Prom Planning

When should I get my prom tickets?

It depends on your school. In some schools, people start buying them in the beginning of the year, some people do that a few months before, but I think in some schools depending on when you buy you pay more money, so you may want to keep that in mind. If you want to save money on prom because prom is going to be expensive, you may want to buy as soon as possible

Who should pay for prom?

Paying for prom, it really depends on the relationship you have. If you're in a long-term relationship and one of you usually pays for everything then just go with what you know. But I think, especially if it's a high school prom and you're 17, 18 years old, you want to split it. Because it shouldn't be the burden of the guy to pay x amount of dollars for the prom if he probably doesn't make as much so it's just not fair. So 50/50 if you're in high school.

Should we go out to dinner before prom?

If you want to have dinner before prom or after prom, it is up to you. You kind of set the bar of where you want it to be. And you set the bar for money, and you set the bar on the pace, and you set the plan. If you want to have dinner, have dinner. If you do not want to spend money on dinner, do not. If you want to do it at home, do it at home. There is no rhyme or reason. Do whatever is comfortable for you budget wise, and friend wise. Just go with the flow.

Should I rent a hotel room for prom night?

You should absolutely not rent a hotel room for prom night. Why in your mind would you want to be locked up in a hotel room? I mean there are probably reasons, but you shouldn't be doing those reasons anyway so there's no reason on prom night to rent a hotel room. None at all.

What if my parents want to be prom chaperones?

If you're going to your Junior Prom, and you're fifteen years old, or fourteen years old, chances are you can't really debate with your parents on being your chaperone. They're going to want to be there to monitor you. Since they're paying for so much of the prom, most likely they're paying for everything -- your hair, your makeup, your dress -- you don't want to debate them on it. They're going to go, and just let it be. If you're a little bit older, if you're a senior in high school -- obviously in college, you're not going to have a chaperone -- but if you're a senior in high school and your parents want to chaperone, you maybe want to sit them down and have a discussion with them, and say, maybe, "I'm a responsible person. I haven't done anything wrong. You know me Monday through Friday. Nothing's going to happen on Saturday that wouldn't happen Monday through Friday." And most of the time you can sit them down, have a conversation about it, they'll budge. If not, just keep working on it. If you know that they want to be chaperones, you want to start talking about it, not the week before, but the month before, maybe six months before.

How can good prom planning help me save money?

If you plan ahead you can save a lot of money. If you buy your ticket early chances are your school will give you a break because the later you buy I think sometimes the more expensive it gets. So buy your tickets early. If you know that you want to do some kind of elaborate after party, if you plan ahead, again people will give you breaks. If you book your limo you can use your time to negotiate because there's always room for negotiation. Don't let anybody fool you there's always room for negotiating. If you give yourself time, two months or three months and plan ahead you'll save a lot of money on the limo, on the tickets and on the after party.