Prom

[Mrs Gordo]

Buffering Podcast is approaching the episode The Prom and having a huge shindig in LA to celebrate the episode. This got me thinking my prom and I thought we could share our Prom (or prom-like) experiences:

Did you have a Prom or prom-like event where you are from?
If so did you go?
Did you go with a date? Stag? With a group of friends?
What was your Prom like?
What was similar or different from Buffy's prom?
Did you have any hell beasts (or the real life metaphor for it) trying to keep you from enjoying the party?
Did you have Senior Superlatives (Most Popular/Best Dressed etc) and if so did you win any?
Do you remember any memorable songs or dances?
Was it magical or boring or somewhere in between?

 

[thrasherpix]

No prom or anything else for me, which was probably for the best. I only had one normal year in high school, plus one year in which I was placed in a special class in which we were not allowed to interact with the rest of the school. After that I dropped out until I got my GED. I wondered about proms because movies and TV shows make such a big deal about them, though most who went to the prom that I asked about said it wasn't that big of a deal and they barely remembered it (assuming they went at all), but that could be because most I feel comfortable asking such questions to typically aren't mainstream.

But Columbine happened (not my school) which caused the school faculty to panic, fearing something like that might happen there. We all, even my class, got called to a special assembly where we were urged to turn in anyone we knew who might be angry or upset enough with the school to try something similar (they had to protect their jocks after all, and one jock had already been stabbed the previous year, and then many in my class had beat up a cheerleader and another jock that year--don't think we were picking on the poor jocks just because we lacked school spirit, though). Upon hearing that call to turn in anyone angry enough to shoot up the school one of my classmates turned to us and said, "Dude, that's everyone I know!" 😀

That said, it had nothing to do with not being able to have dates, and at least no one in my social circles ever thought of school dances (prom and otherwise). But I suppose Tucker wanting to set hell hounds loose on the Prom is as close as I can get to relating to the episode to my own high school experience. 😛

 

[Blaze]

My prom was really locky, we were all gone by like 9pm to go to the afterparty at someone's house lol. I did have a good prom though. I went with my friends. Actually, funnily enough I asked one of my guy friend to go with me but he had said no at first. But at the prom we actually walked into the prom together (we were all in guy girl pairs), and we did end up slow dancing together (and maybe sharing a kiss...). He's still one of my favourite people out there, really good guy.

Overall, prom is just not a big deal though, definitely not like what movies make it out to be.

 

[Grace]

Did you have a Prom or prom-like event where you are from?

Yeah, I had the stereotypical American prom with a silly theme and balloons and everyone all dressed up.

If so did you go?

I went to three different proms with three different guys my senior year, which is less bad (or impressive?) than it sounds, because two of them were just friends. My best friend went to a different high school, so we arranged dates for each other so we could go to both. I took a friend to my prom because I had already invited him before I started seeing someone else, and then I went to that guy's prom with him.

What was similar or different from Buffy's prom?

Not much difference! We got to rent a place for senior prom so we didn't have to have it in the school gym like all the other dances. And we had dinner as part of our prom (also different from other dances in high school). Like Buffy, I was also super into my dress. It was navy blue and ballgown-style with some shimmery silver in the bodice, and I got it on clearance for like $50 the previous year. (I eventually donated it to a charity that supplies dresses for high school students who can't afford them, so I hope it got to go to more proms without me. 😉)

Did you have any hell beasts (or the real life metaphor for it) trying to keep you from enjoying the party?

I can't remember any!

Did you have Senior Superlatives (Most Popular/Best Dressed etc) and if so did you win any?

We had a prom court with a king and queen, so we did that at the dance instead of superlatives. Our superlatives came out with the yearbook, and I was Most Likely to Succeed. (Yeah, I totally peaked at 18. Ha.)

Do you remember any memorable songs or dances?

I remember my favorite slow dance song was K-Ci & JoJo's All My Life. I also seem to recall that we all had a lot of feels dancing to Vitamin C's Graduation. (God, am I dating myself or what?)

Was it magical or boring or somewhere in between?

Oh, I loved it. I've always gotten into that kind of stuff. It was fun to dance with all my friends, though the afterparties were always the best part.

