By Mary Whitfill

Staff Writer 

Homecoming is a time when everyone in the school can come together and unite. The game is exciting, the dance is anticipated, and no one should be left out of the traditions.

While only one girl gets to be the queen, every girl can wear a mum fit for royalty. Charms, bells, whistles, footballs and teddy bears are all used for decoration on the mums. Each mum is completely unique and charms are chosen to represent whoever’s body is hiding beneath the streams of ribbon. A music note for a choir member, a goal post for a football player, and a shoe for a cross-country runner.

“I put basketball stickers and charms on it because of Samantha Tutor’s basketball career,” sophomore Kaenon Wester said. “Also, shoe charms because she does track.”

Over time the mums have evolved from real flowers to fake, and from waist length to the current length of reaching the floor. Although those changes are relevant, the two most important changes have been the changing of the mums for each year of high school, and the addition of garters for boys.

Each year that the girl is in high school, the mum gets bigger and changes. For freshman there is one flower, sophomore two and junior three, all of them being black and red. Senior year is when the change is most noticeable. There are three or more flowers on the mum and it is all white and silver, shinning out among the seas of red and black.

Garters are the boy version of the mum, the exceptions being that they are smaller, the flower number stays at one, and they are worn hanging on the side of the arm.

“Garters are important because they show school spirit and the senior ones are really cool because they are all white,“ senior Dallas Riney said.

This year the average cost to have a mum made for you at major retailers like Michaels is $120 and garters cost around $90. To order these mums, students must go to the retailers about two weeks in advance, fill out a form mentioning what kinds of ribbon and charms they want, and pick up the mum the day before the game after 5.

Back in the days of real flowers ordered from the florist, the average cost of mums was $70. The change in price came with the change in size. Rather than dragging the floors, the ribbons usually only reached the girls waist or knees, and instead of having to wear them around necks, they were smaller and able to be pinned on shirts.

“The mums and garters have gotten ridiculous,” math teacher Ginger Smith said. “But the school spirit is great.”

Despite how much the traditions have grown and the way that it will continue to change, homecoming mums are garters are not going to disappear anytime soon. They are the classic symbol of homecoming spirit and will be kept around for years and years to come.