In American movies and shows, proms are commonly depicted to take place in the high school gymnasium. But when I was in high school, it was at a private venue. My girlfriend from the Philippines was shocked and a little disappointed to learn that my prom didn’t take place in a gym where kids play basketball. Has anyone here ever had their prom in the gym? Additionally, was food served? Because I don’t recall being served dinner at my prom, however, my friends and I did go to the diner afterwards which is a very Jersey thing to do.
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No. Mine was at a presidential library
Some do. Mine, back in the 90s, took place in the cafeteria, which was the biggest room at the school.
My oldest three kids went to three different, private high schools, but their proms were all at the same banquet hall. That banquet hall is the biggest one on this side of town.
The movie/ show already has a gym set. Cheaper to stage dress and film on a set you already use.
Some schools might. Non-prom dances are more likely to.
Our school booked a really nice venue for our prom. It was also caters so we did have dinner but we also ate after at a diner (NJ also), and then we went to Seaside for prom weekend
No. Ours was at the local event center.
Yes. Schools are not budgeted for renting ballrooms.
>Additionally, was food served?
No.
My prom was held at a country club. We were served a full catered dinner as well.
lol mine was at a venue in the city, but all other dances like homecoming and Winter formal were in the school gym. we did have food at prom but not other dances
Sometimes it is. But it’s often in a rented venue. Just depends how much the school is willing/able to spend.
Mine was at a hotel ballroom.
The other, smaller dances were held on campus.
Depends on the school and the level of funding. At a working class school where participants can’t chip in as much, yeah, it’ll be in the gym.
If I I’d stayed at my original high school it would have been. It was a somewhat rural regional high school and was really the only place big enough in that area to have had it.
No. My brother’s school rented a ball room.
Ours were at at hotel.
Obligatory note that every school district is different and there are thousands of them in the US, but all of the real proms I’ve ever seen were not at the school. My high school had a homecoming dance in the school gym but prom was always in a hotel ballroom.
Mine took place in the ballroom of a horse race track
I went to two. One was at a country club, the other a yacht club.
The public school in the town I currently live in has theirs at Gillette Stadium.
Mine was at a ballroom. Dinner was served as part of the event beforehand. Homecoming dance was in the school cafeteria.
We had ours at an event venue and had dinner there. I feel like the gym thing was more common in the past, but there’s got to be some schools that still do it.
Edit: I wonder if it’s a liability thing because they know kids will be drinking, and as someone else from NJ, specifically drinking and driving to spend the weekend at the shore.
In Junior High School it was in the school gym. When I was in High School they did proms at private venues. One year it was in a ballroom on the waterfront and another year it was at a horse track. The horse track sounds bad but the building was a multi million dollar facility with a large ballroom designed for large events.
At my school, homecoming was at the gym. Prom was somewhere nicer, like an event center, or hotel ballroom
Mine was at a museum venue and food was served
Ours was at a private venue. And tickets were expensive.
Mine was in 1997 and it was at a country club. There was no food served.
The school I started high school in held theirs in the gym, as it was the biggest room the school had.
The school I transferred to in 10th grade held theirs in the cafeteria for some odd reason, even though the gym was bigger and already had a speaker system.
My niblings high school held theirs in the auditorium.
The school I did custodial work at held theirs in the heavy equipment lab, as it was the largest room by far.
some do. you also get a lot of different venues rented for proms. my wife and I went to the same high school as teenagers and our school rented a big fancy convention center for the prom. my wife holds the position of being the foriegn born(Germany) prom queen at our old school.
Mine did not. In fact, my cousin got married ar the same place my school does prom
The location depends on the school. In our area, some of the schools hold dances in the gym and others rent offsite locations. Locally I haven’t seen any of the schools serve a full, sit down dinner at their dances, but many have food available.
It depends. Mine was in the early 90’s and they rented out a local conference center for it. My HS didn’t have a large enough room and they didn’t want the gym floor messed up with people in heels. We didn’t have food that I remember it was just a glorified dance. Boring too.
My daughter’s was just a few years ago and it was held at the school because they had a large enough space for it. Idk if they had food because she didn’t go to it.
You’re going to find a wide variety of answers based on location and facilities available at each school.
Homecoming is usually in the gym, proms are typically offsite.
mine was at the aquarium!
Ours was hosted at a local banquet hall. Food was served.
Some might. They’re more often held at an event space.
Mine was indeed in the gym
Both questions depend greatly on the socio-economic standing of the median school attendee. In a small, poor town it could be in the gym or in my case in the in-flooded hockey rink (no food). My sister graduated from a much more affluent school and they had a dinner and formal event venue in the city. Both were in the same state so I’m pretty sure the variability is more socio-economic rather than regional.
Yes, many schools have the prom in the gymnasium.
Many, not all, but all that I’ve ever known were in the gymnasium.
My school’s proms were in the gym. As were the proms of the girl I dated from a different school.
I spent a decade working at a high school that held its prom in the gym every year. It was a tradition, and I think the community might have revolted if we tried to change venues.
Mine was at the YMCA in town. This was mid 2000s.
Mine was at a local wedding/event venue
And my junior prom was on a boat cruise around Manhattan
I don’t really remember whether an actual dinner was served, but there was definitely appetizer type of food/snacks
Ours sucked it was at room attached to a bowling alley but we weren’t allowed to go to the bowling alley tf?
when I was in high school back in the 80s, yeah, they were in the school gym. Since then, they have started holding them elsewhere.
Depends on the school. Mine took place at a venue
Freshman Formal, Soph Hop and Junior Prom was at the gym, nothing was catered. Senior Prom was at a country club and had a catered dinner. I didn’t go to my Senior Prom, I was very sick with food poisoning the week of.
My date stood me up, so who knows? I did go to the after-prom event that *was* at my school with all my nerd friends. The company was superior, and the Papa John’s was excellent.
You all had schools with money lol.
Yes, most schools I’ve experienced had them in gym/cafeteria.
Mine did
Depends on the school budget for the most part. Schools with less funding may not have it in the budget to rent a venue. But in my experience, my school rented out a venue every year and used “senior dues” to pay for it.
Small town Midwest school. All school dances, including prom, were in the gymnasium.
No meals served but there were punch bowls and chips.
It depends, typically, on how affluent the student base is. Schools that pull from more affluent areas are more likely to rent venues for Prom. Schools out in the sticks and in poorer areas are more likely to drench the gym in crepe paper streamers and have Prom at the school.