Boomer Connections This Boomer's Life

Prom then and Now, My How Things Have Changed

By Cherie Blazer and daughter Alex Troisi

My 16-year-old daughter Alex attended Prom earlier this year. As we went through the process of preparing for this momentous event in the life of a Far West End teenager, I couldn’t help but reflect on the intriguing differences between my Boomer Prom in 1980 (good God, was my senior prom that long ago?) and my daughter’s Millennial Prom in 2014.

Well first of all it’s a heck of a lot more expensive….

But I digress. I’m going to tell you about my prom and then I will let Alex tell you about her experience.

I came from a small town in Central Pennsylvania, and Prom for us was a far less elaborate affair than it is today in suburban Richmond. Yet the memory of it is no less sweet. My graduating class of 1980 was small, approximately 80 people in fact. It was a combined Jr-Sr Prom, with the juniors decorating the gym in honor of the seniors. Back in the late 70s and into the early 80s was the era of all those sappy songs like “Through the Eyes of Love”. That in fact was my Junior prom theme song (1979). How do I remember these things? In my scrapbook I discovered the printed cocktail napkin that was used at the cookie and punch table!

My recollection is of a disco ball strung from the ceiling of the gym, awkward boy-girl slow dances, and girls dancing with each other during the fast dances since the boys were afraid of appearing un-macho. And, like a scene from all those Brat Pack movies, the teacher chaperones who had drawn the short straw on the sidelines chatting and making sure PDA was kept to a minimum. The entire cast of characters was represented that night; as you look back at high school I’m sure you know what I mean.

The way the night unfolded was rather an odd setup, in retrospect, with the dance starting at around 7, and everyone queuing up for photos. Then came the DJ, dancing , drinking of punch (the old standby: 7-up/Hawaiian Punch/sherbet), and then the couples going off to dinner afterward. We all had to rush to dinner and ended up at restaurants near closing time since in our little valley there were no “fancy” restaurants—you had to drive at least 30 minutes or more away if your date really wanted to impress you. My date must have really wanted to impress me because after Prom we drove a full hour to the Big City (Harrisburg, PA) for dinner.

Alex would probably deem my prom as “lame” by today’s standards, but Prom is one of my most precious high school memories. I look back and remember a carefree innocent time: I knew everyone in the room…since kindergarten. I was enjoying the evening with my favorite people including my boyfriend and best friend Sheri. She and I had shopped for hours together until we found her new dress and my new shoes (maroon Candies stilettos that matched my pink dress—by far the coolest shoes I had ever owned) we danced and laughed and looked pretty and then went to a really nice dinner. In my day, in my little town, this was a major occasion. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

One of the most interesting differences between Prom now and then is how a girl is asked. My boyfriend simply said “Would you like to go to the prom with me” and I simply replied in the affirmative. Nowadays there is the phenomenon of the “promposal” with boys being expected to ask girls to Prom in all sorts of fun, original ways. It seems to have become another challenging game of one-upsmanship reflective of the highly competitive atmosphere these kids operate in. PROM? is written in cupcakes, jewelry, billboards, yard signs, you name it. Alex’s was written in lights on our lawn. But I will let her tell you about that. Here is how Alex’s prom went down:

I took the whole day to get ready for prom. I got up in the morning, got a shower, did my hair, laid out my dress and my make up. I got my updo at 1PM, and after that I did my makeup. I had to wait around a little bit, pacing nervously, until my boyfriend got to my house at 4:30. Parents then took pictures to the point of embarrassment.

For weeks in advance I had tried to decide what hairstyle I would use, ordered shoes online special for the occasion, and picked out what makeup design I would do. My boyfriend and I already knew that we were going together, but I had to wait for him to “prompose” before I could tell all of my friends the details. A week or two before prom (very late, but still acceptable) my boyfriend filled my front yard with hundreds, maybe even thousands, or Christmas lights spelling out: PROM?

It was glorious, and all of my friends were jealous.

Instead of going with a large group of friends to dinner as originally planned, my boyfriend decided that he wanted to spend the evening with only me, and take me on a special date. He told me that he was going to surprise me with our dinner plans. I don’t like surprises…. But I wasn’t disappointed, for much to my amazement my boyfriend had decided to take me to famous Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for dinner. I’ve never been there, it is considered “parents only”!

Anyway, the service was fabulous and everyone was so nice to us, and we ended up staying at Ruth’s Chris for over 2 hours; which in turn made us a little late to the dance. Technically, the rule is that if you get to prom after 8:30 they don’t let you in. But they did let us in! And so we got to dance…

The music was decent. My boyfriend’s school has this thing where they like to swing dance, so they requested the DJ play swing music so we could all dance to it. The DJ loved it! He was like “THIS IS THE MOST FANTASTIC THING IV’E EVER SEEN AT A PROM” so that was pretty cool. He even took a video of it! I have to admit, for a bunch of high schoolers on the dance floor dressed like that, I kinda felt like I was in the Great Gatsby.

After the dance, most of the kids go to parties at parents’ lake and the beach houses and even go camping. My parents said no to that idea. My boyfriend and I came back to my house, just watched TV and fell asleep. His mom called my mom to find out where he was…yes he forgot to call her 

It definitely lived up to the hype of high school prom, and although it wasn’t quite like all the teenie bopper movies I’ve been watching all these years…nonetheless, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

And here is the breakdown of the vital stats, Boomer vs Millenial Prom

1980

Cost of dress: $0. It was my sister’s bridesmaid dress at a wedding a few weeks before

Theme: Hawaiian Nights

Transportation: boyfriend’s Nissan 280Z

Location: Tri Valley High School gym, Valley View PA

Dinner afterward: Riverboat Restaurant, Harrisburg, PA

Cost of ticket: $5

Cost of Beautification: $0, did my own hair and makeup

Curfew: none

2014

Cost of dress: Original price was over $300 but we got in on major sale at Dillard’s, Actual cost…that’s our secret

Theme: The Great Gatsby Ball

Transportation: boyfriends Toyota FJ Cruiser

Location: Willow Oaks Country Club, Richmond, VA

Dinner afterward: Ruth Chris Steakhouse

Cost of ticket: $75

Cost of Beautification: $85 for updo, $50 for French mani/pedi

Curfew: 11 PM sharp.

It would have been indiscreet to ask our dates cost of tux, flowers, dinner, etc. But friends with sons tell me the going rate for tux rentals is $150-200. I don’t even want to know what bill Alex’s very generous and sweet boyfriend was presented with at Ruth’s Chris. There was no limo involved, but nowadays this is a very common expense as well.

We’d love to hear about your Boomer prom. Please share!! And don’t forget the photos, we want to see those too!