Share a Prom Story, Win a Book--Jillyan77 Won!

I had a story even remotely close to any of these!  Hilarious!  Thanks for the laugh this morning anyway!! 

I didn't have a date for my senior prom so I asked a guy from a private high school. However, I had an allergic reation to the food and of course since I hadn't had an asthma attack in donkey's years, I didn't have my inhaler with me.  I spent most of the eveing in the rest room with my dress unzipped in the backdown to my @$$, struggling to breathe.  I was bright red on most of the skin exposed to view.  A girl came in and asked in a loud whisper to her friend: "Gasp! Does she know her dress is unzipped in the bask?"  If I had had any breath to spare, I would have responded: "Gasp! Do I really! What do you know?  I was busy with this asthma attack and didn't notice the breeze!"  My dress was lovely.  Ice green, empress bustline, wide scooped neck, high collar in the back with trailers designed to be worn like scarves around my neck.

Christa,

I'm in Canada too - Nova Scotia - and when I graduated from high school in 1985, it was pretty much the same as you describe.  One night was the graduation ceremony at a local auditorium, with black gowns over our dresses.  And another night was a dance.  The prom/dance comittee decorated the gym.  My boyfriend of 3 years (now my husband) bought me a corstage and took me out for dinner, then we went to the dance.  I know there were other groups that got together first, but my having a boyfriend 5 years older than me, and being a bit of a nerd meant that I didn't fit well in high school with too many groups.  We stayed at the dance for a while, but other than a last chance to say good bye to the friends I did have, it wasn't particularly memorable.   I was also a base brat, my father being in the armed forces.  My closest friends were also CF kids.  The guys I considered friends went away to officer training, and once I moved off base when my father retired a year or two later, I lost contact with most of the people I had been in high school with.  Don't recall seeing any of them at the university I went to, until my last year, when someone transferred from a different university to save boarding fees.

Now, I listen to some of my co-workers with children graduating high school, and I can't believe what they go through.  Expensive dresses, limos, fancy dinners, and the proms aren't in school gyms any more.  Just boggles the mind.  And my eldest is only 4 years away from all that.  Fortunately, my husband has several very nice vintage cars, much nicer than any limo!  And both kids are boys, so its gotta be less money that kitting out a girl for a prom!

Prom culture--great term. It was very different in the early 70s from what my kids prom culture is like. I was a rebellious hippie-type and so I did not do the prom. I had plans for after high school and didn't want to get 'caught' with an unwanted pregnancy. In my graduating class of 540, the few girls interested in going on to college tended to stir clear of the prom.

My dds managed to adopt my "I have plans beyond high school" mentality and avoided the serious boyfriend thing in high school. My older dd and a girlfriend decided they would go and hangout together. When they found out one of their male classmates was unable to get a date, he offered to escort them both, so they made up a threesome. Listening to all the dad's during the walk-in was a hoot. My youngest dd is also doing the go-with-a-girlfriend thing, but my dd is wearing a lovely gown and the friend has rented a tux. Independent minded, self-confident children I am raising.

There's no way I can beat you're husband's story and his grandmother's flowers. That's hilarious. You have to put that in a book at some point. 

I'm not entering the contest because I have all your books and love them. But here's my non-prom prom night story:

My mother hated the loser, jerk face boyfriend I dated during senior year. And she refused to give me any money towards a prom night with him. (Of course the 17-year-old idiot that I was thought he was the best boyfriend ev--er and love him to distraction...) Anywho, I was working part time at the mall and had saved up for a killer dress. The loser jerk face was supposed to be working at Roy Rogers to cover the rest. Of course since he was a loser, jerk face he ended up not coming through. Long story short, I spent prom night hanging with a friend who was a junior, her boyfriend from another school, and one of his friends. We rode around town in her boyfriend's car and guess who saw us? Loser Jerk Face, of course! When I saw him later that night, I found out that he'd decided I was cheating on him with this other guy and he broke up with me, even though we should have been at the prom that night and then I wouldn't have been in the car with the other cutie... Oh well... All in all it was a pretty interesting non-prom prom night. I eventually got back together with loser, jerk, face, because I was young and stupid and loved him to distraction... And it took me forever to realize that he was a loser jerk face. But I learned... eventually... around about my second year of college... But that's another story...

By the way, I am waiting rather impatiently for THE BOYFRIEND'S BACK. Lover's reunited is one of my all-time favorite romance themes. Maybe I should write one about a loser, jerk, face boyfriend who finally... nah... never mind... I'll just read yours. LOL.

Gwyneth 

Well I graduated in 1966 and the girls all wore white dresses back then. Mine was made by the local dressmaker as my mother was working full time and didn't feel up to making it herself. I couldn't even sew an apron right in grade seven so there was no way I could make my dress. The boy I was dating at the time came home for the prom and brought one of his friends who was dating a girlfriend of mine--double date. His car was a Chevrolet, a big solid car with big fins, painted purple and white because I liked the color purple. Nothing much exciting happened. I'm trying to remember if I dated him again or not as I left home for a summer job and when I went to university it was in a different city than he was in at the time. I think we just drifted apart. However, my girlfriend married her date about ten years later.

