My prom theme was "Forever's gonna start tonight". We used a line from a song. We didn't even use the title. (Not much you can do with "Total Eclipse of the Heart".)

Let's not even mention the fact that the prom was in 1994 and the song was released in the late 80's.

Back then, I thought it was very cool. Looking back, very lame. Anyone else have a lame prom theme?

Angie

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Answers

Prom themes, by definition, cannot be anything BUT lame.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I agree.

When I was in high school, our senior prom was cancelled because not enough people bought tickets. I was so proud.

This was in 1972. It amazes me that kids are so gung ho now about proms.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Stairway to Heaven -- the ultimate cliche prom theme, with a song that is almost impossible to dance to, unless you dance for a living.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Angie, not to depress you even more, but "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was released in the *early* 80s. Bonnie Tyler sang it and did a surreal video. Someone else covered it (with more of a dance-type beat) several years later.

And I have to agree with everyone who said that all prom themes are lame.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

"A Night in Paradise" I guess you could consider that the most overused prom theme ever...the really bad thing was, all of the decorations were city-themed. Great big building outlines with lights in the windows. We even had a balloon drop. ugh. I didn't stay long, but for some reason Bill Clinton was there (he was Governor at the time).

To be honest, it was the after party that I was more interested in.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Oh, Lord: We had "All Night Long" in 1984 (Where HAS Lionel Ritchie been lately?) and "Rhythm of the Night" in 1985 (Ditto for El DeBarge).

What always amazed me was how many schools gave out or sold commemorative Prom GLASSES. I'm sure the good nuns at my all-girls high school would never have gone for anything that suggested high- school girls might be drinking.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

We had a junior, not senior, prom, because in 12th grade you're squirreling away $$$ for college, allegedly. So the whole letting off steam, last time, goodbye idea of a prom was blown.

My junior prom had Led Zeppelin as well, because in our school skids got more interested in the prom than preps and more of them voted. Perhaps people thought they were being original by choosing "All of My Love" instead of "Stairway to Heaven." The ironic bent of "All of My Love" was apparently lost on whoever voted for it: at the end, Jimmy Page sings "All of my love to you, babe," and as it fades out, "and to you and to you and to you and you and you." Anyone who thought that song was about monogamous love was deaf or delusional. Which was appropriate, because there was a tie vote for prom queen and so that can't-dance-slow-dance hug-n-sway thing was indulged in by three people in lock-step, not two.

The horror...the horror...

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

oh you guys - prom themes? We don't have "proms" in Australia, we have something similar but seemingly less structured called a "formal". No themes though - just dancing and falling down drunk.

The more I read about high schools in the States, the more I become convinced that Grease is a documentary. I adore it.

cheers anna

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Actually, I used to be in modern dance, and we did one to "Stairway to Heaven" featuring masks and the like. It actually came out cool. I'd never even heard the song before that dance...I know, hard to believe.

And as for prom glasses, my school had a big controversy about how our class couldn't hand out wine glasses with candles in them because they promoted drinking. Never mind that you couldn't drink out of the things too well...My class went around taking a poll of kids and drinking after this, and we basically came to a consensus that onbody but the administration cared, and students will "drink out of my fucking hand." (actual quote).

As for prom themes...what _were_ my prom themes? "More Than Words" w, "Take My Breath Away" and "Forever Tonight." Whatever that all means.

The one I found amusing was our middle school graduation theme, "End of the Road," which those who make silly speeches at that time were trying to alter with "It is not the end of the road really, but a beginning..." And the big road on the wall did the same thing.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Hmmm...there was "Endless Love"--this was 1990, mind you. I don't know what was up with that. A couple of my punk-ass friends who were on the prom committee tried to get "Just Like Heaven" as our theme, but they were shot down.

I don't remember much about that prom, really. It was all right. I wore a red dress and went with a college boy. Oh, and the limo that was supposed to pick us up broke down on the way to my house, so we had to pack ourselves into Tom's Ford Escort. Of course, my friend Tracey was wearing this hoop skirt contraption of immense diameter, so it was a riot trying to pack her in the back seat of the Escort.

I think we got little vases as souvenirs. I probably threw mine away.

