Post by slt on May 7, 2009 8:54:00 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/lifestyles/1562622,2_1_AU07_PROMCOLUMN_S1.article
Prom could use bailout
May 7, 2009
By DENISE LINKE For The Beacon News
If President Obama really wants to stimulate the economy, he doesn't need to throw money at banks in the hope they'll crack open their vaults and ease the credit crunch. Nor does he have to fund building projects, or bail out the crumbling auto industry.
All he needs to do is hold a nationwide high school prom.
My son attended his first prom Saturday, nearly 31 years to the day after my date and I endured hours of picture-taking before our respective parents let us out the door. While I enjoyed helping him shop for snazzy clothes and a killer corsage, the sticker shock threatened to drown my prom night nostalgia.
Let's start with the ticket price. My senior prom cost about $60 per couple, as near as I can recall -- back then, a proper girl wouldn't have insulted her date by offering to pay for her own ticket. That $60 entitled us to a sit-down prime rib dinner served by tuxedo-clad waiters in a posh downtown Chicago banquet hall, plus the usual dancing, live rock band and short-term hearing loss. We provided our own transportation; the prom committee picked up the valet parking fees.
This year, Geneva High School charged $100 per person for prom tickets, which guaranteed that even the most romantic couples were going dutch. For this, they got to take a coach bus to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago -- almost like my son did back in fourth grade -- dance among the exhibits and serve themselves at a buffet that seemed to consist mostly of pasta, Chinese food and a roast beef carving station. For dessert, we got baked Alaska presented in a candlelight ceremony; they got ice cream cones scooped to order, followed by the usual dancing, live rock band and short-term hearing loss. Of course, ambience does count for something: after all, how many banquet halls boast a Nazi submarine in the attic and a coal mine in the basement?
Then there's the cost to outfit the promgoers for their big night. My wallet got a big break here, since my son, a French horn player in several regional ensembles, already owns a concert tux. I even stopped feeling guilty about making him wear it to prom after I checked out a few rental places and discovered that the basic prom model that rents for between $60 and $110 per day is identical to the tux I paid $100 for outright in 2005. Nevertheless, it cost $32 to jazz up his tux with a rental vest and tie so that he would feel like he was stepping out onto a dance floor instead of a concert stage.
My wallet also benefited from outfitting a boy instead of a girl. While a handful of girls in the Tri-Cities picked up free prom dresses from Cinderella's Closet a couple weeks ago, hundreds more hit the malls for weeks, trying on dresses and shoes that cost more than I spent on my prom dress and wedding gown combined, even after adjusting the price tag for inflation. Add another $100 or so apiece for hair, makeup and manicure appointments, and it seemed like the female high school population is giving almost as much to the beauty industry as Obama is giving to the auto industry.
Ironically, at the stroke of midnight Saturday most promgoers stampeded the high school locker rooms to change from their expensive prom outfits into T-shirts and jeans so they could hit the Velcro wall at the official post-prom party. Hosted by schools and funded by donations from parents, police departments and local businesses, post-prom events lure teens away from illegal beer bashes with free games, food and raffle prizes that have ranged in the past from MP3 players to new sports cars. While I wish Geneva High School's event ended more than 12 hours before my son's Sunday concert, knowing we wouldn't be driving home at 3 a.m. on streets crowded with drunken kids was well worth $10 in donated brownies and mixed nuts.
I'd be more worked up over how much more expensive and elaborate prom is today than it was in 1978 if I didn't remember my mother voicing exactly the same sentiments while she helped me shop for my big night. Of course, back when Mom attended her senior prom in rural Missouri in 1949, tickets cost $3, the boys wore suits, the girls made their own dresses in home ec class, everybody went stag and the dance took place in the school gym with punch and cookies. Her prom night memories weren't as fond as mine are, just as I hope mine don't compare to my son's in years to come.
Putting on a formal dance for hundreds of adolescents is expensive.
