What Happens If You Don’t Go To Prom?

The Promenade Night, or simply known as “Prom,” is probably the most anticipated social event for graduating seniors. Due to its portrayals in popular media, a lot of people consider prom as a one-of-a-kind event. In most people,  missing this event will make your high school experience incomplete. However, there are also a few who are not interested or cannot attend due to circumstances. What will happen if you can’t participate on this particular occasion? 

Prom is just an end-of-schoolyear dance party with a dinner on the side. Not attending the prom won’t affect your grades or your graduating status. However, do keep in mind that the Prom Night is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s up to you if you want to attend or skip it entirely. 

The promenade night is always in the top five when it comes to the most memorable high school events. It is considered the event in which seniors can make their last memories of being in their alma mater. However, this is also the time in which most students prepare for their jobs or college essays. Not to mention attending prom is quite expensive. 

What Happens If You Don’t Go To Prom?

The Short Answer

Yes, skipping prom is okay. You don’t have to worry about your grades or graduation requirements. If you want to ditch the event, feel free to do so. Here’s a snippet of knowledge to remember: “It’s only bad if you feel like you’re going to regret it in the future.” So if you don’t feel bad about missing prom, then it’s okay to skip it. 

There are a lot of valid reasons why seniors opt to skip prom. One of these reasons is the expense. On average, a student who attends the prom night usually spends $600 for the dress rental, make-up services, tickets, rides, and other expenditures. This amount can easily give a dent in someone’s savings. And those who want to avoid this expense do skip the prom night. 

Practical students would rather spend that $600 as pocket money to visit their dream schools or find a place to stay in the university. Attending prom can interfere with a student’s plan for job or university hunting. Besides, some students just don’t enjoy attending any dance events. Some people would simply have better things to do than attending a dance event. 

Nothing particular happened when students decided not to go to prom. Skipping the night away, you will miss out on the dinner, the announcement of Prom King and Queen, and of course, dancing with your date (or friends.) Even some schools don’t host Promenades or only celebrate homecoming during one school year. 

What Really Happens At Prom?

As an all-night event, most Prom Dances start at 7 P.M., usually on a Saturday. The seniors will don their formal attires and take group photos with their friends or with their dates. Friend groups and cliques would usually use a picturesque location or call for a professional photographer to snap pictures. 

The pre-dinner period will take proceed accordingly, depending on the remaining time left before prom starts.  After all the pictures and video taking, the participants of the dance will go to dinner. The Prom Night celebration starts to unveil the differences in how schools celebrate this event. Pick up the best table for the upcoming dinner to come. 

1. The Dinner 

Activities during the dinner event depend on the school’s rules and policies. Some schools might not even have a dinner option for their seniors. If Prom Dinner is a part of the event, helpers will serve dinner at the event center or, if available, in a  banquet hall. Either way, the whole dinner can take up to two hours or less, depending on how many students attend. 

If there is no event center or a banquet hall facility, the Prom Dinner will likely be in a fancy hotel. The event usually shoulders the food bill, served by the hotel staff. It is one of the inclusions of the ticket paid by students or parents.  If the dinner is facilitated per section, then the food might be served in classrooms. 

For schools that don’t host the Prom Dinner, students can get creative with different options. A popular one is making a mini potluck in someone’s home where all participants bring food to be shared for all.

Another great alternative for dinner is taking yourself and your date to a fancy restaurant. Unless the date ends there, you will likely have a better time in this arrangement. 

When all are well-fed for the night event, the real promenade occasions will finally commence. Students often arrive at the venue at around 7 P.M., but it can depend on the time set for the dance to begin. 

2. Prom Court 

The Prom Court is the highlight of every promenade. This portion of the event is most-awaited by students who care about being the Prom King and the Prom Queen. In most schools, being a member of the court cements your reputation as one of the most popular ladies or lad. 

Days or weeks before the actual prom event starts, students would nominate students to join the Prom Court. In the following weeks, these nominated students will campaign to get fellow students’ votes. The lady and the lad who will have the most votes will be hailed as the Prom Queen and the Prom King.  

Schools have different requirements for aspiring candidates of the Prom Court. Most often than not, these requirements include having a good grade and not having any bad records. They might also require nominees to be a part of a club or any extracurricular activities. There are no standard requirements because most schools just follow their policies. 

Voting can happen before or during the dance. After the winners’ announcement, the Prom King and the Prom Queen will share a dance together. If one or both of them are in a relationship, they can choose to dance with their dates instead. Either way, this first dance will signal the official start of the Prom dance. 

3. Dance The Night away

And just like that, the prom night starts. You can share the dance floor with your friends or with your date. It all depends on the current music playing. Make yourself comfortable and do rest for a bit every once in a while. You’d need this tip because you might be standing a lot during the event. 

Some school areas like classrooms and comfort rooms are blocked for the obvious reason. If you want to excuse yourself to retouch your makeup or other things, you might want to use the approved facilities. The dance will last for hours and usually ends at 2 A.m. 

4. After The Prom

It’s pretty common for students to want still to dance even after the official prom program is over. Because of this, most schools host after-parties to let the students enjoy themselves before finally closing down the venue. These after-parties can last till the morning and are usually chill. School-sanctioned events would often include snacks and raffle draws. 

If there are no school-sponsored after-parties, the students can host their parties at their homes. These after-parties would often include all-nighters and mostly done with friends (just like a sleepover.) Parents are advised to keep these events alcohol-free and make sure the noise wouldn’t be unbearable. 

Should You Skip Prom?

There is no wrong or right answer to this question. It will all boil down to your preference and how you would want to spend your time. If you prefer doing something else during the prom night, then go ahead. If you can’t go due to financial reasons, that would also be okay. 

Most people who skipped proms don’t regret missing it out. Some still turned up and wished they’d skip the event. If you dread wasting your time by going to prom, you should skip it. You might turn out to be among those who attended and regretted their decisions later on. 

Take note: even if you miss the event, you can set a separate event with your friends in a more comfortable and cheaper setting. There are more entertaining ways to spend quality time with your friends before ending the school year. 

Perhaps, the one thing you should avoid doing is promising your friends and date to be there and cancel at the last minute. This scenario is incredibly frustrating if you promised date because that person will need to go to the prom alone. Plan ahead of time and tell your friends or your special someone you’re not attending the prom night. 

What About Homecoming

Just like the Promenade, Homecoming is pretty much a skippable event. If you’re leaning to go, then try to go. If you just hate dances in general, then stay home. Are you having trouble finding a date? This is not a reason to skip homecoming. Go out of your comfort zone and make friends with new people.