Lewisville High School is poised to break the Guinness world record for the biggest homecoming mum.
North Texas high school poised to break Guinness world record for biggest homecoming mum
Mums are a rite of passage for Texas teenagers, but this one built by Lewisville High School took it to another level.
By Sarah Bahari
Just before sunset Friday, thousands of jubilant fans will pour into the Lewisville High School football stadium for homecoming.
Football players will rush the field, greeted by the familiar roar from the stands. Maroon- and white-clad band members will march across the green, flanked by cheerleaders. Big John — the much-loved, overall-wearing mascot — will wield his signature pitchfork.
None, however, will be the star of the show. That designation will instead belong to an enormous, bejeweled homecoming mum, which is poised to break the Guinness world record. The piece will be hoisted in front of the stadium Friday evening.
“It’s a symbol of our school pride,” said Ella Walker, 16, a junior at Lewisville who helped build the mum. “This is a piece of Texas culture, and Texas goes all out.”
The homecoming mum, once a modest corsage with a few chrysanthemums, has undoubtedly become one of Texas’ quirkiest traditions. But these days, modesty is out. Mums are now shrouded with glitter, bells, ribbons, teddy bears, trinkets and even flashing LED lights.
The bigger the mum, the better. Yet Lewisville’s has no comparison.
At 37.5 feet long, the maroon, white and silver mum measures roughly 290 square feet. Fashion design students built a base with plywood and chicken wire, then dressed it in hundreds of feet of ribbon, some 500 white faux flowers, dozens of silver stars and Christmas ornaments, a teddy bear, foam finger and more tiny trinkets.
Woven into the piece is a pink braided ribbon, donated from the current Guinness record holder. That mum, created in 2021 by the special education department at Arlington ISD, measured about 22 feet long and 119 square feet.
Lewisville students spent the past six weeks constructing and painting the mum, which cost roughly $600 to $800 to make. Community members donated supplies through an online wishlist.
Isaiah Barber, a senior, said he does not play sports, so creating the mum with other fashion design students provided an opportunity to join homecoming festivities.
“This is how I show my school spirit,” Barber, 17, said. “It’s a form of art, really.”
Homecoming mums, which likely originated in Missouri, first appeared in Texas in the 1930s. Since then, they have become a cultural rite of passage for countless Texas teenagers.
Although boys traditionally gave mums to girls, those rules have relaxed. Now teenagers often make their own mums, or wear ones from their friends, dates or parents.
“Mums are a big deal in Texas,” said Abby Winston, a fashion and interior design teacher who led the project. “They’re like little presents that you get to wear.”
To be clear, no one will be wearing this mum, which requires about 10 people just to transport. On Thursday, staff at the University of North Texas measured the piece for Guinness using both a laser device and tape measure.
Shelby Haney, a design specialist at UNT and Texas native, said the mum is more than ribbons and flowers and stuffed animals.
“It’s a physical representation of school spirit and the friendships and relationships you develop in high school,” Haney said. “It’s about those bonds.”
After the homecoming game and dance, the mum will be disassembled, ribbon by ribbon, and displayed in a glass case.
