How to Throw a Pre-Prom Party. Your senior prom has finally arrived, and you want the night to be perfect from start to finish. Get it started off right by throwing a pre-prom party so that all your friends can take photos and admire each other's glam prom-night looks. Whether you're hosting a low-key event or a pre-prom blowout, use these tips to get the party started.
Casual Get-Together
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Step 1
Decorate the joint with a banner, streamers, balloons or anything else that suits your fancy. Spice up one of the doorways with flowers, streamers or a garland as the designated posing spot for pictures.
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Step 2
Ask your friends for copies of their baby pictures then post them around the room, next to their senior photos, so that everyone can see the before and after. Or don't post the baby pictures and senior pictures together, and see if your friends can pick each other out from the baby photos.
Step 3
Make appetizers to have on hand as a pre-dinner snack. Spinach dip and chips or stuffed mushrooms are a fancy way to go, or keep it really casual and serve up movie-theatre style popcorn, cookies and punch.
Step 4
Watch a classic prom-themed movie, such as "Footloose," "10 Things I Hate About You" or "Pretty in Pink."
Step 5
Set out disposable cameras, wedding-style, so that friends can go wild taking pictures (instead of obsessing over whether the picture turned out just right, as is the case these days with the ubiquitous digital camera). Tell your friends that you will make copies to hand out to everyone.
All-Out Glamorous Gathering
Step 1
Invite your friends to bring their families along so that parents and siblings can take pictures and be involved in the pre-prom festivities.
Step 2
Mark the spot by tying balloons to your mailbox or hanging a banner to welcome prom-goers.
Step 3
Rent a white tent or a gazebo and set it up in your yard so that friends and couples will have a pretty place to pose. Set flower arrangements on either side of the entrance.
Step 4
Lay a red carpet down from the street to your house so that your glammed-up friends can have an actual "Red Carpet" moment.
Step 5
Hire a professional photographer to capture the experience on film. Your friends can later purchase any photos they would like to have.
Step 6
Set up card tables on the porch or around the yard to hold punch and hors d'oeuvres as refreshment for your guests.
Step 7
Hand out party favors to commemorate the event. Give your friends a silver picture frame with the date and event printed within (or, as a pricier alternative, engraved on the outer frame) or a personalized tin of mints.
Tip
As a no-cost alternative to renting a limo, decide amongst your friends who will be driving to the prom, then divvy up the group so that there are two or more couples per vehicle. It may not be as glamorous as a limo, but carpooling will allow you the same group experience that you'd get with the pricier version. If you are hiring a limo, make sure it arrives early enough so that you can take pictures with it.