Watching those adolescents experience a rite of passage that will stay with them their entire adult lives is priceless.
dlinke@earthlink.net
Prom could use bailout
May 7, 2009
By DENISE LINKE For The Beacon News
If President Obama really wants to stimulate the economy, he doesn't need to throw money at banks in the hope they'll crack open their vaults and ease the credit crunch. Nor does he have to fund building projects, or bail out the crumbling auto industry.
All he needs to do is hold a nationwide high school prom.
My son attended his first prom Saturday, nearly 31 years to the day after my date and I endured hours of picture-taking before our respective parents let us out the door. While I enjoyed helping him shop for snazzy clothes and a killer corsage, the sticker shock threatened to drown my prom night nostalgia.
Let's start with the ticket price. My senior prom cost about $60 per couple, as near as I can recall -- back then, a proper girl wouldn't have insulted her date by offering to pay for her own ticket. That $60 entitled us to a sit-down prime rib dinner served by tuxedo-clad waiters in a posh downtown Chicago banquet hall, plus the usual dancing, live rock band and short-term hearing loss. We provided our own transportation; the prom committee picked up the valet parking fees.
This year, Geneva High School charged $100 per person for prom tickets, which guaranteed that even the most romantic couples were going dutch. For this, they got to take a coach bus to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago -- almost like my son did back in fourth grade -- dance among the exhibits and serve themselves at a buffet that seemed to consist mostly of pasta, Chinese food and a roast beef carving station. For dessert, we got baked Alaska presented in a candlelight ceremony; they got ice cream cones scooped to order, followed by the usual dancing, live rock band and short-term hearing loss. Of course, ambience does count for something: after all, how many banquet halls boast a Nazi submarine in the attic and a coal mine in the basement?
Then there's the cost to outfit the promgoers for their big night. My wallet got a big break here, since my son, a French horn player in several regional ensembles, already owns a concert tux. I even stopped feeling guilty about making him wear it to prom after I checked out a few rental places and discovered that the basic prom model that rents for between $60 and $110 per day is identical to the tux I paid $100 for outright in 2005. Nevertheless, it cost $32 to jazz up his tux with a rental vest and tie so that he would feel like he was stepping out onto a dance floor instead of a concert stage.
My wallet also benefited from outfitting a boy instead of a girl. While a handful of girls in the Tri-Cities picked up free prom dresses from Cinderella's Closet a couple weeks ago, hundreds more hit the malls for weeks, trying on dresses and shoes that cost more than I spent on my prom dress and wedding gown combined, even after adjusting the price tag for inflation. Add another $100 or so apiece for hair, makeup and manicure appointments, and it seemed like the female high school population is giving almost as much to the beauty industry as Obama is giving to the auto industry.
Ironically, at the stroke of midnight Saturday most promgoers stampeded the high school locker rooms to change from their expensive prom outfits into T-shirts and jeans so they could hit the Velcro wall at the official post-prom party. Hosted by schools and funded by donations from parents, police departments and local businesses, post-prom events lure teens away from illegal beer bashes with free games, food and raffle prizes that have ranged in the past from MP3 players to new sports cars. While I wish Geneva High School's event ended more than 12 hours before my son's Sunday concert, knowing we wouldn't be driving home at 3 a.m. on streets crowded with drunken kids was well worth $10 in donated brownies and mixed nuts.
I'd be more worked up over how much more expensive and elaborate prom is today than it was in 1978 if I didn't remember my mother voicing exactly the same sentiments while she helped me shop for my big night. Of course, back when Mom attended her senior prom in rural Missouri in 1949, tickets cost $3, the boys wore suits, the girls made their own dresses in home ec class, everybody went stag and the dance took place in the school gym with punch and cookies. Her prom night memories weren't as fond as mine are, just as I hope mine don't compare to my son's in years to come.
Putting on a formal dance for hundreds of adolescents is expensive.
Watching those adolescents experience a rite of passage that will stay with them their entire adult lives is priceless.
dlinke@earthlink.net
