Mums can be funny displaying the faces of Mumford and Sons as a great pun or extravagant with lights or speakers. Over the years mums have gotten bigger and better. Whoever has the most dramatic mum wins.

“I love the tradition behind them of making them and exchanging them,” cheer sponsor Amanda Lannan said. “It’s an essential part of homecoming.”

Mums originated as guys asking their dates to homecoming by presenting them with a simple chrysanthemum. Homecomings in other states however don’t usually even do that. Mums are really true to the Lone Star State.

Over the years for some reason, mums have become a silent competition between the girls at school. The most extreme mums can even be covered in LED lights or speakers. Wylie East is no exception.

“The weirdest things I’ve seen on mums are Christmas ornaments, pictures of themselves, Hello Kitty and all different colors in the middle when the girl is a senior,” Senior Kiley Hughes said. “One extravagant mum was front and back with two huge bears attached.”

However pretty the mums is, beauty comes with a price. Girls have tripped both up and down stairs, ribbons ripped from chair legs and the stadium seats are not too kind to the long and sometimes heavy decorations.

“I hate wearing them all day long,” Hughes said. “They just become too big and pull your shirt down.”

Mums are not the only essentials to homecoming though. The tradition is made up of many parts that all come together to remind students what homecoming is all about.

“Dressing up all week, the parade and the pep rally are some of the best parts of homecoming,” Hughes said. “It’s just the tradition.”