I do remember being at an earilier prom and we had just had a talk about mental telepathy. Since most of the younger girls and guys just showed up at the dance unpartnered you just sort of waited for someone to ask you to dance. I sat there hoping for Peter to ask me. I sent out all these vibes and sure enough Peter came and asked me to dance. Only trouble was there were two Peters and it was Peter S. who asked me to dance and not Peter C. who I thought I was sending the vibes out to.

Ellen I am waiting patiently for your new book. I have your other two as you know so I hope who ever wins either book will enjoy it as much as I did.

I'm loving the stories about prom night.

Is "nice person" a euphemism for "sap"?  I just had a really hard time hurting anyone's feelings.  When he was being a jerk, I could put him in his place a little, but when he was being nice and so contrite, I just couldn't say no.  I went on more than my share of pity dates because I empathized with how tough it must be to approach someone and risk rejection (and ego crushing) to ask her out.

Kaelee, speaking of your white prom dress, has anyone noticed the difference in prom dress styles?  When I was prom age, it was all about tulle and satin.  Girls were pretty much covered up.  My DD graduated from HS last year, and her prom dress was more along the lines of what the women wear to the Oscars.  She looked lovely (see below), but those dresses were considered much too "grown up" when I was a senior in HS. 

 

Yes, you can find hoop skirt/slips, online, in costume stores and in girlfriends closets.

I never went to my prom. So I have no stories to share with you all.  :(

patsy

My prom story is more of the "Boyfriend's Back" part of the story--in other words, it's post prom.  I went to my junior prom with a twin.  I don't remember his brother going.  We definitely didn't double date, but I think our prom may have been the last thing this kid did without his brother.  Why, you may ask?  Well, because fifteen years later I'm watching Inside Edition on TV with my husband and hokey smokes--there's my prom date. (It was kind of fun to casaully say, "Hey...that guy was my junior prom date," to my husband.) My prom date and his brother married identical twins at the twin festival.    Okay, that was weird, but then he's back a couple of years later, this time on Discovery Health where he and his brother are living in the same house with their wives and kids.  The show is about their wives gettting makeovers so that they no longer look identical and can express themselves in a more "singular" way.  I think I may have seen my date on a third show after that, but the memory is hazy.  He sure seemed to show up on TV a lot for a guy from Podunk, Idaho.

Jeannie

 

The year was 1965 and you HAD to go to the prom. Well I was never popular or attractive in high school. I was heavyset and excrutiatingly shy and was not part of the in crowd. I invited the nephew of the woman I babysat for and he agreed to take me. He lived in one of the Carolina's and came to visit regularly with his aunt and we were friends.  I found a beautiful yellow taffeta and white lace empire waist dress and had a matching shawl.  Had my hair and nails done and was ready to spread my wings.  The night of the prom his aunt called me hysterical because he was not coming.  She and my mother located a friend of that family to take me.  I was devasted.  I didn't talk to the guy the whole night, didn't get the necessary pics taken and asked him to take me home early.  My friends that knew the guy that bailed crowded me into the ladies room and we had a cry fest.  I hated everything about high school and this was the cherry on the cake.  My daughter thank goodness is gorgeous and went to 2 Junior Proms and 3 Senior proms and had a wonderful time.  I never told her about my disaster and never saw the guy again.

Ellen, sorry, no purple prom dress for me.  My junior prom, I wore a white dress.  I took a "borrowed" date that year because I didn't have a boyfriend.  I "borrowed" a very handsome brother from one of my friends who attended a difference school.  Everyone at my school was quite surprised to see the geek (that was me) show up with a pretty good-looking guy.  Ha, take that you snobby...well... <G>

My senior prom, I recycled the same dress, but changed it up by adding a PINK ribbon to it.  I've tried to add the photo here, but I'm not sure how to do it since it's not posted on the internet.  Maybe I'll try to put in on my Facebook page.  My senior year I was dating my hubby.  His tux arrived late to the store, and the pants were too long, so he has baggy pants at the bottom.  LOL.

He was a year behind me in school, so the next year I went to HIS senior prom.  I got a new dress that year. <G>  But it was ice blue.

 

Got to love it when you can stick your tongue out at people and kind of go "so there" like those guys all through high school that made fun of me cause I didn't do the popular thing but that I run into 5 years later and those same guys are asking me out

I did have a good time. A friend of mine has a video tape of me doing a very 80's dance. Can you imagine what I looked like in the dress doing "The Bird"? What was I thinking?!!

My dress was purple no hoop - I am trying to post a picture with no luck   Here's a link to my old share site- Taylor's Summer - This is Tammy and John on Prom Night 1982   http://yenalavitch.shutterfly.com/78 

My D&D buddy and I had it all arranged--for at least a couple months--that we would go to the prom together and hang out with the other super-cool dungeons-and-dragons players in our group. Then four days before the prom it occurred to me that I had a ballet recital that night, and they might notice my absence in the spotlight during my pointe solo. So I crushed the boy and several years later he came out of the closet. Although I'm sure the two events are entirely unrelated.

I've already got all your books, Ellen, so you don't need to include me in the draw!

Victoria