 

[Mrs Gordo]

That said, it had nothing to do with not being able to have dates, and at least no one in my social circles ever thought of school dances (prom and otherwise). But I suppose Tucker wanting to set hell hounds loose on the Prom is as close as I can get to relating to the episode to my own high school experience. 😛

LOL! I feel like I could see a few Tuckers around HS trying to muck up Prom.

I went to three different proms with three different guys my senior year, which is less bad (or impressive?) than it sounds, because two of them were just friends. My best friend went to a different high school, so we arranged dates for each other so we could go to both. I took a friend to my prom because I had already invited him before I started seeing someone else, and then I went to that guy's prom with him.

Dang your popular!! 😉 Did you wear the same dress all three proms? I feel like that would get expensive!

It was navy blue and ballgown-style with some shimmery silver in the bodice

I had a navy blue dress too!

I remember my favorite slow dance song was K-Ci & JoJo's All My Life.

high five for the K-Ci/Jojo shout out.

Ok so my answers:

Did you have a Prom or prom-like event where you are from? If so did you go?
Yes our Prom was a big deal. The juniors would put on the Prom for the Seniors. My junior year I was on the planning committee, so I had to go even if I didn't want to. My boyfriend at the time had gone to the army after he graduated the year before and I had to go with a "friend" (who incidentally told everyone we slept together when we so did not I had a boyfriend at the time! - ugh high school amiright?). But we'll just forget about my junior prom and talk about my Senior Prom which was amazing! 🙂

Did you go with a date? Stag? With a group of friends?
I went with my boyfriend at the time who was the sweetest guy and we remain acquaintances to this day. But we also went together with a group of friends.

What was your Prom like? What was similar or different from Buffy's prom?
Like @Grace my dress was a navy ballgown too! And like Buffy's dress it was iridescent so that it had different colors depending on how I moved. I love that dress. I am not as noble as Grace is, I did not donate it. It is in my closet and I still look fondly upon it. I also spent way too much money on that thing. Like my wedding dress I sometimes wonder what the point of having those dresses just staring at me in the closet. lol.

We didn't have our dances in our gym. I think the only dance we had at the gym was homecoming. Our prom was at a large dance hall. Our theme was something having to do with spring or flowers. There was alot of floral stuff going around.

Did you have any hell beasts (or the real life metaphor for it) trying to keep you from enjoying the party?

Not really. Kinda boring... from that standpoint.

Did you have Senior Superlatives (Most Popular/Best Dressed etc) and if so did you win any?

We did have Senior Superlatives - tons of them. I was in hot competition with this other girl for "Most likely to be on Broadway." She ultimately beat me out (apparently it was very close!). Grr. But also - she is now a music teacher and I'm a lawyer so I guess the kids were right - she is closer to the Broadway dream than I am. lol. One of my best friends won most handsome and I still make fun of him for that. 🙂

Do you remember any memorable songs or dances?

I remember slow dancing to the song Yellow by Coldplay.
I also remember people being super excited about them playing Crazy Town - Butterfly. I'm a little embarrassed about that one. It's not a good song. But we were all out there on the dance floor and we knew all of the words!

Was it magical or boring or somewhere in between?

It was pretty magical. I mean - its no Angel walking in and everything fades away while I have a beautiful dance with me - magical but I remember being very happy with the night.

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

Did you have a Prom or prom-like event where you are from? If so did you go?
We did this for a month.
Did you go with a date? Stag? With a group of friends?
Yes! Huh? And Yes!
Did you have any hell beasts (or the real life metaphor for it) trying to keep you from enjoying the party?
There may have been. I can't rightly remember.
Did you have Senior Superlatives (Most Popular/Best Dressed etc) and if so did you win any?
Yes, but I probably should not name them. Not that I remember what they were. I just remember they weren't nice.
Do you remember any memorable songs or dances?
The official song of the year was Alla som inte dansar är våldtäktsmän. It's a Swedish song. Don't ask.
Was it magical or boring or somewhere in between?
It was intense.

 

[sk]

The only event we had was this cortege thingy. Not that different from Norway I suppose...
Like the clip below, only 20 years earlier and another town. Also much less organized and far more dangerous rides lol.

I did of course not participate.
Standing there, acting like a fool and pretending to have fun in stupid clothes. Nope, not my thing...

