Originally Published - October 2012
Soon homecoming season will kick off throughout the LonebrStar State and in Southlake, the Dragon faithful will turn out in force tobrcheer on the eight time State Champs at the annual tradition-filled game onbrFriday, October 12th. Inbrtypical celebratory fashion, there will be pep rallies, a parade and a dance, thebrcrowning of a King and Queen and of course, we’ll play a little football. Lastbrbut not least, there will be “mums.” We don’tbrmean the frothy blooms from your garden either. We mean mammoth, gargantuan,brunabashedly gaudy spreads of silk chrysanthemums bedazzled with massive amountsbrof long flowing ribbons and trinkets of every imaginable variety.
Oddly enough, in many European countries the chrysanthemumbris known as the death flower. Throughout Belgium, Italy, Spain, and France thebrmum is almost exclusively used on graves as a memorial. In Korea the feathery flower is known as abrsign of lamentation and grief. But here in the US the fall blossom is anbrexpression of positivity and cheerfulness leading to thousands of the silkbrcreations being fashioned or purchased every year. On these trendy annualbrdisplays of football affection, less is definitely not more, the more bling, glitz,brand glitter you have the better.
Back in the day, the homecoming mum started out as a realbrflower with perhaps a few ribbons attached and a football player's numberbrfashioned from pipe cleaners sticking up from the center. If you were very fortunate it took twobrstraight pins to affix the delicate six-inch creation to your shoulder. Evenbrthen there was a lively competitive spirit between those who received the muchbrsought after treasure. Fourth generationbrnative Texan Lee Ann Lewis writes about all things related to our great statebrincluding a commentary dedicated to this iconic tradition. Lee Ann wrote in herbrwidely read blog, “The best part came when you arrived at the stadium and had abrchance to size up the mums worn by your friends. Did she have a single mum? Abrdouble? A triple? There has always been a great deal of “mum envy” at everybrHomecoming game.” Lee Ann laughingly added that after the flower began to brownbrthey would dip it in melted Gulf Wax and hang it on the bedroom wall,br“Henceforth it became a trophy that said to visiting girlfriends, ‘Yes ladies,brthat was the year I bagged a really nice one.”
What started out as a simple token of affection given inbrdays gone by has morphed into a cottage industry that has Moms throughout Texasbrsporting glue gun burns working feverishly through the night trailingbrrhinestones and feathers as they hurriedly make one more trip to the localbrcraft store for supplies. No longer does being a freshman necessarily mean onebrflower, sophomore two flowers and so on. The field is wide open and only thebrimagination, and perhaps the wallet, limit mum size. An average mum can runbranywhere from $80.00 all the way to several hundred.
If you don't have the creative skills necessary to craft abrhomecoming mum yourself it's time to turn to the experts. Crystal Duermeyer, abrfloral designer at the Southlake Tom Thumb store, has been making mums for localbrhomecomings for the last ten years. “I've been making flowers here for so longbrthat people ask for me by name. I think I probably made 150 mums last seasonbrbut I'd love to hit over 200 this year.” She started her design career in highbrschool when she was working part time at the local Winn Dixie. “I made them forbrfriends, then friends of friends, and word just spread.” Over the course of herbrcareer Crystal guesses, “I think I've made maybe 1,500 or more. It's funny butbrI never kept track.”
When Crystal firsts talks with someone about designing thebrultimate homecoming sign of affection she asks about the activities the wearerbris involved in, sports, band, etc., what grade level, budget, any special itemsbrthey want included. Creating the perfect mum is so much more than the finishedbrappearance; it's a personal statement about the wearer. “The last four years orbrso everything has gotten even more unique and personalized,” Crystal said.
Bringing a glow to your mum with lights has become a popularbraddition in the last few years as well. “We started out using Christmas twinklebrlights, than LED lights became all the craze and now it looks like fiber opticsbrwill be big this year,” Crystal laughed. “It's always something new.” Thebrover-sized structure of today's creations leaves room for battery packs tobrpower not only the lights but also a hidden device cued up and ready to playbrthe couple's favorite song upon demand.
