9 Texas Family Traditions Everyone Complains About but Nobody Will End

A homecoming mum cost a few dollars in the 1960s.

A high-end one now runs past $1,000, and a homemade one eats 14 hours of a parent’s weekend.

Every Texas family with a teenager complains about that, then does it again the next year.

These are the Texas family traditions everyone complains about but nobody will end.

The Christmas Tamalada

Families with Mexican roots build an entire December weekend around the tamalada, the all-day gathering where aunts, cousins, and kids turn corn husks, masa, and meat into tamales.

One Brownsville family alone turns out 240 dozen tamales in a single tamalada.

Work starts in the morning and runs into the evening.

Somebody always complains about the wrist cramps from spreading masa all day.

Somebody else complains about the cousin who shows up two hours late and eats without helping.

Nobody skips it.

That Brownsville family has kept its tamalada running since 1949, passed down across generations.

The rule hasn’t changed since: Once you’re in, you’re in for good.

The Homecoming Mum

Families spend money every fall on the homecoming mum, the ribbon-and-flower arrangement worn to the game.

A basic mum cost just a few dollars back in the 1960s.

A high-end mum today can run past $1,000.

Parents grumble about the price every single September.

Some school districts have limited mum size after the arrangements grew heavy enough to clog hallways.

A few campuses now cap how many ribbon tails a student can wear.

Families order a mum anyway.

A homemade mum can eat up 14 hours of a parent’s weekend.

It also eats up hundreds of yards of ribbon.

Many families still call that cheaper than paying a professional mum maker.

Deer Camp’s Opening Weekend

Texas hunting families build their whole autumn around the general white-tailed deer opener.

This year that opener lands on Nov. 7 in both the North and South zones.

Half the household disappears to camp for the weekend.

The spouse left running the house complains about the empty side of the bed.

The kids complain about missing a hunting trip they were promised since summer.

Nobody cancels camp.

The family renews the lease and packs the truck.

The argument about who forgot the propane happens again, like it does every November.

Dove Season’s Dawn Wake-Up Call

Texas dove hunters treat Sept. 1 like a second Fourth of July.

This year marks the first time all three hunting zones in the state have opened on that exact date.

Alarms go off early.

Teenagers grumble about the wake-up call.

Whoever loses the coin flip spends the afternoon cleaning birds at the tailgate.

Everyone else naps.

The family still shows up every year.

More than 300,000 Texans hunt the opener.

Together they generate over $500 million in economic activity for the state.

Many say the cousins who only show up for that one weekend are why they keep coming back.

The Quinceañera Budget Fight

Texas families start planning a daughter’s quinceañera years before her 15th birthday.

The budget conversation turns loud fast.

Some Dallas-area families save up to $25,000 for the dress, the hall, the band, and 300 guests.

Parents argue over every line item.

Parents recruit padrinos to help cover the cake or the photography.

That arrangement starts another round of family negotiating.

The party happens regardless.

Texas families have celebrated quinceañeras this way for generations, a border tradition state historians trace back to the early 1900s.

The arguing over cost is as old as the celebration.

The Friday Night Road Trip

Texas high school football sends families on the road every Friday from late August through November.

Half those games happen in somebody else's stadium.

An away game can mean an hour or more of driving each direction.

Grandparents grumble about the drive home in the dark.

Parents grumble about gas money.

Teenagers grumble about homework left undone in the truck.

Every seat still fills up.

The Texas High School Coaches Association has pushed back on college teams scheduling games on Friday nights.

The group argues Friday nights belong to the towns whose social calendars run through the stadium.

The Big Tex Photo

Big Tex greets crowds for 24 straight days this year when the State Fair of Texas opens Sept. 25 and runs through Oct. 18.

Families treat a trip to see Big Tex as close to mandatory.

Parking alone runs about $30 a car.

Add admission for everyone and a corny dog apiece.

The lines build up fast under a Texas sun still pushing 90 degrees in late September.

The complaints start before the family even reaches the gate.

The photo still happens.

Fair staff say families come back year after year to stand under him.

They watch their kids get bigger in the photo each time.

That's the whole reason nobody argues their way out of the trip.

Bluebonnet Picture Day

Parents pull onto highway shoulders every spring the moment the bluebonnets bloom, usually from late March into May.

The kids rarely cooperate.

Somebody is squinting.

Somebody else is crying about a bee.

A sibling has already crushed the exact patch of flowers the parent wanted in the shot.

They take the photo anyway.

Parents already know many of these shots won't be the one they frame.

They still pull over every year the flowers show up.

Skipping bluebonnet season isn't something a Texas family considers.

Fireworks on the Family Land

Families who own rural land treat a home fireworks show as the whole point of the Fourth of July.

Cousins drive in from three counties over just to watch.

Dry summers complicate those plans some years.

County burn bans don't always cover fireworks sales the way people assume.

One relative always argues that shooting anything off this year is a bad idea.

The show goes on.

Someone hoses down the grass around the launch site first.

Someone else keeps a flashlight aimed at the ground for stray sparks.

The family lights the whole box the moment the sky goes dark.