/SK

 

[November]

Did you have a Prom or prom-like event where you are from?
If so did you go?
We call them Balls (giggles). I was a prefect which meant free entry to all the other High school Balls in the area. I went to 6 or 7 school balls between the ages of 15-17.

Did you go with a date? Stag? With a group of friends?
Some with dates, some with friends. My friends and I swapped dresses.

What was your Prom like?
Fun, fancy, dancy, then drunky at afters

What was similar or different from Buffy's prom?
Similar in the fashion, music and setting. Ours were not held on school property. I made the boarding kids cut out hundreds of gold stars that we stuck all over the golf club function centre.


Did you have any hell beasts (or the real life metaphor for it) trying to keep you from enjoying the party?
Bacne. I was so terrified of people seeing my bare back. I got over it pretty quick though.

Did you have Senior Superlatives (Most Popular/Best Dressed etc) and if so did you win any?

We do Belle and Beau of the Ball. I won Belle at my Senior ball.

Do you remember any memorable songs or dances?
I remember that we had a restricted playlist, but not really what was on it. We were all into Blink 182. That "Amazing" song was playing for my first ball kiss. Awww


Was it magical or boring or somewhere in between?
Magical. All of them were tons of fun. I was so lucky to go to so many. (Plus like 4 extra after-ball parties, they were the biggest parties in town). Soooo much drunk. We were so sweet and innocent back then!

 

[November]

@dcai0830: Ha I still shamelessly love Blink

I did until I saw them live. I then decided they were better in my teen memory. I have real respect for good live acts, unfortunately Blink was not one. The band at our school ball played Josie better than them.

 

[Taake]

The only event we had was this cortege thingy. Not that different from Norway I suppose...
Like the clip below, only 20 years earlier and another town. Also much less organized and far more dangerous rides lol.

I did of course not participate.
Standing there, acting like a fool and pretending to have fun in stupid clothes. Nope, not my thing...

/SK

Haha, your video makes it look so wholesome. They're not drenched enough, this is more how I remember it

And I do remember it... vaguely. 😛 Seriously, you'll never be able to wear that outfit again. (Fun Fact: Law enforcement looks the other way concerning this public intoxication and what goes along with it, as long as you don't litter! If you litter they will pull you over! Littering is bad people, don't litter! Littering is a sin.)


In my school we had a prom last year in 9th, and then before the booze-soaked truck rides on the day of graduation (and nightclubs after) we had graduation parties, this goes on for about a month or two before graduation as there are a lot of parties. My class rented a restaurant/nightclub, arrived in a limo together to our guests waiting (you go to a lot of these parties as each class has their own party, so you go to the parties of everyone you know, many being in different classes or schools) and had a big dinner followed by a great party! No Senior Superlatives, can't remember any songs or dances, definitely some hell beasts (beer bad, beer make cavemen!), it took me about a week to recover from all of this... so I'll say magical, magically evaporating most memories of it. 😉

As for the prom in 9th grade it was nice, we had fun, danced the night away with friends, and in an odd but nice moment (that luckily didn't turn all Carrie) one of the most bullied girls in our year got voted prom queen. It was a really great night, I remember it fondly.

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

I only had one normal year in high school, plus one year in which I was placed in a special class in which we were not allowed to interact with the rest of the school.

Dude. You were put in Continuation? Whoa. 😛
 
There was NO WAY I would've gone to my prom. No no no. A lot of my friends had changed into vacuous, giggly idiots by senior year. They'd hold these fake sorority things, you know, where the pledges had to dress super weird for a week, or for into the football team's locker room and do something embarrassing. I wanted nothing to do with these people. The Prom would've been a special taffeta hell for me. Being set on fire, then dragged through pigeon droppings had more appeal.


@thrasherpix Continuation was that "special" part of the school where the troublemakers took classes. 😀

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

Standing there, acting like a fool and pretending to have fun in stupid clothes. Nope, not my thing...

None taken...

 

[Mrs Gordo]

ok @Taake and @WillowFromBuffy I have questions - are these dumpster trucks? Are ya'll having to ride around in dumpster trucks?

Also - don't ya'll have to be 18 to drink?

