The expensive dresses, rented tuxes, corsages, limos, makeup and hair appointments, pre-prom dinners and post-prom parties. This high school tradition of prom and all the things that come with it has been popular for decades, though more recently, teenagers all over the nation have adopted a new custom into the list.
The word “promposal” is a combination of the words “prom” and “proposal,” and it references the act of asking someone to go to prom. This recently popularized practice has stormed the nation, generally involving elaborate plans, posters featuring puns or big displays of affection in front of other students.
“It’s different now because back in the day all you had to do was say, ‘Will you go to prom with me?’” junior Cameron Rowland said. “But now it has to have some meaning and you have to think about stuff and be creative, and [you have to] be different to ask them and make it special.”
Students at Northwood ask each other to prom in a variety of ways. Some think the newly popularized culture of promposals is excessive, and students should be able to ask without a big show of affection.
“I feel like girls want all these huge prom proposal things, and I think it’s really awesome and really cool and special, but it doesn’t really need to be ginormous,” junior Colton Lineman said.
Others think the custom is much better than the alternative.
“I think it makes it more creative,” junior Jake McNeill said. “I think it makes it more fun for both people because one person has to think about it and the other is being promposed to, so it’s just something cool to do.”
Senior Mary Wardrop thinks it is more about the person you go with than the way they ask.
“If [my prom date] just said, ‘Will you go to prom with me?’ I probably would be 2 percent upset because he didn’t do a big surprise, but I would be okay with it because we’re already dating and it is kind of implied that we would go together,” Wardrop said.
Many students going to prom feel a pressure to impress their date with a promposal, especially when everyone around them is taking part in the culture, but other students claim they just want to find a way to make it special for their date.
“I was just really excited to see her expression and see if she was happy about it,” said Lineman, who promposed to girlfriend Taylor Brown with a Build-A-Bear, balloons and a recording saying, “Would you be up to prom with me?”
Junior Audrey Winn feels the process should be fun and enjoyable, not something to stress over.
“A lot of people think it’s stupid, but if you are happy to be putting effort and creativity into something, and you’re just making other people happy, then I think that’s cute and worth your time,” Winn said.
– By Lanna Read
