Homecoming Mum Ribbon

What Homecoming Mum Ribbon to use, it’s one of our top questions. We’ve gotten requests from across the U.S. asking:

“What kind of ribbon is used for homecoming mums?” Most craft stores that take mum orders use satin acetate ribbon for their homecoming mum ribbon. The professional homecoming mum makers use an assortment of different types of ribbon. Satin double faced, acetate, and sometimes grosgrain to name a few.

Homecoming Mum Ribbon vary in size color, length as well as texture. Some prefer double or single faced satin while others prefer to use Satin Acetate, a lower quality version. Others mix the two for a stronger product. The ribbon width to start with would be 1.5 inches, also known as ribbon#9 and usually between 24-36 inches long.

Ribbon Variations

Customers find that ribbon colors vary as well. Most times the school colors of the wearer are the chosen colors. But in some cases the wearer chooses to use their favorite colors instead.

At Mums and Kisses we tend to stick with 100% Satin 100% polyester and shy away from most satin acetate for homecoming mum ribbon.

In addition, the cost and quality is also a factor when choosing ribbon. We shop around for ribbon everywhere we can. Whether it’s travel to other states or countries, going to trade shows, craft fairs, visiting manufactures or anywhere we can find to quality ribbon. It’s one of our favorite off season trips is to find new and interesting ribbon suppliers.

Seems like the old saying is true, “you get what you pay for”. The count, thickness, color quality and over all the way it feels is super important to us. We want our homecoming mums to really FEEL like the material it’s supposed to be. To help you understand the difference, think of the way a $20 bill feels. That’s how acetate feels to the touch. While, double faced satin fees soft, yet thick and very smooth. Grosgrain has lines in it most times.

Meanwhile, the big box stores won’t usually sell you Acetate ribbon. They’ll use it in making mums to sell to you though. As a result, you’ll be hard pressed to find a spool of acetate if you’re planning to make a mum by yourself.

Planning the Homecoming Mum Ribbon to use.

If you are planning to make your own mum we recommend satin. Double faced satin is easy to find and it is the same color on both sides. Single faced satin ribbon is also easy to find however the color will vary on the reverse side. Also know that if you’re making your own mum that for the head of the mum, where you’ll have your loops and or points, satin won’t stand up as well as say acetate or wired ribbon. At Mums and Kisses we use wired ribbon to make the loops and points stand up next to the flower. In the example on the left,  you see that we used silver glittered wire ribbon to make the point stand up, and the loop is a pink wired ribbon. You don’t want the ribbon to flop.

Watch The Cost!

Cost conscious like most of us? You’ll want to notice the cost of ribbon. You’ll see a spool for $3.99, or a sale for “Half Off Ribbon” marked down. Sounds like a great deal, but look again. Take a good look at the yards or feet. They’re going to try to sell you 3 yards for $2.99. NOT GOOD! Especially since you’re going to need about one yard PER mum streamer. For a single 5.5″ mum we use 24-34 streamers of ribbon for the base alone! Let’s break it down.

An Example:

Here’s an example of the basic single base streamers. Very few decorations on this one, which makes it a perfect ribbon streamer example.

There are 24 satin double faced streamers in this example (behind the braids).  Now then, if you’re using 36″ streams (1 yard) on the base alone, you’re going to blow through those $3.99 spools in only 3 streamers! Only 21 more streamers to go… wow! Which means $31.99 +tax for satin ribbon alone, for only the base! The braids are acetate. Which again, most craft stores won’t sell you. Some WILL sell you the braid for $7-9 though. You’ll need at least 2 of those. Putting you up to $49.92 now. Just In Ribbon… Just for the base. When making your own homecoming mum, those ribbon costs will had up quickly!

Still okay over there?

Here Are Our Recommendations for Homecoming Mum Ribbons:

Since satin is the easiest for most to get a hold of, and the highest quality, in our opinion. We recommend Satin Double Faced Ribbon. Mums and Kisses has a Mum Supply product section that we offer that allows you to specify the amount of ribbon you need. So you won’t be stuck with 3 yard spools. We’ll cut it to the amount you specify and ship it to you!

Finally, for the mum head, remember if you’re not using acetate, you’ll want WIRED ribbon. You’ll need a minimum of about 48 inches for loops and a minimum of 60 inches for points, for a total of about 108 inches of wired, or about 9 yards of wired ribbon.

In conclusion, We really hope this helps!

In the mean time, Happy Homecoming from Mums and Kisses!