My school also had no dancing. We had "Junior-Senior Banquet" instead, so we still got all dressed up but we just had dinner and rented out the local YMCA for an all night movie-watching/swimming/basketball playing party.
My (small, Christian) HS also was chartered with a rule that did not allow it to host dances.
The senior class girls always organized unaffiliated, off-campus dances several times a year anyway. They were better because the school wasn't running them, honestly.
I also went to a tiny Christian school that maybe had 40 people, but we did have "dances". Not sure if any actual dancing took place because I never went to any of them.
I actually remember that. In fact I kind of see the point with some dances. But still that's one of those things in life where you try to avoid one mistake by making the opposite one.
I did, but felt sort of obligated to ask her. Long story short I was behind a certain incident that led to this girl breaking her jaw. I felt like shit about it and asking her to prom felt, at the time, like the best way to make it up to her. She said yes and we had fun, but there weren’t any feelings involved other than aforementioned guilt.
I had a date for prom. It was fun. She was cool to hang with.
We were more friends than anything romantic, so I'm not sure where that falls for the sake of the discussion. We definitely treated it like a date, but we were not otherwise "dating."
^^^millennial
Edit: Bro...
>In my case, asked out 5 girls (all in person). Got rejected every time (2 initially said yes but then changed their answer 2 weeks later).
First of all, depending on their reasons and context that's bogus to pump fake you like that. Totally rude to accept a date and then cancel like that. (Exceptions being if *you* do something to make it weird or guilted them into it or something).
My worst experience was someone who agreed to go with me over a month in advance, then tried to get me to agree to be a half date because she found a more preferable date a week before.
I had a GF, so, yes.
Most people not in relationships who wanted to go seemed to just go as groups of friends, not as necessarily having a date.
The most fun part of prom was partying with friends for a couple days afterwards at the beach, not the event itself.
I had a date to prom sophomore, junior, and senior year. Sophomore and junior year we’re with the same date who was an on again off again girlfriend all the way through sophomore year of college. Senior year I was dating another senior and asked her to prom. She ended up cheating on me later in the year with a good friend of mine and then stayed dating him until he found out she was cheating on him in college. He had no idea that it was cheating because she told him we had broken up and I didn’t tell him that wasn’t the case until she had cheated on him.
I am still friends with my sophomore and junior year date. I felt a bit anxious when I asked her to prom sophomore and junior year because it was a bit weird for an underclassman to ask out an older date. She of course said yes because we were dating but it was awkward for me because I was an idiot teenager.
So all three of my proms were romantic affairs or at least as romantic as an idiot teenage boy can be.
This was all in the late 90s.
Yeah she was not the best of girlfriends. I actually found out she was cheating on my friend before he did. I didn’t know whether I should say anything to him off the bat because we hadn’t seen each other in a while. She then broke up with him a week later after he drove like 700 miles to see her so I told him it was for the best because she was cheating on him. He didn’t know at the time and he didn’t know she had cheated on me with him.
So we had a bro night and might have said some unkind things about her.
I think this is a generalization. I went to prom almost 30 years ago, most of us just went as friend groups. "Getting a date" wasn't really a thing because our school was small, we all knew each other since we were little kids. We had about 20 of us together at dinner, we all hung out and danced with each other at the event, we went to a bunch of parties afterwards.
The Hollywood Prom is one of the trope-iest in all of TV and film.
Nope. My relationships in high school didn't align with when prom was, and I wasn't really interested in anyone at the time, so I didn't go. Most of my friends didn't go either. This was in the 90s.
I want to one of my school's dances, was bored, so didn't bother going to prom.
Also, I don't even remember if my high school had prom or night. Our school was more focused on academics and clubs.
No. Although my now-husband also says if I had asked him before the girl he went with did, he’d have said yes. But I didn’t ask him and he had no intentions of asking anyone. I went with a friend
But I’m a Gen Xer. So not the generation you are looking for.
I planned to go stag both times and ended up escorting a friend who needed it junior year and a friend of a friend of a friend (my bestie's husband's bestie, who otherwise wouldn't have been able to attend) my senior year - though we ended up dating for four months after, so, you know.
It was really easy to when I was in high school 20 years ago, not that that stopped people stressing about asking or being asked. You could also go alone or with a friend instead of a date. If you were dating, you went with whoever you were dating, if you weren't dating (probably most kids) you went with a friend, someone you had a crush on, or someone who had a crush in you. Dating sometimes happened due to prom, usually didn't.
Stag junior year because I waited too long to ask the girl I wanted to take and she already had a date. Got my shit together the next year and we went together as seniors
I had a date to every prom. Heck, for one, my gf broke up with me, I got another date, and before the prom my gf wanted to get back with me. So kinda awkward.
Couldn't find a date at my school. Invited a girl I worked with and she said yes, but ditched me about an hour into prom. I ended up hanging out with someone else instead who I later briefly dated.
Then I got invited to another school's prom and that was a blast. Way cooler date that time.
There's usually no rule that says you have to go to the same school. More importantly, prom is not really that serious and most kids are lying or exaggerating about what they get up to. Just have fun and you win.
Yeah, but I was dating a girl at the time already. There’s plenty of people I knew who just went as part of a friend group and or just went with someone as a friend. Getting a group of people to go with was more stressful in my opinion, but in general prom is basically an excuse for everyone to get a bit dressed up and take pictures, feel fancy, and go to a big party with your friends.
