CONFESS!!! Prom - did you go all out or just stick with the basics

[LynneSin]

It seems anymore that the standards for Prom Night is for kids to take all of their hard earned money from their after school jobs and blow it for just one night with over-sized hummers, fancy after parties and all the trimmings (ok, for some they just have Daddy pick up the tab)

I went to the prom twice and for me, I kept it pretty simple. My Junior year, my boyfriend was willing to get the limo and works but I was happy enough with his car and I found my dress on discount at a bridal shop. We only went to his prom that year; mine was two weeks later and I was out of commission with Mono.

So my senior year came around and I had broken up with the boyfriend and decided to go to the prom with a good friend of mine. Since we were just friends, we didn't spend all the money on the fancy stuff and I even wore the same dress that I had worn the year before (no one had seen it since I only had worn it to another HS prom).

So tell me about your prom - was it a big blowout or just the basics.

[eyesroll]

1. I skipped mine.

Four of us went to Second City (they had a location in the suburbs then) instead, and ran into some promgoers at the show. It got REALLY hot in there, so we were happy we were dressed in normal clothes instead of taffeta and tuxes. We drove Erik's car and went to dinner somewhere basic (Chinese, I think), and crashed at Heather's house.

I think we spent a total of $100-$150, for the four of us, that night. Dinner, tickets (which were like $10) and non-alcoholic drinks at the show.

[formerrepuke]

2. To my recollection, the folks who spent the most money on Prom

'trimmings' were the same ones who got married right out of high school.. For those who feel that the Prom is the social high point of their lives, great.. but for everyone else who understands that it's just a school dance with a (sort-of) dress code- good for them. and in my case, Mums and Daddums would never have shelled out serious money for this.

[taterguy]

3. only had a couple hours notice for the last prom I attended

A friend was student teaching and chaperoning. She didn't know until the day of the event she was expected to have an escort. We dressed up but ate at the town diner, probably the first folks in formal clothes to ever set foot in the joint.

[seemunkee]

4. Didn't go

Never went to a school dance and I have no regrets about it.

My daughter's prom is this Sat.

[Dangerously Amused]

5. I never got asked to a prom, OR a homecoming, OR any high school dance.

I am pathetic.


:cry:

[Patiod]

24. I was 5'11" - had to wait til college to be asked to formals

The college guys weren't so easily intimidated!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

6. Best part was driving my dad's 1946 Plymouth Convertible around...

Other than that...the whole thing was rather "meh".

[yvr girl]

7. We don't really have proms where I'm from

We have a Grad Dance which is the same night as our graduation ceremony. We wore formals to our ceremony and the dance started later...about 11pm.

I went to the grad banquet and then I went on a roadtrip with some friends. We drove to Lake Louise and hiked up to the top and had breakfast on the mountain. Then we went to Calgary and went to the zoo and then the wave pool. We did a bit of shopping. (We lived in a small town.) Then we went to Banff and had dinner at a fondue restaurant. Then we went home. I had a great time.

[ContraBass Black]

8. Didn't go. n/t

[DS1]

9. What prom?

[asthmaticeog]

10. I didn't go, as I hated everyone. nt

[NewJeffCT]

11. I never went to mine... I was too shy to ask anybody

I wasn't voted "Shyest" in my class in both junior high school & high school for nothing!

Heck, I didn't even have a date until I was a junior in college!!!

[Dangerously Amused]

16. Dammit, you should have asked me!!!

I would have jumped at the chance!


(See Reply #5.)

[NewJeffCT]

17. When I was that age...

It would have taken the girl asking me to the prom for me to go. When I was 17-18, I could have had a girl do a strip tease in front of me & then proceed to give me a lap dance and I'd still have been too shy to ask her out. I'm not joking, either.

[China_cat]

12. All dressed up and my date didn't show.

[Dangerously Amused]

18. Wow, that is major suckage.

How did you handle that? Did you confront him/her? Did s/he have a legitimate reason for not showing up, i.e., car accident on the way or whatever?

