It came. The moment that every 14 year old girl imagines and the moment that every 14 year old boy doesn’t : Prom. The most epic event of the high school experience. And it was conquered. Writing this column, instead of providing every detail of my night and what not, I’d rather give you underclassmen some words of advice for your future planning.
1. Be with who YOU want to be with. It’s your prom night, and you should be with all the friends you want to be with (or at least as much as possible). Pick the group that fits you best, and just enjoy it. I was fortunate enough to be with everyone that I wanted, with pictures, and with afterwards, and I wouldn’t exchange any person that was involved because they were all my best friends and I enjoyed all of their company. I even got to know people on a whole other level too and everyone became one big family. Find your true friends, and the best group for you, and the rest will follow.
2. Don’t stress about the small stuff. I wasted time worrying about small topics like how everyone would get there and timing and all that and in the end, none of those things mattered. Everyone found a ride, everyone showed up on time. Don’t stress through the day worrying about tiny details because who cares at the end of the night. You’re happy, you’re about to graduate, and you don’t care about anything else except the moment you’re enjoying.
3. Save Your Money. I am not the only one to tell you that prom was EXPENSIVE! You have a lot to pay for (girls epecially!): dress, ticket (if your date doesn’t pay for you, which I think they should, but hey everyone has their reasons.), flowers, afterwards, hair, makeup. Too much to even remember. So, in my case, I decided to spend money on what I needed, not what I didn’t. We didn’t buy a limo because we all just brought our own cars. Nobody cared and it was easy and we got to be on our own schedule. I actually preferred that better being able to leave prom when we wanted and drive to pictures easily. We did have to pay like $5 for parking, which we all thought should’ve been free, but what can you do. I also did my own nails because I didn’t care that much about perfecting them. I wanted to put more of my money into hair and makeup. But if you have the money, by all means, do what you want.
4. Stick with a plan and organize. Everyone wants the perfect after prom, but it won’t happen unless you plan in advance, and don’t be a pushover. Make a list of the people coming, make a list of all you need, find your location, and get the money for it all. Don’t be driving around Friday evening, like we did, trying to collect the money from whoever didn’t pay and exhaust yourself. Plan in advance, stick to the plan, and make sure it’ll all work out.
5. Sleep. Friday evening get to bed early and sleep in. I was stupid and went to a 7 am Saturday Detention and stayed up for a good 24 hours. So value the sleep you get the night before, because you’ll need it. And then, afterwards, take a nice LONG nap after all is said and done, or even if it’s not done.
6. Live it, Love it, Conquer It, but APPRECIATE IT!
I cannot even fathom that it’s already Monday and I’m writing this after-prom column. I was pumped all of last week, which DRAGS by the way, counting down and getting excited. And the day came, and oh I lived it to the fullest all right, but it was indeed the fastest day of my life. So value the time you have, stay up as long as you can and get involved with all the happenings of the event because the next day you’ll want to do it all over again. But seriously, take all the pictures you can (make the parents happy), and enjoy the whole thing as best as you can. Juniors who attended get to go to this again, but you’ll realize it’s not the same when you’re leaving for college in three months and valuing all the people you’re surrounded by for one of the last great hoorahs. You never get another Senior Prom, so live it up.