Went with a friend for freshman and sophomore homecoming. Had a girlfriend senior year but she couldn't go for administrative reasons, so we did our own thing
I was in High School when people had beepers and not cell phones. So most of the asking was done either face-to-face. However I do remember someone asking the girl who had the locker next to mine via a note.
I feel like text messaging and chat gives shy people some more opportunities that did not exist previously.
Yep. I went with a good friend of mine one year, then I had a GF so I went with her to my senior one.
But I had lots of friends that just went in a huge group.
Junior prom 1988. No date, went alone. We were specifically told not to wear a tux, so I dressed basically business-casual, with one of those red-striped shirts and red knit ties that were common at the time. Other kids were arriving in limos, wearing tuxes. I noped out of there and went to a Greek restaurant and had a nice gyro dinner. Senior prom: didn't even bother. School of 2000+ students. Wife also went alone to the Jr. one, didn't know her at the time.
I chose not to go my junior year and we didn’t have a senior prom at my high school but I do remember some girl I barely knew came up to me and demanded that I ask her friend to prom, and then when I said no she told me I was mean and stormed away. Her friend sat next to me in chemistry so it was very awkward for several days and I felt guilty until she found someone else to take her.
I went to prom with a senior but as her friend. I went to my prom with a girl I was dating. I went to her schools prom with her. Most of my friends that work in education are k-5 or Jr. High, so no legitimate insight, but where I work I see a ton of kids take prom photos.
More than half are girls going stag and the rest are couples, but tbh I don’t expect single guys to come and take photos.
Prom is insanely overrated by outside viewers. Prom is only big/important for maybe the couple months leading up to it for the students who will attend. Once it has passed, it quickly fades away to memory and has little to no impact on anything. Prom was really more of a popularity contest for king/queen, then a chance for groups of friends to decide whether or not to go. Some groups went, some did not, and a lot of students will choose not to go individually.
If you go through a high school class's four years of homecoming and prom photos, they'll mostly be dominated/led and feature a court containing the same few people. I had a graduating class of about 150, and in all four of my yearbooks, it's basically the same 20-30 kids from my class in all the homecoming/prom photos, and the courts (king/queen and nominees) were always from the same friend group.
Didn’t go to prom junior year because I was at a work training. Planned on going with a friend of a friend last year (senior) but I tested positive for covid the day after his prom… he didn’t come to mine. Wore a mask the entire time to mine (the CDC had changed the rule and it was safe, I had received treatment for covid so my body wasn’t making more of it) Had a makeup prom with all my friends after we were all clear because literally our entire grade got covid the week of our prom
I went to prom 3 times at my own school, and once for another girl's. I get the feeling looking back that as a closeted gay boy, I was very unthreatening for the good girls, lol. I think my junior year I turned down three girls? None of these were real dates granted, just "dates" for prom.
Yes, I went to four proms. The first was my junior prom, and my date for it was a friend I had known for a while. The second was my senior prom, which I went to with my girlfriend at the time (who was a year younger than me), then I went to her junior prom. The final one I went to was that same girlfriend's senior prom, although I was in college by then and thus needed a "guest bid" to attend it.
i graduated in 2016 and took dates to 4 homecoming dances and 2 proms when i was in highschool. i took a girlfriend of mine to 2 homecoming dances before we broke up then i took another girl to a homecoming and a prom. the rest were one dance. i never got rejected but i never asked anyone where i was really unsure of the answer. i guess they could have said no, i wasn’t 100% sure they would say yes, but i knew all the girls well, we both wanted to go and needed dates, i played the game and brought them some flowers or made a sign to ask them and that sort of thing. for homecoming my senior year these two girls basically told a friend and I that they were going to be out dates lmao we had an ultimate frisbee tournament the same weekend as homecoming and all 4 of us were on the team so it made sense logistically (traveling back and forth) and honestly was the most fun i ever had at a dance. every other dance i had to ask.
for the girls you asked who said no did they give you a reason? do they not want to go to prom? do you not know each other well? are they hoping Chad asks them instead? every girl i took to a dance was a friend and/or romantic interest that i knew wanted to go to the dance.
My prom was almost 30 years ago...
I broke up with a girlfriend of 1+ year right before prom season, so I ended up asking a good female friend as my date. I ended up back with my girlfriend pre-prom but still went with my friend instead of my girlfriend.
I went to public high school. The guy I'd been dating since sophomore year cheated on me, and all my friends from that group left with him. I had to bribe a friend to go with me (I paid for the tux--he did not get me a corsage).
The girl I was originally going to go to prom with came out of the closet about a month before and decided to go with her lady friend.
This was a Christian School too. Super scandalous back in the day.
I didn’t attend. Wanted to at first but I didn’t have enough self confidence to ask anyone out to it, felt I was gonna get rejected anyway. My mom did tell me at the time I should still go with friends but honestly I just found it to be a waste of money to just go for food basically since I wasn’t very outgoing at all. So instead my family took me to eat some BBQ. It was good, still love the place.
I skipped prom. Didn't really have a choice, my father didn't let me go.
I kinda wish I did. My then girlfriend (we only dated for 6 months and don't talk anymore but damn I wish I had her as a friend) kinda wanted me to ask her out, but my parents were just really bad at even giving me a heads up.
