Many of our customers begin dreaming of and designing the perfect senior year homecoming mum months or years before senior year. Can you say Pinterest? Whether you buy your senior homecoming mum from us, another mum professional or are designing and creating yourself we hope these tips help you to achieve the senior homecoming mum of your dreams. If you are creating your own senior homecoming mum we recommend you also check out our Ultimate Guide to Homecoming Ribbon and our YouTube channel for tutorials on braiding, cutouts and homecoming mum assembly.
Senior homecoming mums are as unique as the individual who dreams, orders, and wears each HOCO mum. Use this guide to help you navigate the design and/or ordering process as we answer common questions including the best time to order, trends for senior homecoming mums, popular sizes and our favorite custom color ribbon choices. As always, we are here to help you through each step of the designing and ordering process and to answer any additional questions. Happy designing!
Best time to design and order/make your senior mum
The effect of the ever-increasing customization demand for ultra-custom senior homecoming mums is that many mum makers sell out of custom senior homecoming mum spots prior to the school year beginning. For this reason, we recommend if you are going to order your senior HOCO mum doing so as early as possible, ideally in the spring semester of your junior year.
But what if you don’t know if you will have a date? This is a very common question especially among seniors who want to make sure they get the HOCO mum of their dreams for senior year. Many of our senior clients or parents order their senior mum themselves and if later they get asked to homecoming let their date know they already have their homecoming mum spot secured. You would be surprised how many dates (and their parents) will appreciate this as last-minute senior custom homecoming mums can be hard to find. For our clients who order their mum prior to July 15th, we also guarantee a spot for a matching garter of the same product line as long as it is ordered no later than 2 weeks prior to homecoming. Don’t worry we are moms and between the two of us have had 5 teenagers go through high school – we know plans change – we can make minor changes such as name additions or activity changes closer to homecoming if needed.
If you are creating your own senior homecoming mum we recommend starting and completing your mum during the summer months before senior year. Senior year is exciting and packed with fun activities and memories, homecoming included. Senior homecoming mums can take hours or weeks to create and doing this in the summer allows you to enjoy the process, make great memories and be ready for homecoming no matter the date of our actual HOCO during your senior year. We will be uploading how-to video tutorials on our YouTube channel all summer as we prepare for the 2024 season.
Popular trends and sizes for senior homecoming mums
The traditional standard of four flowers for senior year is still trendy, however, we make senior mums in all sizes. Last year we made senior homecoming mums with one, two, three and four flowers and we already have senior orders for each of these sizes this year. For many of our schools, the triple heart and single 9.5" flower is just as popular if not more than the traditional quad senior mum. If you are trying to stay within a certain budget for your senior mum, we suggest deciding which is more important to you – detail or size. Many of our seniors choose a single flower and decide on an supreme or ultimate mum for the most braids, cutouts, specialty ribbons and custom colors. At the same time, our deluxe quad is popular for those seniors who want to remain on budget, but size is the most important factor in ordering their senior homecoming mum. The options are endless for senior year, you decide on the size that best represents you.
Since senior homecoming mums tend to be bigger and more elaborate and take many, many hours to design and create most of the more sought after homecoming mum makers, including ourselves, have a cutoff date for custom designed senior homecoming mums. Typically this is before the beginning of the school year.
This year we are accepting orders for custom designed senior mums through July 15th. Don’t worry we have a new exciting product line launching this summer (stay tuned for details) for those that want to wait to order their homecoming mum, however some of the personalized options will not be available after July 15th.
Senior homecoming mum ribbons and custom color options
The tradition of senior silver/white or silver/gold is still the current tradition our most popular choice. These senior mums will be available later than July 15th, typically until we sell out for a particular HOCO week. The only thing to note on this is we get so busy during the homecoming season we can go from available to sold out for a particular week in the span of hours!
Besides these two accent colors, rose gold is next in line for an accent color for senior mums. As well, we introduced two new senior options last year: white with silver & gold accents and white with a pop of school color and both have become very popular among our senior clients. The silver and gold diamond dust look amazing together and the option of a pop of school color allows you to keep the school spirit but still have a very traditional looking senior mum. New this year, we will be adding the option to stay with a traditional silver/white or silver/gold but also the ability to add a set of custom colored bows.
If you are ordering from us and want a custom senior color, it is important to get your order in as early as possible to guarantee your first color choice. To provide an ultra-personal senior mum to our clients, we limit each custom color combination to one per school (unless requested to match). For this reason, many of the most popular choices are already sold out in the spring months, especially pinks and purples.
Don’t worry we have lots of color choices but ordering early ensures the most variety. For orders prior to May 31st, our clients can choose from our current color inventory but also have access to many, many more color choices. Contact us if you would like to schedule a virtual color consultation. You can see some of our new exciting new pink ribbon colors here.
Which RG Mum package is right for your senior mum?
We offer senior mums for our deluxe, supreme and ultimate packages. You can see what is included in each line along with pictures here. Our most popular senior package is our supreme line in a single, triple, or quad size. Custom color upgrades of one color is available on our deluxe lines through June15h and our supreme lines through July 15th. If you are looking for a combination of custom colors or a custom shape such as Texas or a larger triple heart, our ultimate line is the best choice and allows for the most customization. Ultimate orders will close on July 15th as they take the most time for us to design and create. Our deluxe line offers the same quality and standard options as our supreme and ultimate lines such as custom cut HTV homecoming letters, double-backed ribbon and braids, and senior custom cutouts and is still a very popular choice for seniors.
We design all our homecoming mum and garter packages to be perfect just as they are, however, we know many want to add their own personal touches. Our many customization upgrades allow you to add options such as our senior package which includes a custom cut senior congratulations ribbon and two custom senior cutouts. Introduced for 2023 HOCO, our jazz it up package was very popular for those who want a little extra but want us to design and surprise them. All three senior packages allow for braid additions with our supreme and ultimate lines allowing for premium braid upgrades. After July 15th, some of these options will not be available so make sure to order before this date if you have your eye on a certain braid to add to your homecoming mum.
Have additional questions on your senior HOCO mum?
We hope that this has helped and inspired you to create or order your own senior homecoming mum. As always, we are here to help either via chat, phone, or virtual consult. for our clients. If you are creating your own senior homecoming mum we hope we gave you some ideas to help you along the way. We have a great blog post to get you started called 6 Must-Know Tips to take your Homecoming Mum to the Next Level.
You can also visit our Senior Photo Gallery, YouTube channel and Senior Homecoming Mum Pinterest Board for more inspiration. Whether you purchase your mum from us or create your own dream senior HOCO mum, we look forward to being a part of your senior memories.
Happy creating friends,
Rayanne & Sabrina