Senior year, the prom theme was Always and Forever. I still have the commemorative T-shirt and I sleep in it on a regular basis. My lucky date got a commemorative tank top, which I'm sure looked fetching on him. He was a skinny little thing!

I wore a tux and black Converse and a pillbox hat to my senior prom. I was sick of buying stupid dresses that I would never wear again.

Both proms were boring and ver

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

My high school had Junior-Senior Prom. Our high school was in a rural area, with nowhere other than the school to hold prom. Junior year the theme was End of the Road (as was probably 90% of all schools that year). Senior Year was A Whole New World. Junior year everyone was to worried about how they looked to enjoy prom. Senior year was great, although my then fiance and I left prom early and hit a bar we used to hang out at. (Fiance was much older, I didn't look like a high school kid either). The Mutterings of A Fool

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I would just like to say that I went to prom in a trolley last year. And it broke down in inner city Baltimore at 12:30 am.

There is so, so much more to this story. I'll have to write it up in my journal (http://tbns.net/iseabal/) next week.

This year, we're taking a mini-bus. (I want a limo, darnit.)

Um, I don't even know what the theme is, to be honest. But my dress is a sexy tight hot pink number and that's all that matters. ;)

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

"If I Could Turn Back Time."

Cher.

1950's theme.

Blech.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

Our theme was "The Best of Times" by Styx. And this was in the 1990s. I don't know what we were thinking. The best part was that my best friend and I got to pick the songs they played during coronation and we picked "It Must've Been Love" by Roxette, which is about a break-up. No one noticed.

We had champagne flutes for the girls and mugs for the boys. I wish I had a mug. Then again, my prom date is currently on trial for murder, so I don't like to think about the prom much at all.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

My prom theme IS 'under the sea'...why? Who knows. I cannot think of any topic more removed from graduating from high school. It doesn't have anything to do with the disney connatation (although if it did it would probably be even worse), or where we live, or what we plan to do with our lives...I think actually the decorating people wanted to use a lot of cellophane and they liked the colour blue. So, yeah, I havn't actually graduated yet (I guess I don't really fit in here) but I still thought it was at least an unappropriate if not suitably lame theme.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

Kim: HA! The Best of Times! Oh, man, that kills me! I mean, not to laugh at your prom, but...

Julie: are they gonna have plastic fish and stuff?

My prom theme must have been incredibly lame because I don't even remember what it was.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Junior and Senior prom. Same date for both.

Junior prom: Song: "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton. Had a wonderful, we're falling in love evening. Uncharacteristic of my life, but every 8 or 10 years it happens.

Senior prom: Song: "In Your Eyes" Never mind it was old (Say Anything came out in early 80s and frankly was annoying/overplayed by 1990). Date and I had just broken up, but went together anyway (as "friends"). I discovered he already had a new girlfriend at college, he got drunk, tried to kiss me, threw up, and ended up locking himself in his car all night where he pissed himself. He remained in there, unconscious, for the better part of the morning, on full display.

The a few days later, at graduation, people were asking me, "Was that your boyfriend who wet himself in his car?"

He's not my boyfriend, I replied, with as much dignity as possible.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Erica, that's a horrible story but your name is cool because it has "eating" in it.

Boy I'm hungry.

I don't think we had an overall theme to our prom like with the decorations and stuff, but I remember the song was (1991 folks) "In your eyes" by Peter Gabriel. However, the three punks in my school of 2,000 managed to get "In your eyes" by Minor Threat on the bill too, hoping people would get confused and we'd get to hear hardcore at our prom. It came in second. My yearbook still lists it as the second most favorite song of the Class of 1991.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Yeah, a lot of people also mention the "cake eating" aspect of my email address too.

Two more things about the prom: 1. Limos. Took a limo to the junior prom with 2 other "couples" and split the cost. Limos are so cheesy and kids are still doing it. In fact, they probably rent hovercraft or lincoln continentals these days, but why the compulsion to rent absurd vehicles? When you're a kid, these things are exciting, I guess. Hey, I did it!