Regardless - this all sounds like a rockin' good time. We have some similar debauchery in the states - its called Spring Break. 🙂 I would tell you stories but I can't remember any of them and I have burned all of the photographic evidence. 😉

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

are these dumpster trucks? Are ya'll having to ride around in dumpster trucks?

We used minibuses. I am not an animal.

Also - don't ya'll have to be 18 to drink?

I was 20. Most would 18 or 19, but I had spent a year in England inbetween finishing the sixth form.

 

[Last Watcher]

All this Prom stuff is totally alien to me.....being a Brit we didn't go in for all that kind of thing. I believe Proms are starting to get more popular these days in the UK, but back in the Middle ages when I left school you stayed until after your last exam (some time over a 2 week period) then you were done....So depending on what subjects you had taken, we all left school at different times......literally finished your last exam walked out & never went back 🙂

That said My school mates & I met up after the last of us left & went to out local pub & got ratted (ahem....had a few drinks) we were 16 at the time as they had raised the school leaving age to 16 two years before.
Then within a month I had moved to London & was working for a living.....

 

[Mrs Gordo]

Proms in the US do not usually coincide directly with graduation - it's just an end of the year dance that is usually attended by high school seniors. In fact most of them are a month or more before you graduate. It's kinda like in Buffy though where it is the last major school event before the big event - which is Graduation. Our Prom was sometime in April and we didn't graduate until mid May.

 

[Fool for Buffy]

Our prom is just for seniors and only a week before we graduate, so I'll do that next year. But our school can't have enough stupid other formal dances to remind people that you have to be dating someone so you can pay money to the school to go listen to the same music you always listen to with people you couldn't care less about or see everyday.

 

[November]

Also - don't ya'll have to be 18 to drink?

You only have to be 18 buy the alcohol. Street drinking is illegal for every age 😀 I was the second youngest in my class, finished year 12 at 16 and we all graduated highschool at 17.

Proms in the US do not usually coincide directly with graduation - it's just an end of the year dance that is usually attended by high school seniors. In fact most of them are a month or more before you graduate. It's kinda like in Buffy though where it is the last major school event before the big event - which is Graduation. Our Prom was sometime in April and we didn't graduate until mid May.

Same here. Our Ball was in May, our exams were october and graduation was a separate party in december. We went to the beach after graduation. I remember more of the beach party than I do of the actual graduation.

After exams and before graduation we have a few weeks of celebration. Its called Leavers on the west side and Schoolies on the east. My group went camping up the coast with a few hundred other leavers. 10 days straight of booze, beach, bush and bakery. It really was fun.

I could not continue this through Uni years as my friends could. Every study break was a reason to get shitfaced. I Wore out my liver young, now alcohol gives me hideous depression and 10 days of non stop drinking sounds like a nightmare.

Our parade through the streets included singing too 🙂 (and cartwheels and vomit)

 

[Mrs Gordo]

Same here. Our Ball was in May, our exams were october and graduation was a separate party in december. We went to the beach after graduation. I remember more of the beach party than I do of the actual graduation.

After exams and before graduation we have a few weeks of celebration. Its called Leavers on the west side and Schoolies on the east. My group went camping up the coast with a few hundred other leavers. 10 days straight of booze, beach, bush and bakery. It really was fun. I could not continue this through Uni years as my friends could. Every study break was a reason to get shitfaced. I Wore out my liver young, now alcohol gives me hideous depression and 10 days of non stop drinking sounds like a nightmare.

We went to the beach after graduation too... but our beaches aren't nearly as beautiful as Australia. We have greenish-brownish water on the Texas coast lol. So I imagine your experience is much better.

And I hear you on the drinking in college thing. I was so over it by the time I reached 21, which is ironic. But sometimes I look bad and I'm like - impressed with my past self's drinking abilities. I can't do that anymore. The other day I swear I got accidentally drunk off a margarita at a Mexican restaurant. My husband was is still making fun of me for that.

 

[Taake]

ok @Taake and @WillowFromBuffy I have questions - are these dumpster trucks? Are ya'll having to ride around in dumpster trucks?

Kind of, any vehicle that can unsafely house 20-40 teens is acceptable though.

Also - don't ya'll have to be 18 to drink?

Where there is a will, there is a way!

We used minibuses. I am not an animal.

I am. Minibuses, pfffft. 😛