Category: Marketing

Winter Formal is just around the corner! Here are some simple and inexpensive decoration ideas that can help sell your students on the theme. Many of these can easily be bought online from retailers like Amazon, or from DIY craft stores.

LED Tea Lights

LED tea lights are a good way of giving a candle-lit atmosphere to a room or table without the risk of real fire candles. They can be bought in large amounts inexpensively. These can be used to bring some winter warmth to your dance and bring the warm, open-fire feeling to contrast the cold outside.

Fairy Lights

Fairy Lights can give a rustic feel to your winter dance. Similar to the tea lights, they bring a warm atmosphere to contrast the cold of the season.

Paper Snowflakes

Paper snowflakes are a basic must-have ornament for a winter-themed formal dance. Buying pre-cut snowflakes is not very expensive, but if you want to save even more money, all it takes to DIY them is some craft paper and scissors.

Ornaments

When going for more of a holiday theme to your winter dance, Christmas Trees and basic ornaments are a must-have. The Christmas tree ornament is the most iconic holiday decoration. Basic ornaments can be bought in large quantities for a low cost and they help you bring that Christmas spirit to your Winter Formal dance.

Cotton Snow

Cotton is an inexpensive and non-messy way to simulate the look of snow for decorations. It stays in one piece, as opposed to the plastic shavings that some decorations may use. It’s easy to get sheets of cotton snow from craft shops and online.

Read more about Winter Formals from My School Dance!

Now that you know the benefits of having a virtual dance for your school, where do you even start? As I mentioned in my last post, it is so important that your virtual dance be extremely engaging and fun for the students. They have an endless number of things to do on their phones, so you need to really work to keep them engaged.

To start…

1. Choose a date – If you previously had an in-person dance scheduled, I would suggest using that. If you don’t already have a date scheduled, I would choose a Saturday or Friday and pick a time in the evening. It is important that you are really simulating a dance experience and choosing a typical dance time helps. If you are just planning a virtual prom or dance for your school, I would suggest not having it be more than 2 hours. Because Virtual Prom Live was for students across the country, we were able to get engagement at different points of the night, but three hours still felt like a long time to be behind a screen.
2. Find and acquire entertainment – What type of entertainment do you usually have at your dances, a DJ, a band? Many local DJs are struggling, COVID has had a tremendous impact on their business. By either charging a nominal amount for tickets or using already fundraised money, you can help support these DJs who for many months have been out of work. When choosing entertainment, it is CRITICAL that you find a DJ who has experience with live streaming. In-person DJing and live streaming are different animals that require technical experience and tools that not every DJ has. DJs who are experienced in live streaming also know how to engage an audience through a screen.
3. Purchase or seek donations for giveaways – Every student loves some free stuff, so work with local or national businesses to get some cool stuff to give away. If your dance is for a specific club or for younger classmen, maybe offer some school swag. Or, if you have seniors get some gift cards to places like Target or Chipotle. Throughout each of our dances, we gave away 4-5 prizes throughout the night (ours was 3 hours). You also can get a crown or giveaway from homecoming or prom king and queen, which they can vote on throughout the night.
4. Decide on a technology – Before deciding on a technology to stream with, you need to figure out a couple of logistics. Do you want students to be able to video chat? Do you have enough faculty to moderate the chats? Do you want to be able to delete chats, kick students out, keep it restricted? There are a lot of different technologies out there. For Virtual Prom Live we used Hopin, but you could also use Zoom, Google Hangouts, or Facebook. Because there are so many technologies, if you have more specific questions on organizing that piece, please reach out to us at hello@myschooldance.com.
5. Promote your dance and sell tickets – HYPE the dance up. You want the students to want to go for many of the reasons we shared in our last post. If you are hoping to raise some funds from this dance, you definitely want people to attend. Because more than likely you are not in school, you need a way to sell your tickets online, which is where My School Dance comes in. Even if you are in school, online ticket sales is a great way to socially distance sell tickets to your dance. For the foreseeable future, your students probably won’t be gathering at lunch in lines to buy tickets and turn forms in, so My School Dance will do all of this for you. If you’re not signed up, sign up today for 50% off processing fees. My School Dance is free for your school to use, so there’s no risk!
6. Give your students clear instructions and fun ideas – To make sure that those students who purchase tickets actually attend and have fun, it is important to be very clear with instructions. Create a ‘How-To’ guide for joining the dance, and make sure that they understand what it will be like. You can make promotional materials online for free using Canva. In order to create a true dance experience, give the students fun ideas: decoration ideas, meal ideas with dates or family, outfit/hair/makeup ideas, activity ideas for before or after, just anything to make them feel like they are doing something more than just listening to a DJ on a computer screen.
7. Rehearse – Because more than likely you’ve never done this before, you have to rehearse with all planning members involved: DJ, chaperones, volunteers, MCs, and anyone else who will appear onscreen. We recommend doing this a few days before to work out any kinks.
8. DANCE – When it is time for the dance, let the magic happen. Engage students with polls, questions, voting, social media contests, giveaways, dance contests, decoration contests, dinner contests, dress contests, and whatever you can think of. I promise you that even though it is sort of a weird situation, your students will be so grateful that you took to the time out to provide them with a night of different fun.

