Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own

Hmm…

Every year there’s a debate whether it’s best to order a homecoming mum vs making your own.  Let’s settle this one, once and for all.

What is a homecoming Mum? Click to find out.

There are “How to make a homecoming mum” blogs and videos all over, but nothing that is asking, “Should I buy one or make one?” That’s what we cover below.  If you’re new to the world of Homecoming Mums it could be an over whelming thing. The first thing that comes to mind is, “it’s just ribbon and a flower, what’s the big deal?” To your student during homecoming, it’s EVERYTHING. It’s Mums are sometimes status for Seniors bragging their sonority, and they’re right of passage for freshmen that maybe just starting. The real shock is to the parents that find how expensive and or time consuming “just a few ribbons and a flower” really can be. So what’s a budget conscience parent to do? Hence the debate to Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own.

Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own Comparison:

In this comparison we’ll be weighing three factors:

1. Your Skill,

2. Your Budget and

3. Your time.

Against 3 options:

1. Making Your Own Homecoming Mum – DIY
2. Ordering Your Homecoming Mum from a Big Box Craft Store
3. Ordering Your Homecoming Mum from a specialty shop.

#1 Making Your Own Homecoming Mum – DIY

The first thing to analyze is:

Your skill:

If you’re crafty, love working with ribbon and a hot glue gun then you might try your hand at making a mum and do very well at it, but if you’re like most people, your skill in the way of a fiery hot glue gun, staples and ribbon is nil. You might not even know the first thing about what one of these things even IS let alone how to put one together. Does it take a lot of skill to put a homecoming mum together? That depends on the mum.

Your budget:

This is a BIG one, and there is no substitute for saving money. Those that know me, know that I’m frugal. Okay, fine, I’m cheap. When it comes to personal finances I will find the very cheapest but most quality item I can possibly find before I agree to pay for anything.

Assuming most will go to their local craft “Big – Box” store to purchase ribbons and homecoming supplies, that’s where we’ll start. The big box places offer two choices in the way of DIY-ers:

First is to buy a pre-made acetate mum and décor it. In 2016 these premade mums started at $39.99 for a single. Not only are they crap quality but $40 bucks? Come on! Then you’ll need to buy trinkets, charms, stickers, printed ribbon, for the bare MINIMUM of what it takes to make a nice mum. The register girl will ask you for double the $40.00  easy just for the bare bones of a homecoming mum. And now you get to take your $80.00 plus tax home and assemble it yourself, hoping you bought enough, and in most cases, you didn’t. $80.00 is bare bones.

Your second choice is to do the whole mum yourself with out using a premade to start with. Get ready to pay more. Remember ribbon SOUNDS cheap because it say $2.99 on the package, but know that you’re only getting about 3 yards, and most mums are 3 yards long, so you just bought ONE ribbon strand, congrats.

Your Time:

Lastly for the DIY-ers is TIME. Your time is valuable and as the kids grow, it’s time you can’t get back. I will say, if the above two points, Your Skill and Your Budget allow with Your Time.. then yes, you can make a day of making a mum with your kids as a cool project to do. But let’s be honest. Most of us with teenagers can’t get them off their phones or playbox thingy to even answer a question let alone a 3-4 hour craft project. One more thing to remember when you make a mum yourself, you need supplies from the big box stores, more and more they are selling less supplies hoping that you’ll order from them instead. Making it more costly AND more time consuming to find what you need. Which leads us to option 2.

#2 – Ordering Your Homecoming Mum from a Big Box Craft Store

Your Skill:

Not a lot of skill is needed for ordering from the big box stores. You can either call or visit their location. Also note that the big box stores have 2 week or more cut off dates. If you don’t order during their window of opportunity, you’ll be turned away. And sometimes even if you’re 2 weeks early ordering,  if they hit their maximum order quota, they won’t take anymore and you’re still out of luck.