2. In my town, the high school is located a top a gently sloping hill. A big, long walk way leads up the hill, to the front door. For the senior prom, the couples walk up the hill, and the WHOLE town is there, on either side of the walkway, watching/admiring the prom- goers in all their finery. Parents, kids...everybody. It is sort of weird. Then, after this little fashion show, the prom kids get in their limos and go to the dance.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Not quite the same, but it is popular in my town, on the night of the prom, to drive around town aimlessly because usually couples are standing out in front of their houses getting their pictures taken. I never thought that was weird until just now.

Gwen, you can laugh at my prom if you want to. I know I try to, as often as possible.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

Kim: I never thought the walkway/fashion show thing was weird until now, either. But it is. It's weird.

Pictures! I forgot about all the PICTURES!

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I didn't go to my junior prom due to a drama competition. I can't even remember what the theme for my senior prom was but I have that little souvenir champagne glass somewhere. I'll have to see.

I was at my senior prom a total of thirty minutes. My date and I did not get along at all and by the time we arrived at the prom I was already thinking up plans to ditch him. This is a college boy who WANTED to take me to the prom (I didn't want to go but I felt this wierd obligation to go for a small bit) and then complained the entire night that it was juvenile, etc. Fortunately for me, the pre-party we went to had quite a few nice guys there.

We stayed at the pre-party for two hours--went to the prom for thirty minutes (consisted of taking pictures and that was IT) and then we went to a small art gallery downtown and I promptly ditched my date. I went back to that pre-party and had a blast.

It was a really good prom night with the exception of my date and that thirty minutes I was actually at the prom. Wierd, huh?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

In my high school in Canada, we had formals, not proms, with no KIngs or Queens. But it was still a big deal. It was a medium high school, the only one in the county, so the formals were a big deal, but I cannot remember a single theme. My best memory is fishing after one of the formals in my date's father's boat, in all of our finery. Fishing season opened at midnight, and she was a keen fisher, and didn't want to miss it.

About kids renting limos, I think it is a practice to be encouraged, as I often pick up extra money driving those limos with all those kids in it. No booze in the car, and if you throw up, that's a $150 cleaning fee. Some of those kids are good tippers, but I always wonder where they got the money to afford such an extravagance?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

My god, I can't even remember what our theme was, but I do remember this: it had some sort of grammatical error or an apostrophe out of place or something. I was on the naming committee, too. I remember trying to get it corrected at the last minute, but nobody would believe me that it was grammatically incorrect. Wow...wish I could remember what it was now.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I didn't go to either of my proms, but I believe our themes were pretty lame ... A Night in Heaven, and (if I'm not mistaken) Purple Rain. Or maybe that last one was one of the suggestions that got rejected. It's really too awful to contemplate. (Deb? Help me out here. Was Purple Rain really one of our prom themes?)

I think the the prom theme my sophomore year was Nights in White Satin, which is probably a little racy for a high school prom. Or maybe I'm just a prude.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I don't remember if my prom had a theme, but whatever it was, the subtext was, "Your shoes are garbage," and whoever was in charge of the prom is in charge of my retirement, and he gets his by screwing me out of mine.

That's the lesson high school teaches.

Owen and Jeannie's reception, after the wedding, had finger food, but the bed-and-breakfast we were staying in didn't serve a supper, so several carloads of us decided to go down the mountain to a restaurant.

We saw an ad for a steak house on television and decided to go there.

It took an hour to get organized, an hour to drive down the mountain, and, when we got to the restaurant, it took us an hour to get a table for eight.

It was prom night. Kids in formal gowns and tuxedos. Hairdos.

Stretch limousines pulled up. Where we were outside on a bench, waiting.

It was like Oscar night. It was like waiting outside the Safari Lounge, in Panama City, Florida.

Were they from an African-American high school?

Were they African-American kids from several public high schools eating separately from the white kids from their school?

Did they have, or would they have, hip-hop music at their prom?

It was too early to be after the dance. It seemed too late to be before the dance, to me.

I dropped out of high school my senior year to enlist in the Air Force. But I was dragooned into going to the junior prom, to escort a cousin, whose date had stood her up.

Her mother and my mother tried to get me into her brother's evening jacket, but I was bigger than he was. I ended up wearing a cabana coat, which was sort of like a guayabera, only thicker.

It was like wearing a sign saying, "I am poor." Big half-moons of sweat. The gym wasn't air-conditioned.