I said it before, and I will say it here, a virtual dance will never replace an in-person dance, but at least it’s something. It’s unclear when school events will happen again, so providing students with some way to engage with classmates for a carefree night keeps them out of trouble, reduces boredom, and shows that you care about their wellbeing. If you have any questions or would like us to help you plan your first virtual homecoming, virtual prom, or virtual dance, please reach out at hello@myschooldance.com.

Happy Dancing!

If you missed the first blog post in this two-part series, you can check it out here: Planning Your Virtual School Dance

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The one thing we thought would never go away, would never change, was the school dance. Prom, in particular, is one of the most significant events of a high school student’s career, a rite of passage that culminates their four years of hard work.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 created a problem we never imagined; students could no longer be together in the same place with their peers. COVID-19 set off a ripple in schools that affected not only academic learning but social and emotional development (SEL) as well. Developing relationships during adolescent years lays the foundation for future relationship success as students move to college and/or career.

If you follow school dances at all, which I assume you do being that you are reading this article, you might know that when it was clear that in-person school events would not be happening at the end of 2020, many organizations and groups began organizing virtual proms. Teen Vogue, MTV, various radio stations, social media platforms, schools, and even individual students worked to create meaningful experiences that connected friends from a distance and celebrated the accomplishments of the year. As the leader in online school-dance management platforms, My School Dance also sought to determine how to provide a prom experience to our schools and students. We decided to provide a unique virtual prom experience, which we called Virtual Prom Live, where we were able to simulate the best experience possible for students whose proms were canceled.

I wanted to share our experience in a 2-part blog series called Planning Your Virtual Dances. In this post, I will highlight what a virtual dance or virtual prom is, and what the benefits of having a virtual school event of any kind are. In the next post, I will share how to plan a virtual dance or event for your students.

What is a Virtual Dance or Virtual Prom?

In this post, I am going to refer mostly to our specific initiative, Virtual Prom Live, but this can be applied to most virtual dances and some virtual school events.

The main features of a virtual school dance are fairly consistent across the board:

• Live talent, typically a DJ or maybe a band, playing popular music for 1-3 hours
• A platform that allows students to view the entertainment and interact with other attendees
• Contests, giveaways, and other ways to get students to interact with each other
• Moderators who act as chaperones for the dance to ensure all students are respected

Optional add-ins for engagement and positivity include:

• Influencer appearances
• Discounts for items such as dress rentals, tux rentals, shoes, flowers, and food
• Options for video communication between students (this piece is extremely challenging if you are organizing a virtual dance for students not in the same school)
• Social media engagement with students before, during, and after the event

Virtual Prom Live hosted four different proms, each focused on a specific U.S. time zone. We gathered students from schools around the country into one place where we streamed live DJ talent, featured over 25 influencers, and provided giveaways from companies such as Enso Rings, Crocs, Charlotte’s Closet, and Door Dash. Students had the ability to chat in a moderated section with kids from around the U.S. and Canada and were encouraged to form group video chats either with friends, schools, or others in the event. We had specific vendors who provided discounts on tuxes (Friar Tux, The Black Tux) and dresses (Charlotte’s Closet), which many students wore, took traditional prom photos, and had dinners put together by family.

