Promposals hit the big time

​Skydiving. Fireworks. Goats. Whether it is simply writing “Prom?” on a poster or going to extraordinary measures, everyone wants to find the best way to ask someone to prom.

Promposals have become popular over the last few years, blowing up around 2008 and growing with the presence of social media. Previously, you would ask someone privately to be your date, but now it often involves an extravagant gesture

English Teacher and WHS alumna ‘05 Ms. Bailey Verdone said: “When I was in high school, there wasn’t a huge social media presence; there weren’t people videotaping me. It was a little more intimate, not for the world to see.”

Senior Katie McDonald was asked to prom while driving home from lacrosse. As she neared her house, friends held up several signs, which combined to read “Will you go to Prom with” followed by her date, whose sign read “me?” McDonald said she enjoys the promposals. “I think they bring excitement to prom,” she said. “Without them, I feel like prom wouldn’t have that much hype.”

According to bloomberg.com, a national 2015 survey by Visa indicated that the average total for promposal-related charges was $324. Promposals have become big business; the Heart Bandits, a Los Angeles proposal planning firm, charges $1,000 to plan and execute a promposal.

Senior Leo Delaney, who asked his date to prom by scavenger hunt and poster, said: “It really wasn’t stressful to come up with an idea, but it was a little challenging to ‘compete’ with some.”

Other people really wanted to make a blast with their promposal. Michael Masciale, who promposed using fireworks, said, “We only have one prom, so why not do something cool?”