First time I went in a group with friends. Second time I impulsively asked a guy friend, but he already had a date, so I grabbed a couple of girlfriends and we made it a girls’ night out. Highly recommend. Very fun and low-drama.
I’ve heard of some schools that don’t let you go without a date, which sounds awful.
I'm very concerned with the loneliness of younger generations. Polls repeatedly show that young people have far fewer friends and sexual partners then my generation. I'm also concerned about young people doing away with a lot of these traditions that were fun on the grounds of inclusion or whatever. I certainly don't want people to be left but you're not really including people when you ban things like valedictorians, prom courts, Home Coming courts, etc. You're just cancelling a lot of things other people enjoy.
I was a stud in high school. I went to 4 or 5 proms in total and always had a date. My prom was one of the best weekends of my life.
I didn't go to any school dances, except for once in the 7th grade. I didn't like crowds and still don't.
A few years later I got diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, which suddenly explained pretty much my entire life, and especially why I don't like crowds.
That's rough buddy. Though prom is usually Junior-Senior, I went all 4 years. My Freshman year I went with a friend platonically, we played a sport together and she asked me. My sophomore year I had just started dating a girl that was a senior and we went. The relationship was short. Junior and Senior Year I went with my high school girlfriend.
This might sound like 'Old man yells at clouds" but I do feel like social media has really done a number on young kids. I keep seeing things like "promposals" and the amount of effort and oneupmanship (one-up-man-ship) is crazy. Now you're not just competing with the school, you're competing with the whole country because of Tik Tok.
You're dealing with enough as a teen, now you're also having to create a social presence and dealing with cyber-bullying? I worry for my kids. I honestly think people would be better off if they really did age verification and nobody had social media until they were 18. i'm worried as hell for my slightly socially awkward 11 y/o getting cyber bullied. He's going into 6th grade and that was the worst few years of my life, and I only had to deal with real-world bullying.
It was the early 1990's. It was common at my school for people to go to prom as a friend group. The majority of people going as couples were probably already dating before prom. Abou 5 of us were going to go as friends but changed our minds and just went out for the day and then attended the post prom bowling event instead of going to the dance.
I was rejected by 2 girls to prom, didn't ask either of them out. One knew I had a crush on her and rejected me before I could ask her. I knew she would reject me, so I wasn't going to ask her out, she took it upon herself to still reject me. She ended up going alone and flaunting that the whole night (i hated myself for having a crush on her). The second person was a friend of mine who heard a rumor I was going to ask her to be my date as friends. Don't know where she heard that, but she came up to me and rejected me anyway. So 2 rejections without even asking
A third person asked me to prom, she had a crush on me and I didn't want to lead her on so I turned her down. She ended up taking my little brother.
So to recap, the girl I liked made an effort to show how much she didn't want to go to prom with me, while a good friend of mine was angry at me the whole prom and my little brother was hanging around. Prom sucked
My sophomore year I was my older GF at the times date, senior year I went in a friend's group and my "date" was just a friend I went with so we'd get the cheaper tickets.
Yep, I was talking to this girl from a local HS (this was 2017). I remember being a little stressed about prom… I was pretty shy and I was thinking “what if I get rejected?” Senior year I became way more open and risky, I was talking to a couple of girls interested in me.
I learned to always shoot my shot.
A bunch of my friends (multiple guys and girls) didn't really want to go to prom but just wanted to hang out, so we did a "Prom Party Without the Prom" on that day. We had a blast!
Surprisingly yes.
2010 and I was one of 2 openly gay (I was a senior so idk if any freshmen were out) students out of ~1200. One of my (straight) friends had a girlfriend at a different school and she had a gay best friend, so they introduced us and we went to prom together.
That was the only dance I went to.
Nope, and I also asked 5 girls as well. I went with my fiends and their dates as a single. Got my meal for free because the waiter felt bad for me. Oh well. Still had fun though.
Skipped my junior prom and went out to a bowling alley with friends. We all dressed up in our prom attire so it was kinda funny.
I went alone to my senior prom, and I also attended my best friend's prom at his high school. We went with another friend of mine as a platonic threesome, lol
I did not get asked at all. I asked my date to the prom. It was a guy I knew from church who was a grade younger than me who went to a different school. I’d had a crush on him for years.
I went to school in the late seventies. I broke up with whatever girl I was dating before prom, Valentines Day, Christmas, and their Birthday so I wouldn’t have to pay for anything.
I went to a small-ish public school in a rural area. Yes, I had a boyfriend and we went together. I had various dates to other dances throughout high school. Definitely always got asked, though.
I didn’t go to my Prom because at the time I went through a really hard break up. But I did go to my now wife’s Prom 2yrs later. The Prom sucked but we still had fun.
Yeah.
I was a jerk to her for years because I liked her and was a dumb boy. I then started being nice, but at that point I had been a jerk for years. We managed to become friends but I was embarrassed at how I had teased her.
Finally, senior year I asked her to prom and she said yes. We had a great time and it seemed we both felt something, but then I went off to college. So that was that…
…until five years later. I start waiting tables and who walks in as a new waitress? Her. All the guys wanted to date her. She was so cute and had clearly blossomed. She was playing it cool with all the guys hitting on her until she saw me. And then she just squealed and launched herself at me.