Benefits of a Virtual School Dance

The most important thing for Virtual Prom Live was that we simulated as much as possible a true prom experience. We know that a virtual school dance will never replace in-person interactions, but our hope is that we were able to provide some semblance of excitement for students who were stuck inside for weeks.

Some of the benefits of virtual dances are:

• Shows students you care – Overnight the lives of your students completely changed. They were torn away from friends, teachers, classrooms, and end-of-year activities. Even though a virtual school dance will not replace the real thing, it is a step in the right direction to show your students that you care about their wellbeing, their social and emotional development, and their desire for celebration.
• Gives students something to do – Let’s be honest, students are BORED. TikTok has had over 2 BILLION downloads, and there is only so much Netflix that can be watched. To prevent your students from getting bored, which can sometimes lead to not-so-great things, give them something to look forward to like prom night. Picking out a dress, getting ready, creating excitement with friends are all positive things students can focus their energy on outside of schoolwork.
• Offers a safe space for certain students – Interestingly, from our experience with Virtual Prom Live, we noticed that many students thrived in a virtual environment who would not normally thrive in an in-person school dance. Just like how every person learns differently, I also believe that every person socializes differently. Some feel more comfortable being who they truly are behind a screen. Even when in-person dances begin again, there might be something to be said for having the option of a virtual pop-in for those students who might not otherwise attend or be as engaged in a dance.
• Helps support local businesses – The events industry has struggled more during COVID-19 shutdowns than most and continues to struggle as at this moment, many states are still not allowing gatherings for more than 50 people. By organizing a virtual prom or dance, you can help provide income during this challenging time to local businesses like dress/tux shops, florists, DJs, and more.

Again, I would never say that a virtual school dance could replace an in-person one, they are just not the same. However, I do think there are benefits to having a virtual option over no option, and I also believe there might be a need in the future for hybrid school dances both online and offline. In the next blog post, I will give you some guidance on how exactly you can begin to plan a virtual dance for your school or organization. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact us at hello@myschooldance.com or hello@virtualprom.live.

Happy Dancing!

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Saturday Nights from April 18 – May 9

We are all affected by the closures and regulations in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Canceled vacations, postponed weddings, and abrupt school closures are just a few of the ways our lives have been impacted.  For high school students, social distancing means no school events – including prom.  My School Dance has teamed up with Virtual Prom Live and No Kid Hungry to bring the party to your living room while raising money for a great cause.

My two high school daughters have been struggling with the fact they may not see their friends again for weeks, perhaps even months.  My high school senior had already picked out a prom dress and was eagerly awaiting the big event. Then her school closed. 

I was trying to come up with a way she could still have some kind of “prom” event with her friends online, but organizing something like this was all new to me.  That’s why I was so excited to learn that people far wiser than I had already planned just such an event. 

My School Dance, partnering with Virtual Prom Live, have joined forces to create not just one but a series of online prom events for students across the country.  Not only are these events free, but money being raised through donations is going towards feeding hungry families.  

Free For All

Every Saturday night from April 18 – May 9, students can participate in a virtual prom experience along with 1,000’s of students across the country.  A live DJ will play music, sponsors will provide contests and prizes, and kids can dance in their living room while interacting with friends digitally.  

In addition to free registration, an online clothing boutique is also lending party attire to young ladies who may not have lined up their dress for the evening yet.  Dresses are limited, and more information can be found by contacting help@charlottes-closet.com.  