[China_cat]

26. He fell asleep and 'forgot'

It's been over 40 years and I haven't. (forgotten, that is)

[Dangerously Amused]

27. Did you kill him?

I hope you at least kicked his ass.


The bastid. x(

[China_cat]

29. Did worse than that.

I told his sister.

[Dangerously Amused]

31. Beautiful. That story will be passed down through the generations.

Did he make it up to you, or did you dump him?

[China_cat]

36. I think I've seen him around

about twice in the last 42 years.

[jane_pippin]

13. Oh I went to both. Enjoy this long story:

For junior year I went with my friend. Our school insisted that everybody going have a date (couples only, no going alone or in a group). Neither of us were dating anybody at the time and the single male friends in our group had already been "called" by the other girls so we went together and man alive! did we have to put up a fight to get tickets. First they said it was "couples only" and we weren't dating so we couldn't go. So we said, "Fine. We're dating. Two tickets please." Oh, they didn't care for that one bit, let me tell you. We had to talk to the vice principal, (who was and still is a total dick), and tell him that we didn't care for this kind of discrimination and we didn't think it would go over well with a lot of other people either should we chose to make a big deal of it. He finally saw the error of his ways and let us go. We did the "walk" (you know, the thing where they call out everybody's name and you do the little promenade down an aisle), and all these asshole bastards kept yelling out "lesbos" at us when we were walking (because clearly, 1. two ladies going somewhere makes them lesbians and 2. lesbians are bad. :eyes: Idiots.). Anyway, we did the walk and flipped off the people yelling at us. We had a good time, actually.

For that one my mom made my dress and I think we got a ride with someone. No limo though. Just some beater car.

The next year I went with this guy I didn't even like in his crapped out Chevy Celebrity. I wore a vintage dress that I still have and still bust out for weddings once in a while. I had a good time but when we got back to my friend's house where we were all staying, her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend came by. The new girlfriend tried to fight my friend in order to try to get her to say she wasn't pregnant. (She was). So that was a treat. :eyes: Idiots. Also, guy I didn't even like couldn't take a hint so I wound up hiding with my pregnant friend in her room after the fight drama bullshit drinking her wine. (She didn't have any, don't worry.)

Precious memories!

[tigereye]

38. huh. Since when do they only let couples go?

that sounds like the 50s! Good for you.

Some buddies of mine in high school in the 70s did the gender reversal thing -she wore the tux and he wore the dress. (they were big Bowie fans) This was when it was much more unacceptable to do that than it is now.

[jane_pippin]

41. Since it was us. Seriously, I think they just had it in for us.

They, (the school admins) and our little group of friends had some issues with each other. Nothing major, but one friend refused to dissect an animal in biology and that was a minor to-do, we complained about jocks harassing us and then complained about admins letting them get away with it, they always thought we were drinking in school, (we weren't), they didn't like that the gay guy in the group was all gothed out and unapologetic both for being gay and for being goth, they didn't like that we called bullshit when we saw it and/or found ways around bullshit without breaking any rules, things like that. I guess I can't blame them for not liking us. We were good kids but we were also opinionated and unafraid of being opinionated and I could see how that could be draining for administrators who are just trying to get through the day. But at the same time it's their job to be fair with all of the kids, not just the ones they like. I think they were just waiting for us to "give them a reason" and we never really did, so they just tried to give us shit under the pretense that they didn't want any "disruptions" at their "couples only" shindig. I don't know what the heck they thought we were going to do, however. We just wanted to wear pretty dresses. :shrug:

ha! Maybe it's a Bowie fan thing--my friend was absolutely in love with him at the time. Love Bowie? Be bold!

[tigereye]

44. I'm just surprised that that kind of thinking still exists in schools

since it sounds like your grad. wasn't all that long ago.

