09/24/2026
🌼🎀 OLD-SCHOOL MUMS & PROUD OF IT! 🎀🌼
It’s Homecoming Mum season, and my high school Floral Design students have been busy learning the basics of making a good ol’ fashioned, OLD-SCHOOL Homecoming Mum! 🤠💐
Now, let me go ahead and say it… YES, I know these are old school! 😂 This Okie Ag Teacher does NOT know all those fancy braids, loops, chains, military braids, diamonds, and whatever other ribbon magic people are doing these days! Y’all are talented—but we’re sticking to the basics over here! 🤣🙌
But there is definitely a method behind what we do!
My students learn how to properly build and secure their mum flowers so they stay together instead of falling apart, basic ribbon layering using several different widths of ribbon, how to identify ribbon sizes, how to attach trinkets using curling ribbon, and how to put everything together into a finished product they can be proud of. 🎀✂️
One of the first things we make is a Ribbon Reference Card with samples of all the different ribbon widths labeled on it. That way, when I say, “Grab the #3 ribbon” or “You need #9,” they can look at their card and figure it out themselves instead of asking me 47 times what size ribbon I’m talking about. 😂🙌
And maybe my favorite part of this entire project has nothing to do with ribbon or flowers. ❤️
If a student doesn’t want to keep the mum they make, we DO NOT throw it away. Instead, they donate it so it can go to another student who may not have a Homecoming Mum or whose family may not be able to afford one.
Because something made in a classroom can become something that makes another student feel included, celebrated, and special during Homecoming. 💙💛
They may be basic. They may be old school. But these students are learning hands-on skills, independence, problem solving, craftsmanship, and—most importantly—how something they create can be used to brighten someone else’s day.
And THAT is something worth bragging about! 🥹🌼🎀
So this Okie is going to keep teaching her old-school mums, and I’m going to keep being proud of these kids and their BIG hearts! 🤠❤️