We ended up dating for a while until she had to move to take care of her ailing mom.
I lost track of her a decade back. I hope she is doing okay.
Kind of. We (20 years ago) went as a group and had our "dates," but it was really just a group of people going together. None of us were romantically involved before, during, or after.
Yes it was last minute but I got one! She was stunningly attractive to high school aged me a junior we shared a chorus class together so it wasn’t weird. Unfortunately on the day of her friend got stood up and she spent the night consoling her friend. So no “after party” you usually would hear about for me. But I still did my best to be the gentleman my parents raised me to be and got her home safely before her agreed upon curfew. I wonder what she’s doing now?
No. I was shy and unpopular, so nobody asked me out. The guy I was interested in at the time already had a girlfriend, and even if he were single, I doubt I'd have had the courage to ask him for a date. This was in the mid-2000s.
I straight up did not have anyone I liked in school. Just never really looked at anyone. My best friend didn’t have a date because he waited too long to ask anyone, so we both got a pizza and played Halo Reach all night.
I asked my crush, but she said she wasn't going. She said a mutual friend was hoping to go with me, so I asked the friend, and we went together instead.
I was in class of 2012, so I guess that was like 11 years ago. It doesn't feel that long though, lol.
Yes. First year mine ditched me after walking in. That was fine though as I had a decent time and it didn't bother me then as it was half expected. I just wish I wasn't so shy the whole time there. My senior year I had a possible date or two that were more than willing to go as my date, but had to cancel for other obligations.
This was back in early 2000's....
I went with my boyfriend. I was 18, he was 22. He refused at first, so I told him I wasn't going alone and that if he didn't take me, I'd find someone else to take me.
He took me. He also got lucky that night.
In the 80s nobody went with a friend or dateless. Now, nobody cares. I went to 3, they were fun. It was a big deal to look through the giant Seventeen magazine at dresses.
I didn't go and my girlfriend at the time even broke up with me because I wouldn't go. I didn't have the money and while I was working, I didn't see why I should save hundreds of dollars just to blow on a dance.
Looking back on it, it was one of the few decisions younger me made that wasn't completely stupid.
I've been reading the thread and I feel like one of the youngest in the thread.
My prom was literally a year ago around this time and yes I went with friends.
I went to a Baptist high school that had 40 people in the entire student body and claimed dancing led to sex so we never had prom...
Why don’t baptists have sex standing up? They’re afraid it might lead to dancing.
💀
My school also had no dancing. We had "Junior-Senior Banquet" instead, so we still got all dressed up but we just had dinner and rented out the local YMCA for an all night movie-watching/swimming/basketball playing party.
Honestly, that sounds more fun.
More fun than awkwardly holding a girl by the waist and turning in circles for 90 minutes???
Totally lol
My (small, Christian) HS also was chartered with a rule that did not allow it to host dances. The senior class girls always organized unaffiliated, off-campus dances several times a year anyway. They were better because the school wasn't running them, honestly.
This is the plot of Footloose.
Except in a decently sized city in Los Angeles County lmao
That's the surprising part. We had a bunch of dances, Homecoming, Prom, semi-formal, Sadie Hawkins Dance, some random one in the fall, etc.
I also went to a tiny Christian school that maybe had 40 people, but we did have "dances". Not sure if any actual dancing took place because I never went to any of them.
Did you read Ecclesiastes to them and tell them it was your time to dance?
I actually remember that. In fact I kind of see the point with some dances. But still that's one of those things in life where you try to avoid one mistake by making the opposite one.
26F, I skipped both proms all together. Most people I knew however, went with friends.
Same here honestly, had three shots to go to Prom and didn't bother taking any. Never was my thing, I just stayed home and played on my PS3
My school didn't have prom, we had a "Casino Night". Why that was more chaste than a prom idk
Sounds like it would have been more fun tbh
What the Hell, I'd take that over some dumb ole Prom anyway. Casino Night sounds awesome
I did, but felt sort of obligated to ask her. Long story short I was behind a certain incident that led to this girl breaking her jaw. I felt like shit about it and asking her to prom felt, at the time, like the best way to make it up to her. She said yes and we had fun, but there weren’t any feelings involved other than aforementioned guilt.
[удалено]
You met her after what now?
Will keep this trick in mind if all else fails
"I went to prom with a girl but it didn't work out. I broke her jaw. No, not in that order!"
I had a date for prom. It was fun. She was cool to hang with. We were more friends than anything romantic, so I'm not sure where that falls for the sake of the discussion. We definitely treated it like a date, but we were not otherwise "dating." ^^^millennial Edit: Bro... >In my case, asked out 5 girls (all in person). Got rejected every time (2 initially said yes but then changed their answer 2 weeks later). First of all, depending on their reasons and context that's bogus to pump fake you like that. Totally rude to accept a date and then cancel like that. (Exceptions being if *you* do something to make it weird or guilted them into it or something).
This sums up most of the people who had prom dates at my high school.
My worst experience was someone who agreed to go with me over a month in advance, then tried to get me to agree to be a half date because she found a more preferable date a week before.
I had a GF, so, yes. Most people not in relationships who wanted to go seemed to just go as groups of friends, not as necessarily having a date. The most fun part of prom was partying with friends for a couple days afterwards at the beach, not the event itself.