A Party For A Good Cause

Although the virtual prom events are completely free, it’s a great opportunity to give to a good cause.  Donations to an organization called  No Kid Hungry are being raised to help feed people who are having difficulty during this challenging time.  What a great way to give back. I was going to suggest to my daughter that she donate some of the money she would have spent on hair, makeup and a prom ticket to  No Kid Hungry.  Thinking of the needs of others is always a great lesson for my kiddos!

How To Join The Party

Getting signed up is easy – all you need to do is visit Virtual Prom Live and choose a date that you would like to attend.  Regional events are planned each Saturday evening from April 18 – May 9.  Students can sign up for any date and time, no matter where they live. 

Each virtual prom event will feature a different DJ and start time.  For example, the virtual prom on April 18 is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm Mountain Time.  DJ Joune, the official DJ of the Utah Jazz will be spinning tunes throughout the evening! No matter which night your student “attends,” it is designed to be entertaining, interactive and memorable.

Kids can share the link and encourage their friends to register as well.  They can then interact online during the event, making it even more unforgettable.  What a great way to have fun and make a difference for others, while celebrating prom in a unique way.  It is sure to be a story our kids tell for years to come!

Check out Virtual Prom Live on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok (@VirtualPromLive)!

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Contact:

hello@myschooldance.com

833-336-8656

Written by: Angela O’Brien

Across the country, life has changed dramatically these past couple of weeks.  My school district closed on Friday the 13th. One minute I was helping my students rush to pack up their belongings for unplanned school closure.  Later that day I was home with my children, wondering how I was going to structure the days and possibly weeks ahead.

Being stuck at home for a day or two because of a snowstorm or illness is one thing, but finding ourselves unexpectedly home for an extended (and unknown) period of time is a completely different situation.  

There are only so many times you can do the dishes in a day, and believe me, I’m pretty sure I’ve found the limit.  My dishpan hands can attest to that! Beyond chores (funny how my kids kept hiding every time I called their name….) it seems helpful to have a grab-bag of kids activities to make the most of this unexpected time at home.

Online Adventures

Using the internet to our advantage in these strange times is particularly helpful since most of our children tend to gravitate towards their devices.  If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – and by offering some educational or active options, you can sneak in a little learning and exercise too! Check out these suggestions:

Virtual Field Trips – the whole family can enjoy a virtual trip to a National Park, a glacier in Iceland, or a famous tourist destination like the Eiffel Tower.  Some of these sites feature 360 degree filming technology, allowing the viewer to rotate the screen to see a panoramic image. 

• National Geographic – 47 videos and counting of destinations around the world
• Google Earth – visit literally any place on Earth.  Has “voyages” as well, like “world’s largest lakes”
• Visit Mars – get inside a rover and explore another planet, courtesy of images from NASA
• Go to the Zoo – the San Diego Zoo is world-class and offers many live webcams

Free Online Art – many artists have taken to YouTube to provide free lessons for kids and adults.  

• Renowned author Mo Willems (Knuffle Bunny and Elephant and Pig book series) is offering daily “Lunch Doodles.”  These 30-minute videos are kid-friendly and engaging. 
• Free Art Lessons for Kids and Adults takes you step-by-step through a variety of projects like a pop-art donut painting. 

Yoga for Kids – YouTube is another great resource for getting your kids up and active.  Yoga provides movement, requires little space, and relieves stress – all useful things right now!

• Cosmic Kids Yoga includes stories, colorful images and mindfulness techniques.  Great for younger children.
• Yoga with Adriene has been one of my favorites for years (she’s the reason I started practicing yoga).  Her calm demeanor and variety of videos for all ages and needs may inspire you to hit that “subscribe” button.

Old School Activities

When your kids need a break from the internet, think back to the types of things we did when we were young.  Board games, roller skating, and climbing trees were my favorite pastimes. Getting offline is good for the soul, and creates opportunities for making memories together.

