Promposals

poster_0001This week’s episode of Modern Family revealed a new-to-me word: promposal. Apparently a promposal is when a person (presumably a high schooler) asks someone else to go to the prom with them.

I’m not sure if this is just something that happens on TV or if kids in real life put a lot of thought and effort into their promposals. Back in my day, we just asked the girl to prom. I guess technically that’s a promposal, but it was just a question, not a carefully orchestrated event.

I attended a junior prom and a senior prom when I was in high school. I have absolutely no recollection of my first promposal. At the time, I was dating a girl named Kate, and while I’m sure I asked her to prom at some point, it wasn’t some big event.

My senior promposal was a bit more memorable–again, not the ask itself, which I think happened at the base of the main stairwell in the back of the building, but rather the circumstances. I liked three different girls at the time, and it was my perception that two of them were expecting me to ask them.

So naturally I asked the third girl, Emily, as it seemed more exciting. We had flirted for a while leading up to that point, but she was still caught off guard by the question. I was glad she said yes.

Did you go to prom? Was there an elaborate promposal involved?

UPDATE: I have a very poor memory.

5 thoughts on “Promposals”

  1. Promposals are definitely a big thing now. One of my coworkers has a son in high school and he bought his girlfriend a nice watch a few weeks ago and attached a note that said, “Isn’t it about time I asked you to prom?” His was one of the tamer ones, but my coworker said that some type of production is expected when a girl is asked.

    He didn’t have enough money for the kind of watch he originally wanted to get her, and the price point was such a source of contention between him and his parents. He could have just asked her the normal way for free, but he felt it wouldn’t have been enough.

    I had a serious boyfriend at the time of my prom, and we both just naturally assumed we were going together. No asking needed! Even girls that didn’t have boyfriends were just asked the normal way without much fuss. So much simpler!

    Reply
    • Katie: That’s fascinating! It’s so different than when I was in high school. I can’t imagine buying a girl a present just to ask her to prom (not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s just so different).

      Reply
  2. One my cousin’s kids recently did a promposal, nothing extravagant, but it was all about the big reveal with a poster board with the ask on it, with PROM lit up with Christmas lights punched through the board, and the trail of lights leading to him holding flowers. From what I’ve read its generally guys just doing a greater than normal romantic gesture to their girlfriends to ask them to prom. If it were someone that weren’t your partner I could see it coming off as creepy.

    Reply
    • Sean: Interesting, so it’s more about guys asking their girlfriends than it is about springing the big question on an unsuspecting girl. That makes sense.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from jameystegmaier.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue Reading