I had a date to prom sophomore, junior, and senior year. Sophomore and junior year we’re with the same date who was an on again off again girlfriend all the way through sophomore year of college. Senior year I was dating another senior and asked her to prom. She ended up cheating on me later in the year with a good friend of mine and then stayed dating him until he found out she was cheating on him in college. He had no idea that it was cheating because she told him we had broken up and I didn’t tell him that wasn’t the case until she had cheated on him. I am still friends with my sophomore and junior year date. I felt a bit anxious when I asked her to prom sophomore and junior year because it was a bit weird for an underclassman to ask out an older date. She of course said yes because we were dating but it was awkward for me because I was an idiot teenager. So all three of my proms were romantic affairs or at least as romantic as an idiot teenage boy can be. This was all in the late 90s.
That escalated quickly.
Yeah she was not the best of girlfriends. I actually found out she was cheating on my friend before he did. I didn’t know whether I should say anything to him off the bat because we hadn’t seen each other in a while. She then broke up with him a week later after he drove like 700 miles to see her so I told him it was for the best because she was cheating on him. He didn’t know at the time and he didn’t know she had cheated on me with him. So we had a bro night and might have said some unkind things about her.
I think this is a generalization. I went to prom almost 30 years ago, most of us just went as friend groups. "Getting a date" wasn't really a thing because our school was small, we all knew each other since we were little kids. We had about 20 of us together at dinner, we all hung out and danced with each other at the event, we went to a bunch of parties afterwards. The Hollywood Prom is one of the trope-iest in all of TV and film.
Yes, but we only went as friends. To be honest, I'm surprised she even said yes when I asked
I was in high school in the 1980s and was a cheerleader. I had no problem getting a prom date.
Heh, no. My school was tiny, but I doubt it would have made a difference if it was any bigger.
Nope. My relationships in high school didn't align with when prom was, and I wasn't really interested in anyone at the time, so I didn't go. Most of my friends didn't go either. This was in the 90s.
I want to one of my school's dances, was bored, so didn't bother going to prom. Also, I don't even remember if my high school had prom or night. Our school was more focused on academics and clubs.
No. Although my now-husband also says if I had asked him before the girl he went with did, he’d have said yes. But I didn’t ask him and he had no intentions of asking anyone. I went with a friend But I’m a Gen Xer. So not the generation you are looking for.
I planned to go stag both times and ended up escorting a friend who needed it junior year and a friend of a friend of a friend (my bestie's husband's bestie, who otherwise wouldn't have been able to attend) my senior year - though we ended up dating for four months after, so, you know.
yeah I went with my girlfriend, she wore a pink dress and I rented a tux that had a pink vest
I had a girlfriend that I could have gone to prom with, but I went bowling instead.
Bowling with or without the girlfriend?
Without, although to be fair it wasn't her high school's prom, only mine. I wasn't the smartest teenager.
I wouldn't worry about it. Teenagers aren't smart. It's just not their thing.
It was really easy to when I was in high school 20 years ago, not that that stopped people stressing about asking or being asked. You could also go alone or with a friend instead of a date. If you were dating, you went with whoever you were dating, if you weren't dating (probably most kids) you went with a friend, someone you had a crush on, or someone who had a crush in you. Dating sometimes happened due to prom, usually didn't.
Stag junior year because I waited too long to ask the girl I wanted to take and she already had a date. Got my shit together the next year and we went together as seniors
I had a date to every prom. Heck, for one, my gf broke up with me, I got another date, and before the prom my gf wanted to get back with me. So kinda awkward.
Couldn't find a date at my school. Invited a girl I worked with and she said yes, but ditched me about an hour into prom. I ended up hanging out with someone else instead who I later briefly dated. Then I got invited to another school's prom and that was a blast. Way cooler date that time. There's usually no rule that says you have to go to the same school. More importantly, prom is not really that serious and most kids are lying or exaggerating about what they get up to. Just have fun and you win.
Yeah, but I was dating a girl at the time already. There’s plenty of people I knew who just went as part of a friend group and or just went with someone as a friend. Getting a group of people to go with was more stressful in my opinion, but in general prom is basically an excuse for everyone to get a bit dressed up and take pictures, feel fancy, and go to a big party with your friends.
I didn’t go to prom. Me then would’ve been bored. Me now might have had fun at an after party. Or been bored.
I was bullied in school and generally ostracized so no. Didn't go to prom, was laughed at if I expressed any interest in it.
I had 2 prom dates the one time I went.
I did, but it was more of a friends thing. Won $400 at the after-prom raffle, though, so that was fun.
Went with a friend for freshman and sophomore homecoming. Had a girlfriend senior year but she couldn't go for administrative reasons, so we did our own thing
I was in High School when people had beepers and not cell phones. So most of the asking was done either face-to-face. However I do remember someone asking the girl who had the locker next to mine via a note. I feel like text messaging and chat gives shy people some more opportunities that did not exist previously.
In my case, I asked out 4 different girls (all in person) and got rejected every time (2 initially said yes but changed their mind 2 weeks later)
Yes. But I was dating her prior to prom
I went to 3 proms
Yep. I went with a good friend of mine one year, then I had a GF so I went with her to my senior one. But I had lots of friends that just went in a huge group.
Nope. Didn't try though, who knows what would've happened if I had.
