It is no small task trying to convert your school cafeteria into a prom venue. Students had just eaten lunch there hours earlier and wanted to go some place special. In shopping around for a local venue I was finding that $4,000 was the average price for a space that wasn't much better than the one we had for free on campus...other than the fact that I was left with the task of trying to essentially make a wall to hide the 40 foot lunch line...all for about $250.00. Here's how I did it.
I started with a large roll of vinyl that I bought at the local Rebuilding Macon store. People donate old home building supplies for resale and the proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. I got a giant role of wall-paper like/ canvas like vinyl for $5.00 (normally it's $10.00).
One roll was enough to paint a 12-foot long Hollywood sign, a 10-foot long Marquee, and 4 8-foot high paintings of stars. These were stapled to large boards. I taped dowels on the tops of the corners and hung black table cloths between two pairs to provide a background for the film decorations I made of laminated bulletin board paper and pictures of stars and students.
I used about $22 worth of black and gold balloons to hang from the lights and make center pieces. These balloon towers were just wooden dowels wrapped in paper towels and black felt and to hold it vertically in some glass vases I had in my room. Two black balloons were tied together and the tie straddled the dowel, and then two more black balloons stacked perpendicularly on top. Then four gold, alternating black and gold until it reached the top with about 32 balloons per tower.
Gold fringe hung along the windows on either side of the room. Clapboards and gold stars were placed on tables and hung from the ceiling along with the 10 red and and 10 gold table runners which were $1.00 each.
Of course food plays a starring role in keeping with the theme. Bags of popcorn, chocolate covered strawberries that look like tuxedos, and "Hollywood" carved into a watermelon, all added to the festive feel. The marquee sign I painted, "Now Showing: Prom Starring: The Class of 2023" covered the try-drop window into the dish room
Buying photo props were worth the $12, because it served as an activity. Anything that helps people come together and be silly is going to make it feel more like a party. And of course our beloved AJ the DJ keeps everyone moving with his great play lists and personal touches. It really did feel like everyone was having fun!
Most of my $250 budget was taken up with our big Oscar cut-out, the red carpet, red curtain, gold fringe, balloons, and table runners. Last year's Alice in Wonderland themed prom didn't cost nearly that much, because I had two years to do things like bring in broken umbrellas and newspaper to transform into mushrooms. Plus,This year I felt like I had a month to paint and glue. Thank goodness for online shopping, and a big shout out to the the maintenance guys who built the panels in two days!
As I was setting up I walked into the building, past this year's long wall mural, into the cafeteria lobby where my first mural remains, and peered into my latest "installation" a prom that would be dissembled that night, and realized that even though some of these visual moments are fleeting, I hope I helped make our school a more positive environment for years to come.
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