Using a variety of raw materials is also paramount tobrcreating the perfect mum and Crystal has used some unusual supplies throughoutbrthe years. “I remember a garter I made for a guy once who loved Legos so hisbrgirlfriend wanted to incorporate them into his design,” Crystal recalled. “Ibrput Lego people in the middle instead of animals and the letters of their namesbrthat ran down two of the ribbons were made completely out of Legos. That wasbrpretty unique.”
Kim Slavik, a local Southlake Mom who has been making highlybrsought-after creations since her son was in the 4th grade, believes,br“A mum is all about highlighting a young ladies’ accomplishments. It becomesbrkind of like a walking scrapbook.” For the past 12 years students have beenbrflocking to Kim for the pleasure of having a “Slavik Custom Mum.” “I grew up inbrArlington and I was on the drill team so I knew all about the culture ofbrhomecoming.” When playing Bunco with a group of Moms in her neighborhood Kimbrwas shocked to find that none of them knew what the fall ritual was all about.br“Southlake has a large population of people who aren’t Native Texans sobreverything was new to them,” Kim said, “I remembered how I felt when I got mybrSenior mum and I just caught the bug again and started making them.”
Just like Crystal gathers information about who will bebrreceiving the final flower, Kim has a system for discovering the hopes andbrdreams of her clients and displaying the reality of those thoughts on the finalbrproduct. Kim devised a 12-page questionnaire, “Kind of a therapy tool for abrrelationship.” She laughed. Both women agree no trinket or object is off limitsbrwhen decorating the center or the flowing ribbons. Kim often uses a tinybrstuffed animal of the breed of a favorite pet and little cars, cellphones,brfootballs, hockey sticks, pom poms, and photos are always popular. “I use a lotbrof Christmas ornaments,” Kim said. Crystal agreed, “Christmas ornaments arebralways popular. I've used Diet Coke bottle caps to show a love of the soda,brlittle kid's wooden alphabet letters, just about anything you can imagine.” Oftenbrpeople will bring in their own special trinkets for these artistic women to addbrto the creation.
The yards and yards of decorative ribbons themselves have abrfunction as well as a beauty factor. The names of the students are merrilybrskipping down the shiny streamers in glittering fashion as well as special trimmingsbrpurchased to represent sports and activities. “You want the ribbons to bebrpacked tightly,” said Crystal. “So the person's body doesn't show through. Thebrmore ribbons the merrier, it's cool if she is sitting at the game and keepsbrdiscovering new strips. It's like looking for hidden treasure.” Kim mentionedbrthat more colorful accents are now showing up in today's mum. “Girls love tobradd something that compliments their room so when they hang it up their mumbrmatches their decor.”
At an average weight between 12 and 15 pounds, it takes abrstrong nail to hang one of these behemoths on the wall, too. The days arebrdefinitely gone when Mom used a straight pin or two to anchor the flower tobryour shirt. Most of the huge displays worn by female students today are hungbrfrom the neck with a fairly stout ribbon or cord of some kind like a sort ofbrpopularity sandwich board. Often you'll see these giant mums walking down thebrbleachers with only a head and feet showing, like an animated wind-up doll.brThis year Crystal said she is working on a design for a nine flowerbrconstruction that covers front and back and is literally worn over thebrshoulders with double straps on each side, “I think this one will probablybrweight close to 30 pounds.”
Both Mum Masters enjoy the feeling of emotion connected tobrthis long-standing tradition. “Everyone deserves a pretty mum to wear atbrHomecoming,” said Crystal. Kim laughed, “It's the way the kids react that Ibrlove so much. They love to come and help me build. Even those without datesbrlove to create one, it's more about the mum than the date.” She laughed, “Ibrvolunteer my time and they supply all the materials. It's my way of keeping thebrTexas tradition alive.”
“Protect the Tradition” has long been a motto of Dragonbrfootball and the iconic “Homecoming Mum” is definitely a tradition worthbrprotecting. Remember, only one person can be homecoming queen, but everyone canbrwear a mum fit for royalty.
