Now that I am twenty-two years old I have a distinct opinion was way over hyped, and highly over rated for kids in high school. I remember when teachers began to tell me that you need to start saving your money prior your senior year of high school starts.
The need to save up for a car or to put a down payment for buying your own home was highlighted on several occasions. Maybe I’m just being a bit bitter because I didn’t have a date to the prom, but regardless of all of that I still had a very good time with myself, my friends, and the events that ensued.
Prom is a very traditional event for high school that probably goes back decades, and lord knows how much it has probably changed since that time. Now they also plan an after prom party to keep the kids safe from the ordinary events that occur at the drunk parties, and other illegal activities after the children leave their first prom and likely only prom.
Today it becomes almost an essential thing to have money prepared to get you and your date expensive prom tickets. In addition to the cost of the ticket, you have to have a professional photo shoot done in front of a cheesy backdrop. As if that weren’t enough, you also have to rent a tailored tuxedo made for well before and rent a fancy limo just to get there.
Not sure if that is everything, needless to say, there is much planning that goes into prom. To be honest, I feel lucky I didn’t have a date because I certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford it at the age of seventeen.
The actual dance itself was great even if I didn’t have a date. As it turned out my high school crush was left dateless at the dance, so I put a rose in between my teeth and ended up having my prom date after all. That will be a night I will not forget anytime soon.
After the famed dance, the school had hosted the after party with prizes like laptops that would prepare you for college, some poker tables, more dancing, a massage area, and a small arcade with games that were surprisingly fun. I had to get dressed in the back of my dad’s car on the way there in my prom t-shirt and jeans, but once I got dropped off there, I found my friends immediately.
I remember the after party more than the actual dance itself because it had a photo booth rental too. The photo booths gave us an opportunity for making the craziest memories while still hyper at what was probably 2am in the morning.
Through the challenges at the poker table, I won enough tickets that won me the raffle drawing for a full fledge laptop computer that turned out to be my first very own computer that I didn’t have to share with anyone which now I think of it helped to pave the way for my future.
So all in all even though I think school programs, and teachers ultimately set the expectation too high for students on prom night I had a very memorable night that’ll last for a good long time.