By Gabby Sahm
Staff Writer
Homecoming, a tradition celebrated throughout Coppell High School for years. Picking out the perfect dress, finding that one guy nice enough to ask you and then getting that enormous mum is just the cherry on top. But with all of the celebration comes stress and in some cases it is not worth it.
Homecoming is supposed to be a time when you can let loose and have a fun night out with friends, but it is never that simple. Planning for homecoming is a daunting task, and if you do it all alone, then you are really in for a struggle.
People have to have the best, it is a fact of life. Everybody wants to outdo the other. When it comes to girls this seems to be magnified by 10, especially when it comes to dress shopping. Your dress can not be like everybody else’s. It has to be unique.
After spending days, in some cases weeks, and finally find the dress, it is more than likely you will never wear the dress again. All that time, and do not forget the money, that went into that dress, that at one point you thought was the greatest thing ever invented, now becomes another article of clothing shoved in the back of your closet, only to be seen again when spring cleaning rolls around.
If you are one of those lucky people that do get asked, then you have another pressure added to your already heavy load: mums and garters. These mums and garters are not your typical arts-and-craft projects. We live in Texas: everything is bigger in Texas. So if you show up to school with a flower, three pieces of string barely hanging from it and a tacky sticker saying “homecoming” stamped across the top, you will be eaten alive.
Everybody wants to have the best mum among their peers, so you go out and buy the best materials, and spend days constructing this massive creation that in the end resembles a mum mixed with a Christmas wreath. Some mums even light up.
With all this in mind, remember, you only wear the mum once as well. Despite your most valiant efforts, and layers upon layers of glue, most mums do not even make it through the day. If by some miracle they do last, they either end up in the back of your closet by your once lovely dress or in the trash.
At the end of the day, none of the stress you went through will be worth it. Homecoming only lasts one night a year. Spending loads of money on a dress and materials for mums and garters are quite unnecessary. Then, when next year rolls around the vicious cycle starts all over again.
So next time, before you get that dress, ask that girl or make plans with friends think about the future. Think about what you could buy with that money instead of spending it on something you will only use once in your life.
