With the end of the school year approaching, for senior high school students it can mean graduation is upon them. It can also mean that the biggest and best night of their young life so far is approaching.

Yup, you guessed it.

PROM.

Via https://insights.vivomiles.com/2014/02/lets-go-to-the-prom/

It has been quite some time since I had my prom, but I remember it being pretty simple.  I wasn’t in a relationship at the time, so I asked one of my good guy friends to be my date. No cute or crazy proposal. I just flat-out asked.   I distinctly remember him being late in picking me up, so we ended up missing the pre-prom party at my friend’s place. He did however make the effort to get me a corsage that matched my dress. To be honest, prom wasn’t a life or death situation for me. I was more concerned about whether or not I made the right choice for which university I would be attending in the fall.

Looking back at it,  I had a great time with my date and my friends. Just before I started writing this post, I was looking at a photo album (You know, the one that you actually hold in your hand and flip through) with my prom pictures and was reminiscing about the event.

Looking back at it from a financial perspective, I spent a lot of money. I had a part-time job during my last year of high school, so I must have used some of the money I earned to help pay for everything.   I don’t even remember how much I spent, but I know it must have been a lot because I had my updo done professionally at a salon and bought a dress from a boutique because I didn’t want to end up wearing the same dress as someone else. I also bought some fake crystal design that I could put on my back because my dress had a low back to it.  It ended up falling off because I got pretty sweaty from dancing up a storm. Since I was the one who asked my date out, I paid for the prom tickets. I did save some money though by having a friend do my makeup and not going the limo route like most people.

Saving money to pay for a university/college education is stressful enough; let alone saving money to get the so-called prom essentials. You can end up spending a LOT of money for just that one night, especially if you’re female. I know people do that already with weddings, but your financial situation as a teenager is often quite different from your financial situation as an adult, meaning you didn’t have as much as money back then and wasn’t earning as much either.

I know a lot has changed since I went to my prom.  There is actually now a certain way to ask a girl to the prom, a “promposal.”  Whatever happened to just literally asking someone to the prom? Apparently guys are now putting in a lot more effort to ask someone to the big dance. While some of them can be simple with just a cute sign asking to go to the prom with them, some guys will give expensive gifts or do things such as treasure hunts ?!?!

Not that’s anything wrong in being creative with asking your sweetie to the prom. And thanks to social media apps, such as Pinterest, there is an endless supply of ideas for a minimal amount of money.

What I don’t get is when guys go over the top with these promposals. One guy from Baltimore, Maryland actually PAID for a 30-second commercial to ask his girlfriend to prom.  I have no idea how much that would cost, but I bet it was a lot of money.   I’ve heard of guys being pressured by their girlfriends, friends and family to propose and put a ring on that finger, but remember most of  these guys are much older and have steady jobs. Does a 17-year-old or 18-year-old need that much more peer pressure in their life?

It’s one night versus a life time commitment.

Ok, maybe I’m just a teensy bit jealous because I didn’t have a high school sweetheart to ask me out to prom in a romantic way. The funny thing is, if you’re already in a steady relationship in your senior year of high school, isn’t it automatically assumed that you two are going to the prom together anyway?  Why would you need to ask? Alright, I guess I’m more pragmatic than romantic. Maybe romance was dead for just a little while, but is now being brought back to life by the younger generation through promposals.

What are your thoughts on promposals? Do you have any funny or embarrassing prom stories to share?