• Explore the kitchen and bake up a tasty treat with your kids.  Some of my favorite food blogs are:
  • Celebrating Sweets for tasty baked goods and treats
  • Mel’s Kitchen Cafe has oodles of recipes and ideas for meal plans during this extended time away from school.
• Send them out to the yard with a container of bubbles, sidewalk chalk or a soccer ball.  
  • Check out this list of 35 things to do in your backyard from Sunny Day Family.  
• No yard or yucky weather?  Here’s a list of 25 ideas for indoor fun that require little to no supplies.
• Break out the board games you have stored away (mine were collecting dust until recently) or a deck of cards for games like “go fish” and “war”.  
  • The YouTube channel Gather Together Games has quick tutorials for many games you can make at home.

Whether you decide to bake a 3 layer cake from scratch or spend the day in your pj’s binge-watching Netflix, enjoy these moments with your family.  Give yourself permission to have days where nothing is scheduled. The most important lesson you are teaching your kids is how to respond in a time of crisis.  Applaud your efforts to maintain a sense of normalcy for your family, and don’t forget that you need time for yourself as well. 

My School Dance is offering 50% off processing fees for schools still planning to host their dances this year.

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Contact:

hello@myschooldance.com

833-336-8656

Written by: Angela O’Brien

When you were making fun and exciting plans for what to do during Spring Break with friends you weren’t planning on being restricted from so much due to an outbreak of COVID-19.  All you can think about is what you can’t do, but there are still some great things you can do to have fun during this unexpected Spring Break.

Very small group activities

Plan a spa day either just you or with a couple of friends.  This is something you can do all together at someone’s house. Each person can look up facial treatments, hair mask recipes, and foot bath soaks.  Many of these have ingredients you can find right in your own kitchen or bathroom cabinet.  Play up the whole experience and play music from the spa music station or you can google ‘spa music’ and stream it on your computer.  You might want to save this one for the last couple of days, so you are looking your absolute best when you go back to school.

If you get some friends together, you can have a lip sync challenge.  Pick a few songs and draw names from a hat to challenge each other.  Or one night get your friends together and host your own Chopped Cooking Challenge.  It could be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert.  Break into teams and each team picks a surprise item for the other team that they have to use!  Then have a great time eating all the goodies.   Get a couple of friends or your significant other together and all take an online cooking class.  Step outside your comfort zone and try something new and different.

Solo Activities

On your own?  Here are a few things you can do.  Go through your closet, take out things that you haven’t worn in the last year, and put them in a bag, basket, or box to donate.  Then go through and organize your closet.  If you go one step further pre-plan outfits for the first week back at school.

Try out some of the language learning apps and try out another language.  Make a bucket list of things you want to do over the summer.  Check out a YouTube video to learn how to play an instrument.  Better yet, pick a skill or hobby and make your own YouTube video!   Try out yoga or meditation.  Rearrange your room or remodel your room.  Simply changing the paint color can make a huge difference.  Check out some of the newest books at the library or on Audible.

Activities with littles

Now here is the real challenge, what to do if you’re spending Spring Break with young children.   Just a few ideas of what to do with the littles.  Just because you’re restricted from going to places with large groups doesn’t mean you can’t get outside.  Create a list of games to play outside or create an obstacle course– be sure to include crossing over a ‘lava pit’ or a ‘river filled with crocodiles’!  Make cookies, build a blanket fort, and have a picnic.   Play pirate and hunt for treasure.   Try exercising to an exercise video streamed on your computer or television.  This ends up being more giggling than exercising.  Spend an afternoon with them writing a thank you letter to a mom/dad, a grandparent, friend, a relative, or a teacher (this would be an extra special surprise for him or her).  Something kids of all ages would love, write a story and make a video of them acting out the story you wrote together.  Then make popcorn and watch the video together.  You could have a mini-movie-thon of all their favorite movies.  Create a book of all their favorite things or make a pop-up book.

Whether you spend this time on your own, with a couple of friends, or spending time with littles, make the time filled with good things to refresh your mind and body.   Getting outside, doing something new, trying different foods or learning something new that isn’t school-related can do much to recharge before you head back to school, homework, tests, studying, projects, and the books.  Right now, just breathe, relax and have a great time.

