Everyone dreams about their own prom story.
We fill it with elegant, fancy dresses that glitter a rainbow under the dance lighting. We have formal tuxedos and strapping young men with silk ties all entangled in our perfect perception. We have extravagant day dates, activities and exquisite dinners. Then we finally head to the Utah State Capitol and dance the night away.
This is the picture we paint of prom but the masterpiece hasn't always looked this way. Have you ever wondered about the story behind your childhood's favorite dress in the dress-up box that made Mom smile every time she saw it? Or who that strange couple is in the picture in the den that almost gives you a headache from the extreme '80s style?
Well, you're about to find out! Bust out the yearbooks -- it's Parents' Prom Time!
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Parent: Jean Corey of Plain City
Attended: Bear River High School Prom, early 1980s
Dress styles: "Big dresses with hoops, long sleeved (and) floor length. We had every color, whatever you liked."
Hairstyles: "Long and big!"
Location: Prom was always held at the school. The gym was decorated days in advance by all the students and wasn't recognizable as the gym when they were finished.
Who came: Everyone in town came to the Promenade. The junior couples walked down a staircase built in the gym and were announced in front of everyone.
Activities: Everyone would go out to dinner and then to the dance at the school. There was no movie at someone's house after. It was simpler.
Pictures: There were only couple pictures. There wasn't a big fuss about having a group or group pictures. It was fast so more time could be spent dancing.
Favorite/least favorite parts: "My favorite part was the Promenade. I didn't like going to the restaurant in such a big dress."
Then and now: "We had great fun decorating the gym for prom. Everyone in town came to the Promenade. Now pictures take forever, it's a whole day, and it's exhausting."
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Parent: Mike Kammeyer of Syracuse
Attended: Ben Lomond High School Prom, 1984 and 1985
Importance: Everyone wanted to go to prom.
Invitation: "We asked each other in fun and creative ways, like kids do now but just not as elaborately."
Music: They played mostly slow songs, lots of '80s and Journey.
Dress styles: "Most of them were long. They had puffy sleeves, lace, and they were mostly plain."
Hairstyles: Puffy and big, '80s hairstyles.
Favorite part: The actual dance
Least favorite: "I don't remember a bad part about the prom."
Activities: There was no day date, just dinner before the dance.
Location: "One was at the Hilton Hotel and the other was held at Weber State." The locations were decorated with balloons and flowers.
Then and now: "(I liked it) the way it was when I was younger because it was more formal. There weren't people going stag."
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Parent: Jeani Field of Syracuse
Attended: Lyman High School Prom, in Lyman, Wyo., 1973
Importance: "Prom was the biggest event of the year in our high school. One way or another, anyone who wanted to go got to go."
Invitation: "Telephone. 'Hello, this is so-and-so. (Uh-um) Would you go to the prom with me?' Of course a friend usually tipped you off first so you knew he would call."
Activities: "Activities included a trip to the beauty parlor if you were a girl, and the boys went rabbit hunting or something 'sensitive' like that. No day date."
Dress styles: The dresses were long, long sleeves with wide cuffs, and had an empire waist. There were no sequins and the neck usually had a rounded choker-like collar.
Hairstyles: Half up, half down, with ringlets. "The funny part has to be the ringlet in front of the ear."
Theme: "For All We Know" by the Carpenters
Decorations: "We used napkins stuffed in chicken wire, paper and draped plastic over murals, and had a sparkling fountain."
Favorite part: "Everyone dressed up and looking so beautiful! We had a floor show where the juniors performed a dance for the rest of the community and the queen was crowned."
Least favorite: "Least favorite part had to be worrying if you would get asked or if you had to take a cousin."
Now and then: "Both are great! I loved the whole getting-out-of-school to decorate and practicing the floor show, but the asking and answering and day date are so fun too. Let's face it, now or then, prom brings memories."
TX. correspondent Jaycie Miller, Fremont High, contributed to this story.
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Michelle Thurgood is a junior at Syracuse High School. E-mail her at kaprirocks@gmail.com.
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