Prom After-Party

Do all proms have after-parties?

Not all proms have afterparties so if you don't want to spend the money, you shouldn't have to. Just going to the prom and dancing until 12, 1, whenever your prom ends, is more than enough if that's what you want to do, but if you want to have an afterparty, there are a lot of options. You could plan something on your own or do what your school coordinated, because often times a school will plan something afterwards. I know we do a lot of that in Manhattan, a lot of schools do plan something afterwards. Me, personally what I did, and I think it's pretty unique, we rented a boat in Manhattan and which wasn't too difficult, and wasn't too terribly expensive, and we went around the island of Manhattan, which was about $25 per person, and we had a blast, so think of something interesting and unique like that as an afterparty option.

How late do prom after-parties usually go?

After-parties can go very late. I came home at six-thirty in the morning, you can come home at two in the morning, three in the morning or you can come home completely the next day, at six pm at night. If you're renting a house, or a bungalow, or something like that with your friends and you're spending the night together, then you're going to come home the next day. But there's no rhyme or reason here, do what you want to do, have fun, obviously you just want to make sure, depending on your age, if your parents are okay with it.

Should I bring extra clothes to prom for the after-party?

If you're planning an after-party, keep in mind what the plans are and then have a second outfit either in your car, in the limo or in the place where you're going afterwards, like if you're renting a house. So, I personally think that a nice thing to do, well aside from having pajamas, is the next day if you plan to do something with your friends, you want to bring like a cotton jersey dress instead of maybe a sweat suit because that's a little bit more fun and sort of daytime glamour if you will versus just, you know, sweats and sneakers.

What if my parents say I can't go to the after-party?

If your parents don't let you go to the after party, you need to respect their wishes because chances are if they are controlling you at that level, they are most likely also paying for your prom, for your dress and all those other things associated with the evening. So if you think that they're not dealing with the situation justly, you just want to sit them down and say, "I've been a good person, I'm responsible, I've done XYZ Monday through Friday, I'm really good. Everything is great, nothing's going to happen on this day." You plan it out ahead of time, have this conversation maybe two months, a month in advance and hopefully, they will go your way.