Pinterest Mums – How To Get One

An original article by Mums and Kisses, no permission is given to copy it, rewrite it or use it in anyway without quoting Mums and Kisses as the original source. 

Pinterest Mums!

We’ve all seen those gorgeous homecoming mums on Pinterest. They almost look perfect. We pin them to our boards hoping to remember them when the time comes to need a mum this year. But what’s the real truth about those near perfect mums? Are they real? Are they for sale? Where can you get one and what to watch out for. We’re going to show you some of our own photos to demonstrate.

I’m Shannon Gonzalez, the owner/founder of Mums and Kisses. Like other mum makers we have a Pinterest page too. But after years of making mums and hearing questions in our store the girls and I decided to answer a few questions and give you a few tips about those Pinterest Mums.

How old is this thing?

Pinterest does not date posts. No Dates?

Keeping it real

• One continuous thing we see in the store during mum season are moms and their kids holding up their phones with a Pinterest photo of what they’d like. And one of the things we noticed year after year is there’s always that one mom holding up a photo that we know has been online for almost 10 years, why? PINTEREST PHOTOS ARE NOT DATED! Nope, you could be choosing a mum that’s outdated and think it’s brand new!

How’s that happen? I just saw it last week? Let’s break it down.

Pinterest shows you photos based on a couple of things. Your recent searches, popular content and paid ads. If I post a photo of a mum and it gets more and more views, I keep it there. Week after week, there’s more and more views. Pinterest will see that my photo is getting popular and it will continue to show it more and more often. Now my photo is 5 years old but it’s been viewed over 500,000 times, Pinterest thinks it’s popular so it shows this photo 5 times more now, all while the viewer doesn’t know they’re looking at a photo that maybe outdated in the mum world. Then here they come in the store asking if they can have this awesome 2015 mum. One note: sometimes you can see a graduation year or Homecoming year cutout or trinket on the mum if you zoom in, but for the most part, no date.

I bet we’ll start seeing a lot more dated mum photos after this article.

You want what color?

That Color!

Keeping it real

• Just like any other social media these days. Users are all about filters. That includes that glitter filter making the product look like it sparkles when it doesn’t.  The best product photos use NO filters so that customers can see the color as it appears in life. What ends up happening is a filter, or flash photography or lighting will mess with the end result making a color that is impossible to replicate in life. So here we are in the store again, looking at a customers phone while they ask for this specific color. Really? Now this non existent color, they think is out there, doesn’t really exist in the ribbon world, but the customer is upset when you tell them that because they can see this color plain as day right here on their phone and we’re the idiot that can’t get them that color. 

Really? Does this happen? Unfortunately more than we’d like to admit. At Mums and Kisses we don’t use filters, but that doesn’t stop customers from bringing in the photo from last year’s homecoming queen that so and so’s mama made and posted with the smoothing filter that looks like it’s the color of holographic cream. (true story), and now is insisting that you have this color because so and so’s mama got her supplies at your store last year.

Best advice… know the difference between a filtered photo, a real photo and just a plain bad photo and accept that not every color comes in ribbon. 

The sash photo here was taken by one of our customers from 2018. The date is in the post on Pinterest, the lighting is real. (There are lights in the mum making that flare effect.) But let’s be honest, it’s not a great product photo for getting a true sense of color, effects etc. In true transparency, this mum was gold, white orange and a hint of black in real life. Did you see it? Not really? Pinterest scrollers wouldn’t either. Get the idea? It’s better to go to your mum maker with sample colors in hand over a photo IF exact color matching is a HUGE important thing to you. Of course colors for mums are definitely important but expect slight variations. Mum makers are good but we’re not Sherwin Williams.

We want to see everything we asked for in front! 

Keeping it real

Pinterest Symetrics

• Oh that perfect symmetrical balance! Each side is even, each has balance each piece lays down in all of it’s glorious perfection! Again… it’s a Pinterest Photo! Of course it’s going to look it’s best. The designer spent about 15 minutes laying each piece in place. Or there’s always that one designer that just thinks their creations come out looking Pinterest worthy every time. No matter what they made. Ya right! Sometimes, sure, everything went perfectly, the design is awesome, and other times, we wonder why we ever got into mums and nothing is laying straight. There’s not a mum maker out there that hasn’t questioned their skills now and then, myself included. (That’s just me keeping it real).
•  
• These are photos of the same mum from 2016. The quad on the wall is semi symmetrical, but once worn, it moved! (Not to mention the color difference.)

Why it matters? Mums are worn like clothes, they MOVE!

They may be made symmetrical but the truth is when you walk, the mum will move. Not everything a customer wants to be seen is going to be able to be seen at the same time. For example, when there’s 4 names on a mum, 4 braids, loops and a drape, it can all be shown in the Pinterest photo but the minute it’s worn. nope. It’s going to move. So try not to stress too much over the placement of certain things if you’re making your own, not every single detail is going to be   seen at the same time. And that’s okay! Because as your mum moves, MORE can be seen and that’s trendy!

And finally, Pinterest Mums – How To Get One!

Making you own

• If you’re DIY-ing your mum, cool! But you seek inspiration from Pinterest Pins. Reach out to the poster and see where their supplies came from. Ask their favorite mum supply store. If they left a phone number, call them!  If they’re not willing to give out their sources that’s ok, take the photo to a mum store and ask. 

Ordering a Pinterest Mum

• Not going to venture to make one yourself?  Now you have to figure out where the Pin came from. Did the poster make it or buy it or are they re-pinning? ASK! Most product Pins have a website or a way to contact them to order from them. Check out their other photos on social media like instagram, facebook or their website. 

This year we’re opening a whole new category of mums we call Pinterest Mums. For us at Mums and Kisses we do not post our specialty mums on Pinterest until after the customer has gotten to wear the mum. Then it’s okay to for us to release it. Feel free to come by the store and see these beauties in person! That being said, Here is our new Pinterest Mums Category.

More of our Homecoming Mums

Mums and Kisses is located at

3708 County Road 920 

Crowley, TX 76036

The author of this article is Shannon Gonzalez, the owner and Founder of Mums and Kisses. Read more about her here. Or get to know more about Mums and Kisses in our About Us Page.