Your Budget:

Prepare to get hit hard in the wallet. When you place your order there will be a starting price of $39.99 for a single, then comes the real price. Let’s start with a bare-bones minimum order:

$39.99 – Single Acetate Mum +

$12.99 -for 3 custom printed ribbons +

$6.99 for just 3 trinkets +

$16.99 for 2 strands of garland, +

$3.99 for name sticker (one name) +

35% labor charge ($28.33 for the above)

Subtotal – $109.28 + tax

Total – $118.30 – single basic mum

Sticker Shock? Uh… YEAH! Remember too this is for a SINGLE with only 21 streaming ribbons AND it’s Acetate. So that means it’s not going to be very full at all. 85% of shoppers  order three times as much add-ons as the above to fill out the mum. (prices very by region)

Your Time:

There are 2 kinds of time with this option. The time you save by ordering, if your budget can handle it, and the window of time that the box store will allow you to order. Miss the window and you’re automatically put into option 1 or 3.

#3 Ordering Your Homecoming Mum from a Specialty Shop.

Your Skill:

As in option 2, the skill needed  to order is minimum. Even if it’s your first time, a Homecoming Specialty Shop is one that focuses on Homecoming Mums. Many times it’s probably one of the only things they offer all year long. The Specialty Shop will be a lot of help to the first timer and they’ll offer the experienced mum shopper something above what they’ve probably received or made themselves before in the past.

Your Budget:

The Homecoming Mum Specialty Shops will be able to work with your budget a lot more. Some offer coupons and discounts for commenting on their social media. They can usually beat the price you’ll get from the big box craft shops by about $30 +. They can also beat the DIY method by making you a custom homecoming mum, spending less than you would on the supplies. The quality of their supplies are going to be 10x that of the big box stores too as many use other materials in with the acetate or a few luxury shops don’t use acetate at all. The wallet will thank you for this option.

Your Time:

Your time would be better spent ordering from the Specialty Shops. Not only can they make it for you but a handful of them will even ship your order to your door. The good homecoming mum shops allow you to order all online saving you time on the phone as well.

Shannon Gonzalez, owner of a Specialty Mum Shop called Mums and Kisses, weighs in on the Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own debate:

Over the years my customers have called me saying “Shannon, I spent $300.00 at the craft shop last year and spent 4 hours putting it together!” I’d always felt absolutely horrible that they got robbed by the craft store just to have trouble putting it together. One customer called me on her way out of the Hobby Lobby as she was walking to her car, bag of ribbon in hand, she goes, “Shannon I spent $301 on supplies, I’ve got the bag still in my hand and my husband is throwing a fit, can you help?” Needless to say I made her march right back in there and return it. Then I hooked her up with a mum twice the size she was planning for and it only cost her about $112.

Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own, Recommendations:

For option 1 we recommend that you do a lot of youtube watching, internet reading and use your best creative magic. Some awesome things can come of it if you’re willing to try.

For option 2, it’s a toss up. Michael’s store has a lot more supplies like garland and trinkets but they’re cost is really high. Hobby Lobby may be cheaper but, their supply section is getting smaller and smaller every year. Michaels just started in 2016 taking orders for mums but if you’ve seen their end product you’ve also seen the girls cry at the sight of them. They’re THAT bad. Hobby Lobby has more orders made but they’re acetate pre-made mums that they start with leave a LOT of room to decorate which means you have to fork out more money to make it look better.

For option 3  we recommend looking around and seeing what you like. Many Mum Shops have different deals and specials but they also offer different deadlines and some ship and some don’t. Of course we’re going to recommend Mums and Kisses for option 3. Mums and Kisses offers free shipping most of the season, no deadlines as long as there is time to ship and their designer mums are some of the best in the business. We encourage you to shop around, as each mum maker has their own flash and style in different ways.

In Conclusion, Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own, no matter which option you take, we hope you have a Happy Homecoming! Thank you for reading.

Jump in on the debate! Tell us what you think by sharing in the comments below.

 

-Mums and Kisses is a Professional Homecoming Maker, located just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. They’ve been featured on NBC News Online, a member of the SBA (small business association) and have been successfully shipping homecoming mums nationwide. See more about Mums and Kisses on their website.

www.mumsandkisses.com

 

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Order A Homecoming Mum vs Making Your Own