There was no party afterwards. Maybe something chaperoned at her parents' house. No driving hotrods over a cliff, drunk, like Buzz, in Rebel Without a Cause.

I remember dancing with a girl who had a girdle on. For all I know, all the girls were wearing girdles.

This was 1955.

I don't remember what kind of sappy music was popular then. I know I didn't like it.

I wasn't a creep, but I was a loner. The Air Force was a good place for me. I could go to dances at the USO Club, or the Service Club, and listen to the band play swing-band tunes. If you were lucky, a Count Basie or a Stan Kenton arrangement.

Once I got overseas, you could pick a nightclub with the music you liked.

Owen dropped out of high school and went on the road with the Gillis Brothers when he was 16. But Balder graduated from high school. He went to the prom.

His date had been the Homecoming Queen. Or maybe he was her escort at Homecoming. I get them confused.

Anyhow, me and Brenda being loners didn't cramp Balder's style, or Owen's, for that matter.

I don't know if he and Jeannie dance, but they made a lovely couple at the wedding.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

finally- a real chance to vent!!! i was one of the prom chairpersons, as well as the decoration committee... the lovely class board took a vote, and somehow, they managed to choose "floating on a memory" allow me to tell you how insanely disgustingly hard it is to decorate accoring to a theme (the theme of course was to be the basis for decorations...)

i wound up doing 58(!!!!!)floral arrangements by hand with no one but my mother (who had a broken foot at the time) the day of prom (grrr!!!), placing them on mirrored tiles, sprinkling confetti on the tables and lighting votives all around the flowers... i also did a mild amount of gossamer around the enterance to give an ethereal feel... basically, we had an extremely simple decor... red roses and candles... a very very few mylar balloons tied to the upper balcony of the room just for good measure.... less is more.

at least my prom was fun. i went stag- with my two best friends. we had more fun than almost anyone who was actually there with a date.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

I'm a junior in high school now, and just had my prom last week. I must admit (to this seemingly prom-hating bunch) that my prom was fantastic. Our theme was "La Jardin de Amor" (The Garden of Love), which is hokey, yes, but also original and somewhat sweet. Besides, when dealing with American high schoolers, one has to be hokey in order to arouse any sort of sentiment.

Prom itself was a blast: a beautifully decorated ballroom filled with gorgeous, hormone-driven teenagers dressed magnificently (as magnificent as a teenager can be in a rented tux), sweating profusely as we twisted and turned our formals as much as they would allow.

Maybe things have changed...

somewhat unrelated: I volunteer and am greatly committed to an organization here called Other Options. We work with people with HIV/AIDS and in prevention. I often find myself sitting at the front of a room filled with people my age, and I say, "Now, guys, this is a dildo. This is a condom. First you squeeze the air out of the end of the condom. Next..." For prom (the most sex-filled night of the year), I snuck 300 condoms into the prom bathrooms --150 for the guys, 150 for the girls. By the end of the night they were all gone. But, come Monday morning, there were some not-so-happy Bible-belt principals. Too bad they didn't know it was me...:)

--kevin

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

The limo thing is easy to understand- when else in almost everyone's life are they going to have any excuse/reason to ride in a limo? I know I sure won't have the opportunity...however, it was really too expensive to justify renting one, in my case.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

The theme for my prom was "Up Where We Belong" as in "Love lift us . . . " It was a blue prom that years and I as recall, I got in trouble for suggesting to one of the sponsors that they change the theme to "Smurf Spectacular."

Regardless, it was a blue crepe paper nightmare scattered about the cafeteria. There was a lousy DJ and bad food.

My wife, who teaches high school, constantly amazes me when she talks about the proms today. The tickets are upwards of $150 apiece! They go on riverboat cruises and eat fancy dinners. Aside from the nightmare of hundreds of teens driving around Nashville in their formal wear, the cost tends to keep some students out of the celebration.

And that's just sad, really. I think everyone who goes to high school should get to tell how lame their prom was.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2000

Our prom themes were invariable.

Junior year: Nights in White Satin. Senior year: Stairway to Heaven.

Or maybe it was the other way around - yes, probably, since the junior prom was held on the basketball court, and the senior prom at a famously campy Medieval Manor type hotel (if you saw Married to the Mob, it's pretty much the same hotel where Cucumber Frank DeMarco gets shot in the hot tub), hence ... Knights in White Satin.