I briefly thought about going to several of my hs reunions dressed up as a Hari-Krisha. I just decided not to go til I was over my need to give em the finger, sartorially speaking, that is. :D

[jane_pippin]

48. Well, it was about 10 years ago or so. Not too long, but long enough

to be able to laugh at it and still be a tad bitter about it from time to time. (Like, when I see said vice principal around town once in a while for instance).

I don't know that our school was an example of how schools are in general, but we were the "bad" school in the district and I know they didn't have high hopes for our futures. (We didn't get any college reps coming to our school until the last semester of senior year but the Army was there right away. Things like that. Not that there's anything wrong with the Army or that it's "less" than college, but it would have been nice if they had given us equal exposure to the choices.)

For all my whining about it, I did have lots of great teachers there who made it ok. It was just the principal and vice principal who acted like if you weren't a sports person you weren't worth their time. (Football team shows up drunk to school on Homecoming game day? Oh, no, no suspensions there. My friend wears jeans with holes in the knees? Go home and change, disruptor.) Thank god for art and english teachers. :)

Your decision about reunions seems like the wise route to take. I refuse to go to mine until I've moved far away and the likelihood of running into people I never wanted to see again has decreased considerably. Time and distance makes the heart something something and all that.

I don't really spend all that much time thinking about all this, but this thread just brought back, as I called them before, precious, precious memories. :D

[johnnie]

14. The basics

My girlfriend at the time claimed she didn't want ot go because I wasn't really into that whole school shit. I just wanted to get out and the prom was not high on my list of importance. We weren't going to go, but I decided that I was NOT going to be remember as the shitty boyfriend who didn't "take me to prom" by her in years to come so I told her we should go.

By the time I bought the tickets they had ran out of the little charm they gave out so I got 5 bucks off the tickets. When I went ot get my tux it was slim pickings so I miss matched black pants with a white coat with black cuffs and whatever. The tux cost me around 30 bucks. Then my friend said he would drive us and all four of us went in on a hotel room. All in all it was probably one of the cheapest proms known to man at the time.

The prom sucked, but the party at the hotel was pretty cool. We had about 10 rooms going and we went from room to room and got tanked.

[Catchawave]

15. My daughter peacefully protested her senior prom....

Her and her boyfriend rounded up as many dateless seniors as they could, shopped for "formals" at the Salvation Army thrift store and hired "yellow cabs" to drive them to the prom....which was held at Pat Robertsons' 5-star restaurant at CBN. Oh yeah, eyes rolled :rofl: But their message was clear, nobody should be excluded because of finances and/or popularity.

I've never been so proud of that kid! Some of you met her at Nancy's Whiskey Pub after the April 29th rally in NYC.

[tigereye]

39. cool!

:thumbsup:

[Crazy Dave]

19. I got dumped two weeks before my prom

:cry:

But it was Karma as I had dumped a girlfriend of two years to go out with the one who dumped me.

[GalleryGod]

20. Since I Went to a Private Prep School: I Went to 6 Proms

I enjoyed every one of them immensely...I paid for it all myself, because I had a student job on campus(I was on an academic scholarship) and had saved every cent. Four different dates at 4 different Girls Schools(we were constantly "mixing" with these schools at Sock Hops,Drama productions, Holiday chorales)..and then my alma mater,of course, twice,Junior and Senior years.Didn't need "Limos' that "option" hadn't been "invented" yet.

The anger & sadness I read about vis a vi "Prom Threads", here, is truly stunning; I wish that all of you had enjoyed better memories, for as some one other than I previously posted, "it is just another dance" and it's all about the socialization process, nothing more nothing less.

That's it and That's That.

[Patiod]

25. GG - where did you go?

My SO went to Devon Prep - he got into theater in order to go to rehearsals with the Notre Dame girls

[Iniquitous Bunny]

21. How's this for pathetic?

I was asked by 2 people and had the chance to go with two more. I decided I didn't want to go because HE was going to be there. He was my ex-boyfriend and because I felt no one lived up HIM, I missed out. I ended up going to prom after-parties, getting drunk, and making another poor decision. I wasn't shy. I was an attractive young woman with many offers who choose to miss out because of some dumb guy who didn't appreciate me anyway.

