Heading through your high school's parking lot to get to your car, you begin to notice it's been smeared in shaving cream with a note written through the white foam:
"I'll wash your car for free if you go to the dance with me!"
When it comes to going to high school dances, Top of Utah teens seem to find clever, sometimes extreme approaches. But although it may end up this way, it wasn't always so easy to think of something unique.
"You get nervous and feel like you have to come up with a creative way to ask," says Katie Nix, a senior from Ogden High.
Shaky, anxious and excited are some of the symptoms that seem to arise for anyone when asking someone to a school dance.
"It's harder asking," says Courtney Eaves, a junior from Clearfield High, "because then you have to wait (for an answer)."
However, does it depend on the person or what type of dance? Most would answer that the less formal dances are easier to ask to because it's less serious, yet others like Eaves disagree: "The more formal dances are easier because you can go all out."
Some teens says asking for boy's choice for girls is much easier and the same goes for boys when it's girl's choice. Either way, asking is harder "because they might say no," Stephen Cook, a junior from Northridge High, says.
On the other hand why should there be any "stress" involved as Treydn Stenburg, a senior from Fremont High believes there is.
Smashing times
No matter the symptoms, the following is a list of "creative ways" that other Top of Utah teens have used that work to ask that special someone or even a friend to a school dance:
* A simple flower and "Will you go to the dance with me?" (Original but sincere).
* Get cups filled with ice cream, and on the inside, tape to the bottom pieces of paper that say, "I scream, you scream, dig through the ice cream ... even though it will be a mess, I hope the answer will be yes!"
* String Christmas lights all over his/her room. Leave a poster on the bed that reads: "You'd light up my world if you will go to the dance with me!"
* Doorbell ditch his or her home leaving flour on the doorstep. After the door has been answered and shut, run back again, leaving this time a flower or bouquet of flowers and a note saying, "Sorry wrong 'flower' ... will you go to the dance with me?"
* Smash a pumpkin on the doorstep with your name in it and a note that says, "I'd be 'smashed' if you didn't go with me."
* Stand in front of his or her home with a group of friends. Each person wears a different word on their T-shirt and together it spells out, "Will you go to the dance with me." You will be wearing the "me" shirt!
Ticket to fun
* Fill your date's room with popcorn and leave a note saying, "It would be 'poppin' if you went to the dance with me."
* Use a Barbie slug-bug car filled with toy bugs, and leave a note saying: "It would 'bug' me if you didn't go to the dance with me."
* Write on a sign "( _____________), will you go to the dance with No. (whatever jersey number the player is that is asking)?" and hold it up to the audience during game half time.
* Ask the people doing the intercom or video announcements at school to say over the loud speaker during announcements, "( _____________ ), will you go the dance with (insert person's name who is asking)?"
* Ask a teacher to print off a separate and different copy of the homework sheet he/she is giving to the class including the words: "( _________), will you go the dance with (insert person's name who is asking)," either at the end of the directions or included as one of the questions in the assignment.
* Have the office call the person down to the school's police office issuing the person a violation for something of your choosing. The citation reads: "Sorry, wrong ticket ... will you go to the dance with (your name)?"
Many sweet returns
What if you're the one getting asked to a dance? How do you respond?
"Answering is just easier. You can play off how they asked and you don't have to deal with the nerves of asking," Ericka Griffin, a senior at Fremont High, says.
Andrea Thomas, a junior from Syracuse High, agrees, "It is more fun to answer someone because there is less stress."
Even so, some stress still seems to creep in when answering a prospective date back. Here are some clever ways Utah high school teens have answered back:
* Make a music video to the song "Love Story," rewriting the lyrics.
* Buy fake body parts, writing the letters "Y" 'E" "S" on them, with a note attached that reads: "It would be killer to go to the dance with you."
* Create a scavenger hunt where the person finds you at the end holding flowers in your hand.
* Fill your date's room with balloons containing candy, including one piece with your answer written on it.
Message shirts
* Wrap the person's car with plastic wrap; on the inside or attached to the driver's door underneath the wrap leave a note saying, "It would be 'tight' to go to the dance with you."
* Wear a T-shirt that screams "YES!"
* Scatter his/her favorite candy all over the room. The note left reads: "It would be a real treat to go to the dance with you!"
* Give the person a shirt that has all sorts of words written on it in washable marker such as "Yes," "No," "Still thinking," "Possibly," "Not sure yet," etc. However, write your answer in permanent marker. Leave a note with instructions to wash the shirt and the answer will be the only one that stays on.
Morgan Briesmaster is a senior at Northridge High School. She enjoys snowboarding, dancing/tumbling, and smiling. E-mail her at 11mbriesmaster@davis.k12.ut.us.
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