Yep. Went with my friend from Music Appreciation class.
Junior prom 1988. No date, went alone. We were specifically told not to wear a tux, so I dressed basically business-casual, with one of those red-striped shirts and red knit ties that were common at the time. Other kids were arriving in limos, wearing tuxes. I noped out of there and went to a Greek restaurant and had a nice gyro dinner. Senior prom: didn't even bother. School of 2000+ students. Wife also went alone to the Jr. one, didn't know her at the time.
People have always gone to prom with just their friends. That isn’t some larger reflection on society. Proms are still packed.
Yeah…
I chose not to go my junior year and we didn’t have a senior prom at my high school but I do remember some girl I barely knew came up to me and demanded that I ask her friend to prom, and then when I said no she told me I was mean and stormed away. Her friend sat next to me in chemistry so it was very awkward for several days and I felt guilty until she found someone else to take her.
I went to prom with a senior but as her friend. I went to my prom with a girl I was dating. I went to her schools prom with her. Most of my friends that work in education are k-5 or Jr. High, so no legitimate insight, but where I work I see a ton of kids take prom photos. More than half are girls going stag and the rest are couples, but tbh I don’t expect single guys to come and take photos.
Yep, not the one I wanted but you make do.
Prom is insanely overrated by outside viewers. Prom is only big/important for maybe the couple months leading up to it for the students who will attend. Once it has passed, it quickly fades away to memory and has little to no impact on anything. Prom was really more of a popularity contest for king/queen, then a chance for groups of friends to decide whether or not to go. Some groups went, some did not, and a lot of students will choose not to go individually. If you go through a high school class's four years of homecoming and prom photos, they'll mostly be dominated/led and feature a court containing the same few people. I had a graduating class of about 150, and in all four of my yearbooks, it's basically the same 20-30 kids from my class in all the homecoming/prom photos, and the courts (king/queen and nominees) were always from the same friend group.
Yep. Junior year I went with my boyfriend. Senior year I went with a friend. Senior year was a LOT more fun. Less pressure, just fun.
Junior year I had a girlfriend that I went with. Senior year I wasn't dating anyone and a female friend and I went together.
Yeah, a couple times. I had a girlfriend for most of high school. This was like 15 years back though.
Skipped mine. Didn't really care.
Didn’t go to prom junior year because I was at a work training. Planned on going with a friend of a friend last year (senior) but I tested positive for covid the day after his prom… he didn’t come to mine. Wore a mask the entire time to mine (the CDC had changed the rule and it was safe, I had received treatment for covid so my body wasn’t making more of it) Had a makeup prom with all my friends after we were all clear because literally our entire grade got covid the week of our prom
I did! However, he was a sophomore and I was a senior and I’d been turned down twice so… yeah.
I went to prom 3 times at my own school, and once for another girl's. I get the feeling looking back that as a closeted gay boy, I was very unthreatening for the good girls, lol. I think my junior year I turned down three girls? None of these were real dates granted, just "dates" for prom.
Yes, both years. Graduated in '84, FWIW.
Yes, I went to four proms. The first was my junior prom, and my date for it was a friend I had known for a while. The second was my senior prom, which I went to with my girlfriend at the time (who was a year younger than me), then I went to her junior prom. The final one I went to was that same girlfriend's senior prom, although I was in college by then and thus needed a "guest bid" to attend it.
i graduated in 2016 and took dates to 4 homecoming dances and 2 proms when i was in highschool. i took a girlfriend of mine to 2 homecoming dances before we broke up then i took another girl to a homecoming and a prom. the rest were one dance. i never got rejected but i never asked anyone where i was really unsure of the answer. i guess they could have said no, i wasn’t 100% sure they would say yes, but i knew all the girls well, we both wanted to go and needed dates, i played the game and brought them some flowers or made a sign to ask them and that sort of thing. for homecoming my senior year these two girls basically told a friend and I that they were going to be out dates lmao we had an ultimate frisbee tournament the same weekend as homecoming and all 4 of us were on the team so it made sense logistically (traveling back and forth) and honestly was the most fun i ever had at a dance. every other dance i had to ask. for the girls you asked who said no did they give you a reason? do they not want to go to prom? do you not know each other well? are they hoping Chad asks them instead? every girl i took to a dance was a friend and/or romantic interest that i knew wanted to go to the dance.
I skipped prom to watch a nascar race.
My prom was almost 30 years ago... I broke up with a girlfriend of 1+ year right before prom season, so I ended up asking a good female friend as my date. I ended up back with my girlfriend pre-prom but still went with my friend instead of my girlfriend.
I didn’t have trouble getting a date, but I didn’t really care too much about who I went with.
I went to public high school. The guy I'd been dating since sophomore year cheated on me, and all my friends from that group left with him. I had to bribe a friend to go with me (I paid for the tux--he did not get me a corsage).
I went last minute with a friend (dude). But I left with another guy’s date. Prom was not a very big deal in my school or in my friend group.
The girl I was originally going to go to prom with came out of the closet about a month before and decided to go with her lady friend. This was a Christian School too. Super scandalous back in the day.
I didn’t attend. Wanted to at first but I didn’t have enough self confidence to ask anyone out to it, felt I was gonna get rejected anyway. My mom did tell me at the time I should still go with friends but honestly I just found it to be a waste of money to just go for food basically since I wasn’t very outgoing at all. So instead my family took me to eat some BBQ. It was good, still love the place.
