School Prom

[Beebo]

Someone please fill me in on this new phenomenon.

My kids are too young, and when I left school no one did any of this nonsense, but speaking to some of the guys at work, they are spending £hundreds and £hundreds on this stupid american import. And it seems everyone is doing it, with dresses, limos, DJ's etc etc!

So, give me your kid's Prom stories, so I can get my head round this is 10 years time!

 

[Dave 123]

It used to be some half arsed school disco in my day.
Now it seems that the kids want everything here and now.
The only trouble with this is that they'll want bigger and better for their 18th party, engagement party, weddings.... and none of it will ever meet their expectations and desires.

All they need is smelly lycra and a tin of GT85!

 

[AndyRM]

We seem to be getting increasingly 'Americanised' in Britain. I got invited to a Thanksgiving Party last year FFS. It's like colonialism in reverse!

 

[simon the viking]

Sorry, with you on this.... don't understand em' ..... School disco in my day... lads at one end, spotty and nervous....... girls at the other end of the room pointing and giggling then eventually culminating with 'my mate... fancies your mate.....'

Little-un will get took to his (if I take him at all) in what car I own at the time...............

I think its a bit of 'keeping up with the Jones's'/oneupmanship.... by the parents as the kids don't have the money to hire the stretched limos

 

[glasgowcyclist]

We seem to be getting increasingly 'Americanised' in Britain. I got invited to a Thanksgiving Party last year FFS. It's like colonialism in reverse!

Indeed. A friend's daughter who finished her A-level exams a few weeks ago wasn't leaving secondary school she was "graduating". Since when did we call leaving school graduation?

GC

 

[w00hoo_kent]

My almost 20 year old got picked up by a limo when they left primary school for the last time (a friends parents had sorted one out through a friend of a friend deal and they have a lot of space in them so plenty of others got invited), it seems to have become a thing, my wife worked in a school up until a couple of months ago and there was similar every year for the last decade or so. No idea why. The prom thing is basically the school disco but up market and they do seem to be making a big thing of dresses etc. Ours didn't go to the school dance thing at the end of their secondary school, but it was a public school and they weren't in a great place at the end of their upper sixth so weren't really socialising with anyone. Considering we had serious potential for keeping up with the Joneses material (our child got in on a scholarship and between that and a bursery we could just afford it each year, they got dropped off in a £350 Mondeo, and learnt to drive in the same, and dealt with it while there were often Astons and Ferraris in the car park) the class thing really didn't come in to it. If you teach them to be themselves and be happy with it and don't pander then that side of things works OK.

Make sure they know what to expect and if they want more I'm sure they can get a job and earn the money to buy it.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Someone please fill me in on this new phenomenon.

My kids are too young, and when I left school no one did any of this nonsense, but speaking to some of the guys at work, they are spending £hundreds and £hundreds on this stupid american import. And it seems everyone is doing it, with dresses, limos, DJ's etc etc!

So, give me your kid's Prom stories, so I can get my head round this is 10 years time!

The stretch limos are just tacky.

A couple of years ago there was one upset teenager and an irate father complaining to the local press because the school headmaster denied him permission to allow his son to arrive at the school prom disco in a helicopter. A heli-feckin-copter!


GC

 

[ColinJ]

My school leaving do consisted of handing over my final A-level paper, standing up, walking out and never setting foot in the place again!

If leaving dos had been around in those days, I would have considered them leaving "don'ts". No way would I have gone to a 'prom'! (I hate 'fuss'. I did not even go to my own university graduation ceremony!)

 

[Fnaar]

2 of my kids have had the 'prom'. A lot of schools seem to have bought into the (tacky) idea. The school, on both occasions, hired out a (major) venue. But you can keep costs low. The kids understood we don't have money to burn so it cost us a £10 dress on each occasion plus a tenner to spend.

 

[vernon]

Indeed. A friend's daughter who finished her A-level exams a few weeks ago wasn't leaving secondary school she was "graduating". Since when did we call leaving school graduation?