Don't blame me. I wasn't there.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2000

Am I allowed to say that I liked my prom theme? And my prom?

Junior year it was Billy Joel's "This Is The Time", which I thought was lovely and bittersweet. I went with my best friend Robert, who I was in love with (he was gay...didn't find that out til after the whole love part, including telling him, but that's another story), who used to charm the pants off me (not literally) by calling me "dear" before anyone else ever had (who wasn't a relative).

I wore a pale peach satin dress that horrifies me today (strapless; hemline higher on one side than it was on the other, gathered at the hip in kind of a rosette thingy) and the ubiquitous dyed to match shoes. I should really scan that picture. I was taller than Robert; on the back of the photo he wrote "Jack and the Beanstalk".

My best friend (at the time) spent the whole night trying to dance with Robert, rather than her date. She had a rotten time. I split my time between the two of them, and ended up spending my entire senior year as the girlfriend of her date.

Senior year I don't remember the theme, but I went with the before mentioned best-friend's-date-turned-my boyfriend. I wore another strapless dress, tea length, black velvet bodice with three tiers of scarlet satin. Welcome to 1990.

Nowadays all the girls wear gorgeous, hideously expensive long dresses. The princess part of me wishes they had been "in" when I was in high school!

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2000

what do you all think of can't get enough of your love and our song is can't get enough of you love to by barry white it is the worst!!!

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2001

Kayla, maybe you should just be grateful that it isn't "One Night In Bangkok" from the Chess soundtrack.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2001

Even numbered years: Stairway to Heaven. Odd numbered years: Nights In White Satin.

This was invariable. Not that I cared, since I wasn't a promgoer.

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001

Bungle in the Jungle, 1976, small town in Kansas.

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001

Dude no! get this....our prom theme is 8 bytes in heaven....dear lord its a MARIO BROTHERS THEME! I am so embarassed but i had nothing to do with it....can you say messed up? i mean what kind of a person thinks up these things??? I am way more interested in the after party dude! im saying i have everyone beat!

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Man i am at the same school as Britney....Mario brothers?? jacked up i swear man! haha! but it makes me laugh...cuz i am weird like that. I am a senior and our senior prom is turning into a joke! its a good thing that we BOTH have a sense of humor! check ya on the flip side!

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

tigers ole- hidious cactus in the pictures with a tye dye background of lime green, red and yellow. the docorations were really bad too.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

1957 - small rural town - H.S. of about 40 students total - prom held in gym.....the theme: Fairyland Romance !! I didn't understand why the boys in my class protested the theme. We had a completely dropped ceiling of white crepe paper over the entire gym, the boys built a wonderful wishing well, and also a substantial bridge over which one entered the "fairyland"......I made little fairies to sit among the rocks by the water that went under the bridge....

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Oh, God. My freshman year, I went with a good friend of mine who was a senior. The theme was "Wonderful Tonight," by Eric Clapton. We got the champagne flutes filled with candles. It was actually a lot of fun.

My junior year, my date was supposed to be flying into town the day of the prom (he lived in a different state). I was so excited, he was gorgeous and older (just a couple of years) and I was going to show him off. He got bronchitis. He couldn't come - I found this out exactly 12 hours before prom. I mentioned this to a girl I barely knew and she set me up on a blind date with one of her friends. He was very sweet - he went out and got a tux at the last minute (with a Mickey Mouse vest, yuck!) and got a corsage and even brought me flowers and took me out to a nice dinner. But, he was a far cry from the gorgeous guy I'd been gushing about for weeks. He ended up being a real loser, actually. I can't remember the theme to save my life. I do remember that I thought I had the most beautiful dress - and I look back now and think I must have looked ridiculous.

My senior year, the theme was "One Sweet Day." Yes, Mariah Carey and Boyz 2 Men. Gross. I actually DID have a beautiful dress for that one - I still have the dress and would love to be skinny enough to wear it again! My date was a guy I had had a crush on for weeks. The prom was our second date. He dumped me the next morning.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

I don't have a lame prom theme, but last year my school gave out beer mugs and garters.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001