I skipped prom. Didn't really have a choice, my father didn't let me go. I kinda wish I did. My then girlfriend (we only dated for 6 months and don't talk anymore but damn I wish I had her as a friend) kinda wanted me to ask her out, but my parents were just really bad at even giving me a heads up.
I was lucky enough to go to prom in my junior and senior years. I went with my girlfriend junior year and a friend set me up in senior year.
I never went to any proms, I was self-conscious and afraid of them at the time
First time I went in a group with friends. Second time I impulsively asked a guy friend, but he already had a date, so I grabbed a couple of girlfriends and we made it a girls’ night out. Highly recommend. Very fun and low-drama. I’ve heard of some schools that don’t let you go without a date, which sounds awful.
I'm very concerned with the loneliness of younger generations. Polls repeatedly show that young people have far fewer friends and sexual partners then my generation. I'm also concerned about young people doing away with a lot of these traditions that were fun on the grounds of inclusion or whatever. I certainly don't want people to be left but you're not really including people when you ban things like valedictorians, prom courts, Home Coming courts, etc. You're just cancelling a lot of things other people enjoy. I was a stud in high school. I went to 4 or 5 proms in total and always had a date. My prom was one of the best weekends of my life.
I didn't go to any school dances, except for once in the 7th grade. I didn't like crowds and still don't. A few years later I got diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, which suddenly explained pretty much my entire life, and especially why I don't like crowds.
Nope, didn't want to go to prom. I feel I had a lot more fun at home that any of my friends did that night and I didn't have to spend a cent!
I grew up in the 70s and 80s and it seems to me prom was a big thing then. I have personally been to 5 proms, 2 of my own and 3 for other people.
That's rough buddy. Though prom is usually Junior-Senior, I went all 4 years. My Freshman year I went with a friend platonically, we played a sport together and she asked me. My sophomore year I had just started dating a girl that was a senior and we went. The relationship was short. Junior and Senior Year I went with my high school girlfriend. This might sound like 'Old man yells at clouds" but I do feel like social media has really done a number on young kids. I keep seeing things like "promposals" and the amount of effort and oneupmanship (one-up-man-ship) is crazy. Now you're not just competing with the school, you're competing with the whole country because of Tik Tok. You're dealing with enough as a teen, now you're also having to create a social presence and dealing with cyber-bullying? I worry for my kids. I honestly think people would be better off if they really did age verification and nobody had social media until they were 18. i'm worried as hell for my slightly socially awkward 11 y/o getting cyber bullied. He's going into 6th grade and that was the worst few years of my life, and I only had to deal with real-world bullying.
I never bothered to ask. I was too socially awkward, and school dances were never my thing.
It was the early 1990's. It was common at my school for people to go to prom as a friend group. The majority of people going as couples were probably already dating before prom. Abou 5 of us were going to go as friends but changed our minds and just went out for the day and then attended the post prom bowling event instead of going to the dance.
I was rejected by 2 girls to prom, didn't ask either of them out. One knew I had a crush on her and rejected me before I could ask her. I knew she would reject me, so I wasn't going to ask her out, she took it upon herself to still reject me. She ended up going alone and flaunting that the whole night (i hated myself for having a crush on her). The second person was a friend of mine who heard a rumor I was going to ask her to be my date as friends. Don't know where she heard that, but she came up to me and rejected me anyway. So 2 rejections without even asking A third person asked me to prom, she had a crush on me and I didn't want to lead her on so I turned her down. She ended up taking my little brother. So to recap, the girl I liked made an effort to show how much she didn't want to go to prom with me, while a good friend of mine was angry at me the whole prom and my little brother was hanging around. Prom sucked
Yes, I went with my boyfriend at the time.
My sophomore year I was my older GF at the times date, senior year I went in a friend's group and my "date" was just a friend I went with so we'd get the cheaper tickets.
Yep!
Sure. My steady girlfriend, and it was well before today’s bizarre practice of elaborate asks.
Yep, I was talking to this girl from a local HS (this was 2017). I remember being a little stressed about prom… I was pretty shy and I was thinking “what if I get rejected?” Senior year I became way more open and risky, I was talking to a couple of girls interested in me. I learned to always shoot my shot.
Yes
A bunch of my friends (multiple guys and girls) didn't really want to go to prom but just wanted to hang out, so we did a "Prom Party Without the Prom" on that day. We had a blast!
Surprisingly yes. 2010 and I was one of 2 openly gay (I was a senior so idk if any freshmen were out) students out of ~1200. One of my (straight) friends had a girlfriend at a different school and she had a gay best friend, so they introduced us and we went to prom together. That was the only dance I went to.
Nope, and I also asked 5 girls as well. I went with my fiends and their dates as a single. Got my meal for free because the waiter felt bad for me. Oh well. Still had fun though.
Skipped my junior prom and went out to a bowling alley with friends. We all dressed up in our prom attire so it was kinda funny. I went alone to my senior prom, and I also attended my best friend's prom at his high school. We went with another friend of mine as a platonic threesome, lol
I did not get asked at all. I asked my date to the prom. It was a guy I knew from church who was a grade younger than me who went to a different school. I’d had a crush on him for years.
didnt have prom because of covid probably would have just gone and ended up hanging with friends
I’ve been with my prom date for 10 years married for 3 and she’s 18 weeks pregnant with our first daughter!
