With the arrival of Spring, we are not only loving the warm(ish) weather and flower blooms, but are also excited (no matter how old we get in my opinion) for the one event that trademarks the teenage period of our lives:
PROM.
For me, looking back on my experience in high school, prom was definitely one of the highlights. At my high school, prom could only be attended by juniors and seniors (upperclassmen), therefore meaning if you were a freshman or sophomore, you had to be asked as a date. My freshman and sophomore year I was not asked to prom, and I watched with excitement as my friends were asked by seniors and left to go on this “magical, fairytale night,” eagerly awaiting the next sleepover to discuss all the details of what happened.
When junior and senior year finally rolled around, prom was still a big deal but it was different. The excitement of watching my friends get ready and go to prom was traded in for the excitement of picking out my own dress, getting a corsage, and dancing the night away with some of my closest friends. Both of my proms were “magical, fairytale nights” that allowed all of my classmates and I to sparkle and shine.
One thing I never worried about was how I was getting asked to prom. My junior year date asked me in a cute and simple way, because we had already decided to go together. My senior year date and I at the last minute decided to attend together with a big group of friends. Again, the asking to prom was not the important part.
For some of my friends, they got asked in really special ways! One friend was asked via a phone call during the middle of a fireworks show, another friend had a boy play a song he had written to her…the special proposal list was pretty short. I never compared the way my date asked me to the ways my friends were being asked. We were all just super excited to be asked to prom. Period.
Recently, with the rise of social media and technology (duh), we now see these “promposals” being posted and shared all over the Internet. I don’t think we even had the word “promposal” when I was in school. For those of you who don’t know, promposals are when someone proposes to someone to ask them to prom. They can be as simple or as extravagant as the person asking wants (or the person receiving the invitation wants), but the point is to put in a lot of thought and (possibly) effort to make it specialized and specific to the person being asked.
So you see the videos and you see the Instagram posts, and many of us (even me!) wish that we had something like this in high school. The excitement of not knowing what will happen, having a promposal specifically tailored to your interests, a cute boy that you are good friends with/in a relationship with asking you, your friends snapping photos, having an awesome IG worthy pic to post…it sounds perfect.
And that’s what happens. The promposal is posted. Everyone thinks it is perfect and comments how amazing it is. It gets shared on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. Other girls idolize the promposal, secretly wishing it was theirs. Wishing their date would put in that effort. Wishing they were worthy of a promposal. And if you’re not asked with a cute or great promposal, you’re often left like this:
And for the dates that never realized they had to do this much planning to ask a girl to prom, are left like this:
It’s not “so sad” though. In high school, especially in the time we live in now, where you see promposals everywhere, always in your face, it feels like the end of the world.
I am here to assure you that it is not. To all my high school girls out there, not getting a promposal is not the end of the world!
You’re still going to prom. You’re still going with a really nice guy or girl that cares about you and wants to go with you. You’re going to look great and slay everyone with your amazing hair and make-up, beautiful dress, and killer corsage. You’re going to make lifetime memories with your friends. It will still be a “magical, fairytale night.”
And if you’re not going to prom, you can still have fun! You can help your friends going get ready & take their pictures. Or you can get together with a group of friends not going to prom and go out to eat or have a sleepover.
Prom is one night that most of us look forward to having the time of our lives, but your prom experience is not defined by how you get asked. Your prom experience is about having the most fun you can on one special night with all of your closest friends. Keep that reminder close & your prom (and promposal) will never disappoint!
HCXO!