My little backpack mum and homecoming mania

California friends, we need to have a conversation. A conversation about all the accessories that surround Homecoming. Namely, the mums. What is a mum, you ask? I was asking the same thing last homecoming when all these girls came to school wearing these HUGE fluffy artificial mums as a lapel pin with ribbons trailing to their feet. I was so confused. Nobody warned me about this. I was wondering if was a religious holiday or a memorial or a mark of commitment to a school or relationship or what.
Between the little information I could gather from my classmates and some google searches I have mostly pieced together the elements of the tradition. It started as a guy giving his girlfriend a real mum the morning of their schools homecoming football game, and in return she gave him one. Then ribbons were added, the mums become artificial and huge, and girls made their own or had mum making parties or bought one for themselves or their moms make them. These mums are fluffy and ginormous with bells and little plastic football helmets and cheer megaphones and plastic plaques proclaiming Freshman or Senior. Some feature stuffed animals or photos or LED lights.
This year as homecoming rolled around I wasn't sure if I was cool enough to make and wear a mum because I wasn't going to the game (I had concert tickets, so I went to that) and I'm not going to the dance (I don't do dresses or dancing or unstructured mingling) and I just wasn't sure about the whole thing. I chose to make myself a little mum to pin on my backpack as a nice compromise to being invloved with the tradition a teeny bit and showing some school spirit. I think it turned out well.

Jessica's and Erika's mum are pretty great examples of how awesome mums can be. 

This year I am taking floral design and since our instructor, Mr. Jack, hates mums we made "spirit sticks" that I personally more aptly dubbed swizzle sticks. They were fun to make. We used the PVC pipe cutter and wrapped them with various types of ribbon and attached bells and curled ribbon and little mums and general chotskies with industrial sized glue guns.

Okay, back to my backpack mum. 

I used 2 different ribbons on a spool from Michael's in my school's colors (hunter green, black, and white), a safety pin, sharp fabric scissors, and a tiny tube of E6000. You could also use hot glue. 

I then pulled back the flowery part of the mum away from the green stem bit, slathered a good bit of glue in the crevice and slapped the unmoving side of the safety pin in there and held it until it felt fairly secure.

As the glue dried I began to cut my stands of ribbon. I used 6 total all between 4ish-6ish inches, but I could have used more and made them longer. It's up to you when it comes to how you want to cut the strands, at angle vs. straight across vs. dovetail. I chose to cut the 3 on the left at a downward angle and the 3 on the right at an upward slanted angle. I am happy with how this turned out. Once they are all laid out how you like, begin to glue them together, one on top of another until you have all the ribbons glued together as a single unit. Then glue that unit on the backside of the mum, paying attention to where the safety pin is, as to not get it all upside down or backwards. 

Let dry, and enjoy! 

Here is is on my school backpack-

And my adventure backpack. I think I'll leave it on my adventure backpack for a while because, well, why not show a bit school pride? And it's cute with it's glittered stripes and polka dots. Also note the furry anthro-inspired zipper pull. 

During AP World History my friends and I realized our shoes we very school spirited and matchy matchy. We are actually the coolest. Be jealous. 

What is your favorite thing about homecoming?