[HughBeaumont]

I went to three.

Yep. SLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOW learner . . .

Junior year - pretty extravagant, went with a girl from a Catholic school. She dumped me three weeks later for some dumbass jock. This pattern often repeated itself throughout teen/college life.

Senior year - Not even the freshmen I asked would go with me. I was asked to my own prom two weeks from the event by one of the punk rock juniors we hung out with. That was cool and I had fun! She wound up having seven kids from five different fathers, so needless to say, I'm glad I didn't end up with her.

Sophomore year in college - my girlfriend at the time was a senior in high school. She did her hair up in this . . . weird 60s bouffant instead of just wearing it down. Many of my friends, who didn't like her in the first place (justifiably so, BTW), were having much amusement at this stupid hairdo. I felt like I was going to prom with one of my mom's classmates (an image that would end up making the . . . er . . . "after prom" activities kind of surreal and disturbing). She wore this gaudy dress that cost about $700. I don't really remember lasting much longer with her. Good riddance to bad rubbish. She cheated on me twice that I know of, so fuck that two dollar hoo-ah. Saw her at the wife's reunion in 2000. They forced me to go over and make nice with her. Her husband had a small mullet and a molester 'stache . . . in 2000. I was half-tempted to ask if the baby she was carrying was his.

Special note - my future wife also went to this prom, with one of my friends. They had to walk to the prom because the dude didn't have a car. So I found much amusement in that and we laugh about it to this day.

[Ohio Joe]

22. All out

Pink tux, limo to pick up my date and go to the prom, Limo after to go into NY City to party, limo after partying to go down to the Jersey shore to party some more then limo home.

[Left Is Write]

23. I went to two proms.

I went to my junior prom at the last minute. My date asked me the week before. I couldn't stand my dress, but it was the only dress left at the mall in my size that I could afford. It looked like some kind of Victorian wedding dress (I wanted a little red spaghetti strap number or something). My date came to pick up in a Scirocco. He was wearing a polyester suit. He didn't take me to dinner - not even McDonalds. Later, he left me at the prom about 10:00 and I had to ride home with my friend Deb and her date.

Senior prom was better. I was dating a guy who had graduated the previous year, and he told me a month ahead of time that he wanted to go to the prom. He got a black tux and completed the look with a white scarf and a cane. Unfortunately, I had to wear the same dress as the previous year! My mom told me it was a perfectly good dress I'd only worn once. Never mind that it wasn't what I would have chosen if I'd had more time to shop the year before. Never mind that it was ugly. (She told me years later that she regretted taking such a hard line, and that she wished she'd let me shop for the dress I really wanted.) Anyway. We thought about getting a limo, but ultimately decided not to. He took me to Eddie Webster's in Bloomington, MN, for dinner, one of my favorite restaurants (now defunct). We went to the prom (at the Hyatt Regency in Mpls), had pictures taken, danced, met up with friends, and had fun. Afterward, he and I and some other kids went to his place to watch movies.

By contrast, my daughter and her friends had everything the kids of today have to have - limo, hotel rooms, dinner, post-prom parties, the whole nine yards.

[KitchenWitch]

28. I did you one better, I did not go at all.

I was kind of a social outcast in High School.

[RevCheesehead]

46. me, too!

Hi, fellow outcast! :hi:
:hug::loveya:

[Midlodemocrat]

30. I went and my daughter went last Saturday.

Here's her pic.


Dress: $150
Hair: $77
Purse, earrings: $42

She isn't dating the boy. She had a wonderful time. Stayed at the after prom until 4AM and then they went out for breakfast.

[Ariana Celeste]

32. I never went to a prom.

:o

I went to a couple dances.... I went to one with a gay friend, and another chick- we three went dressed in plaid. Me a jumper, him a kilt, her a ballgown from Hot Topic. That was pretty cool.