GC

Ever since we started importing and using American education practices with an accompanying deterioration in the quality of teaching and learning.

 

[welsh dragon]

Proms don't have to cost a lot of money. As some of you say, in my day we had a disco. Proms are the new discos. My granddaughter just had her prom. In all her parents spent around £100.00 on a dress and shoes. A neighbour got in on the act and lent her some jewellery. The prom took place in the school itself. Her dad dropped her off at school. No-one arrived In a limo or a helicopter.

some parents and kids do go over the top big time, but you get that everywhere with parents and children alike wanting to outdo everyone else. My grandaughter had a wonderful time.

 

[Julia9054]

My kids' school has the prom in the school hall. A local band (sixth formers usually!) and a buffet and disco. A big thing is made of the arrival with a red carpet, photographer and the head in his best suit shaking everyone's hand.
Both my kids agreed that the actual prom was a bit naff but they enjoyed the build up to it - planning outfits, transport etc.
My eldest has a friend whose dad is a farmer. He drove 20 of them on a tractor with an enormous trailer complete with a 3 piece rock band! It looked awesome and cost each of the kids about £10 each to pay the band and buy dad a present.
My youngest went in his friend's dad's car which they had covered in superhero stickers!
Both wore the same hand me down outfit of top hat and tails which cost me very little. Might have been a different story on the expense front if I had daughters!
It wasn't my tradition but then times move on. All pretty harmless imo
Photos to follow.

 

[MarkF]

Sorry, with you on this.... don't understand em' ..... School disco in my day... lads at one end, spotty and nervous....... girls at the other end of the room pointing and giggling then eventually culminating with 'my mate... fancies your mate.....'

Yes, that sounds just like my school leaving disco, poo. I wish I'd had a prom.

In general, I think they are a good thing. My youngest son has just had his second., my daughter has had one, leaving primary. It's a fantastic night out for kids, what a thrill to get dressed up, like adults! think some have forgotten what it's like to be young. I am all for them, and being "American", isn't a default spoiler for me.

Negatives, girls & parents. I watched a limo pick up all the girls, bar one, an "agreement" had been made between the in-crowd girls and parents. That will always stay with her. Never known one issue planning prom night between boys, but with girls, wow! Jealousy, spite, venom and vengeance flies everywhere!

 

[vernon]

If anything proms have got cheaper. When they started in my school ten years ago girls were buying their dresses from America and spending £400 plus import duties. The boys used to buy their suits also at high prices. There's now a burgeoning prom dress market and many are available at around £40 - £100 and boys suits are also available at sub £100 prices. Hire companies also exist.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...s_sm=91&ie=UTF-8#q=prom+dress+school&tbm=shop

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8#q=prom+suit+school&tbm=shop

Prices can be driven even lower with imaginative use of second hand clothing.

As for transport, once again the cost can be driven down with the imaginative use of contacts' vehicles. My school has had every thing from custom painted articulated lorry tractor units through to mobility scooters turn up at the gates.

Lots of schools use the prom as an incentive for good behaviour. Too many negative comments on a pupil's discipline record then the prom disappears off their agenda until there's a sustained improvement in behaviour and effort. It works - the prom is something that nearly all pupils look forward to.

Graduation ceremonies though...I remain unconvinced. The miscreants and under performers (usually both traits demonstrated by the pupils in question) in my school weren't allowed to graduate a month ago and when they started their new timetable, brought forward to the last week in June from September, they were not allowed to wear the new tie with a different colour that marks their progress into the next year group. The also missed out on the annual school trip. Such pupils don't really have the forward planning skills and self awareness to be able to link actions and consequences but that's a different story.

 

[vernon]

Negatives, girls & parents. I watched a limo pick up all the girls, bar one, an "agreement" had been made between the in-crowd girls and parents. That will always stay with her. Never known one issue planning prom night between boys, but with girls, wow! Jealousy, spite, venom and vengeance flies everywhere!

Not mention the perpetuation of the grudges for the ensuing years....

Boys ego's are quick to heal and grudges quickly forgotten.