*Fun fabric.  The size will depend on how large you want your flower to be.

Step two:  Accordian fold the fabric.

Step three:  Tie the fabric at the center.

Step four:  Start with the top layer, and pull up both sides of the fabric.  Continue until you have puffed up the flower.  Adjust and trim as needed.  Make 6-8 flowers.

Step five:  Cut a piece of foam board into a circle.  Tie ribbon to the top so the recipient can wear the mum like a necklace.

Step six:  Hot glue ribbon to the bottom of the circle.  The more ribbon, the better.  Cut leaves from green Oly*Fun and glue those on, too.

The Texas blogger mums were a big hit.  Lisa promised she would hang hers in her office in her new home, and I’m holding her to it!

So, that’s how you make an obnoxiously loud Texas mum (the fiesta version!)  Make one the next time you have to say goodbye to someone.  You’ll be laughing so much at the ridiculousness of it that you might not cry when it’s time to say farewell.