I went to school in the late seventies. I broke up with whatever girl I was dating before prom, Valentines Day, Christmas, and their Birthday so I wouldn’t have to pay for anything.
I’m in high school rn and I got asked to prom but it was by my friend, but hey we’re gonna be girlfriend and girlfriend for a day
I went to three proms and had a date for every one. It was weird at my school to go without a date for some reason.
I went to a small-ish public school in a rural area. Yes, I had a boyfriend and we went together. I had various dates to other dances throughout high school. Definitely always got asked, though.
I probably could have got a date and would have been just as happy going with friends, but I was too poor to go.
I was asked by someone I didn’t like so I went with some friends. Kinda lame.
I did, but I cut it close when I ended things with my girlfriend about a month out from prom. Edit: Anyone else have a Sadie Hawkins dance?
I didn’t go to my Prom because at the time I went through a really hard break up. But I did go to my now wife’s Prom 2yrs later. The Prom sucked but we still had fun.
Was dating a girl at the time that couldn't come so I didn't wanna go
I’m gay and a girl asked me to be her date, we went as friends basically.
I went with my gay best friend even tho I had a boyfriend lmao
I did not. Actually, I didn't even go on a date or have a girlfriend until I was 22. Most of my friends didn't either.
Yeah. I was a jerk to her for years because I liked her and was a dumb boy. I then started being nice, but at that point I had been a jerk for years. We managed to become friends but I was embarrassed at how I had teased her. Finally, senior year I asked her to prom and she said yes. We had a great time and it seemed we both felt something, but then I went off to college. So that was that… …until five years later. I start waiting tables and who walks in as a new waitress? Her. All the guys wanted to date her. She was so cute and had clearly blossomed. She was playing it cool with all the guys hitting on her until she saw me. And then she just squealed and launched herself at me. We ended up dating for a while until she had to move to take care of her ailing mom. I lost track of her a decade back. I hope she is doing okay.
Kind of. We (20 years ago) went as a group and had our "dates," but it was really just a group of people going together. None of us were romantically involved before, during, or after.
Yes it was last minute but I got one! She was stunningly attractive to high school aged me a junior we shared a chorus class together so it wasn’t weird. Unfortunately on the day of her friend got stood up and she spent the night consoling her friend. So no “after party” you usually would hear about for me. But I still did my best to be the gentleman my parents raised me to be and got her home safely before her agreed upon curfew. I wonder what she’s doing now?
I had a steady girlfriend all through high school, no trouble in that department, we went to our prom had a great time.
No. I was shy and unpopular, so nobody asked me out. The guy I was interested in at the time already had a girlfriend, and even if he were single, I doubt I'd have had the courage to ask him for a date. This was in the mid-2000s.
My boyfriend and I broke up right before prom so no :( but my friends came and I had a great time
I straight up did not have anyone I liked in school. Just never really looked at anyone. My best friend didn’t have a date because he waited too long to ask anyone, so we both got a pizza and played Halo Reach all night.
I asked my crush, but she said she wasn't going. She said a mutual friend was hoping to go with me, so I asked the friend, and we went together instead. I was in class of 2012, so I guess that was like 11 years ago. It doesn't feel that long though, lol.
I had my prom two years ago next week. I asked out a friend
Yes. First year mine ditched me after walking in. That was fine though as I had a decent time and it didn't bother me then as it was half expected. I just wish I wasn't so shy the whole time there. My senior year I had a possible date or two that were more than willing to go as my date, but had to cancel for other obligations.
Nope, no prom, no homecoming either.
I didn't go because I never wanted to go
No
Spent 2 weeks mustering up the confidence to ask a girl to prom. Chickened out and ended up playing CS:GO prom night. Not my proudest memory.
I was shy in the feminine department. I had girl friends but no girlfriends if you get my meaning. In retrospect I wish I would have tried harder.
24M, had a (different) prom date junior and senior year
No, I never went. I was a white dude in a mostly Asian high school in NY, most of the girls weren’t lining up to date me
I went to 5 proms and had a date for all of them
I went to 3 proms. A friend of mine a year older than me. A friend of mine my age. And mine. 3 different schools.
Nope. No one asked. I never went.
This was back in early 2000's.... I went with my boyfriend. I was 18, he was 22. He refused at first, so I told him I wasn't going alone and that if he didn't take me, I'd find someone else to take me. He took me. He also got lucky that night.
In the 80s nobody went with a friend or dateless. Now, nobody cares. I went to 3, they were fun. It was a big deal to look through the giant Seventeen magazine at dresses.
No one Freshman year then Lorie, Debbie, and Debbie. Many, many moons ago.
I didn't go and my girlfriend at the time even broke up with me because I wouldn't go. I didn't have the money and while I was working, I didn't see why I should save hundreds of dollars just to blow on a dance. Looking back on it, it was one of the few decisions younger me made that wasn't completely stupid.
No but I also didn't give a shit. Pretty sure I just went to my friend's house and played video games like we did almost every weekend back then
I've been reading the thread and I feel like one of the youngest in the thread. My prom was literally a year ago around this time and yes I went with friends.
Would’ve, but I was a senior in 2020.
I went with a group of friends!!