I also went to a Homecoming once with a guy friend, but it wasn't a date.

I never got asked to go to dances though... and wouldn't have gone to one with a date anyways.

[Nikia]

33. I went to three proms

I went to my junior and senior proms and to my boyfriend's senior prom when I was a sophomore. At my school, prom was a dance event without a dinner and free to junior and seniors at my school because money is raised for it. Outside guests had to pay $10.
All three years, I bought a dress for under $80. I got complements on my dresses by girls who spent over 4 times that. I think that I only bought new shoes for one of those years and the shoes were reasonably priced. I did my own hair. I did not buy any jewelry that I did not already have. My dates bought flowers but I don't think they were very expensive. We had dinner at somewhat normal $8-$12 entree places, which my dates paid for. We did not get a limo or anything. We did not take part in any expensive after prom activites. Prom wasn't that expensive for me.
I graduated from high school in 1996.

[Orsino]

34. I stuck with the basics...

...which was still going all out, on my budget. Coat and tie as a soph, a white suit as a junior, then finally rented a tux as a senior.

[Mutley]

35. I boycotted prom.

:D

No, I don't regret it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

37. We went cuckoobananas

We called it "the prom."



Do you have any idea how much those extra letters cost? How much planning is involved?

[tigereye]

40. my mom made my dress - she was really good at sewing

I picked out the fabric and pattern and dieted for a month so I would look svelte. (silly in retrospect)

We went in my dad's old station wagon and had to stay at the prom for the after party, since no one was allowed to leave. It was the typical 70s prom with 70s band and such. Then we went home and slept all day. This was way prior to the limo, hotel room thing. It was fun, but would have been more fun had my BF not recently become a
born- again. ;)

[cmf]

42. I was frugal even as a teenager

I borrowed the dress that I wore. And definitely no limo.

[flvegan]

43. My friend owned an exotic car dealership

So my Junior Prom involved scissor doors and a bright red Lamborghini Countach. Yeah, it was a big hit, but the clutch was a REAL bitch.

My Senior Prom was more the basics. My and my girl, my Corvette, and the debauchery that went with it.

Oh, and no, to this day, she wasn't worth it.

[RevCheesehead]

45. I never went.... I was never asked.

Including the asshole guy who ran around saying "I've asked 26 girls to prom, and nobody will go with me." :eyes:

Just as well - I saved my money for college.

[Sugar Smack]

47. I made my prom gown while my momma prayed in a closet.

I made sure my dirty pillows weren't gonna show, but she kept yelling at me about being a dirty, filthy whore. I took that window curtain and I made it nice and pretty. I even put on a little lipstick and I carried it in my purse. Momma got real mad when I sent the chest of drawers flying at her. Man, she should have seen me. Everything was real dreamy til me and Tommy got pig blood spilled all over us. You could have heard a pin drop. Anyway, I fixed their little red wagons.

:o

[hfojvt]

49. "Carrie, Carrie

Things they change, my friend, whoa oh oh ..."

I went to prom in my senior year. At the basketball arena. I sat way up in the stands while the band gave a free concert then I watched the parade of couples (or it might have been the other way around). The bands name was Asia and when Asia released the first eponymous album in the early 1980s I wondered if it was the same band making it big.

[Book Lover]

50. I HATED my prom

I so did not want to go, but my mom forced me to, as she had not had the chance to go to hers. The limo was overpriced and the bastard driver stole my boyfriend's wallet; the food was awful; the place it was held had a ton of bugs flying around the stagnant water "lakes" they had on the grounds; and the driver also refused to drive us to Jones Beach where all our friends were going afterward. The only good thing about it was that my sister dyed my dress blue and wore it to a few weddings.

on edit: But to answer LS's OP: we spent very little - my dress was barely $100, and we split the limo rental among two other couples. Oh, if I ever find that bastard driver....