Check out our Pinterest page for more information!

If your school is still planning to host the prom, but you cannot sell tickets due to students not being in school, sell your tickets online through My School Dance. We are offering 50% off processing fees for all of the prom due to coronavirus.

March 2, 2020

The first Prom Committee meeting is underway and you’re looking for the best prom ideas- epic prom ideas.  The year is 2020 and someone suggests, The Roaring 20s!  I mean it’s perfect, right? Now what?  Where do you go from here?    Take one this suggestion one step further with the ideal theme.  There are some great iconic 1920s songs, phrases, and cultural images that come to mind that would make the perfect prom theme.  This was the age of Jazz, the Charleston dance craze, the Great Gatsby, Swing music and dancing, New York jazz clubs, Chicago gangsters, flappers, and speakeasies.

Our top ten roaring 20s theme suggestions:  All That Jazz – The Great Gatsby – Dixieland Ballroom – Swing City Blues – Rhapsody in Blue – Puttin’ on the Ritz – The Cotton Club – Ragtime Ball – Southside Swing – Windy City Speakeasy or Chicago Speakeasy or even better look up some of the names of your hometown historic speakeasies!

You’ve picked your theme now choose the colors you’re going to use for everything from the invitations to the decorations.  The classic style for the 1920s era was Art Deco and a great color scheme for any of these prom themes is black, gold, and white.  If you choose Swing City Blues, replace the black with blue.  If you use Rhapsody in Blue, try using blue, black and white/gold.

Depending on your chosen theme, add to your list of decorations jazz musician silhouettes, a Rolls Royce cut out, art deco columns, or a backroom speakeasy backdrop.  Table decorations of white plumed feathers or an art deco style light with each table named for a 20s dance, slang phrase, or person: The Bees Knees, The Cat’s Pajamas, The Lindy Hop, Bugsy’s, or Capone’s.  Placemats made to look like newspaper headlines captured from the 1920s would make a great keepsake to use for scrapbooks with pictures.

Get a photo frame or photo album keepsake engraved with the prom theme name and your class year using an art deco font.  Each printing service offers its own selection of fonts and most likely will have an  “art deco” font.  Some other common fonts would be: Bernhard Fashion, Blakely, Broadway, Metropolis, Mona Lisa Recut, Mostra, and one of our favorites, Silvermoon.  Be sure to pick up props with headbands, gangster fedoras, beads, feathers, and lace fans for great keepsake photos. Check out our favorite decor and favor retailer Anderson’s!

Now, to make prom not just a dance, but an EPIC experience.  What’s great about having a theme based around the Roaring 20s are not just the amazing decoration ideas, but activities you can have leading up to prom to get your classmates excited and involved in prom.

Here are just a few ideas to get everyone ramped up for the big day.  Host a silent movie night in the school auditorium, you could even talk to the band director and get the school orchestra to play music for the films!  Contact the local historical society and host a 1920s fashion show to get your classmates in the mood for dressing the part.  Announce that there will be ribbons or prizes to the best-dressed couple, the best ‘Zoot Suit’, and the best ‘Flapper’.  Have Roaring 20s trivia during lunch periods at school during prom week and have Charleston and Swing Dance lessons during the week.

When prom night arrives, have the DJ or band play the top songs of the era and stage great photo opps as they enter with the jazz musicians, Rolls Royce, and art deco columns.  Get one of the teachers (even better the principal and vice-principal!) to dress as maître ds to escort couples to their tables.  At various locations, have the prop tables set up for additional pictures throughout the night to make for some great memories.  Since you’ve had the Charleston and Swing Dance lessons that week, hold a dance contest!

No matter what theme you choose, get ready to have a Roaring Good Time! Sell your tickets online for free with My School Dance! Half off processing fees for prom!

Written by Midge Brody

If you want more activities or tips for your school, check out these blog posts next: The Ultimate Prom Planning Timeline, 3 Ways To Effective Classroom Management.

But wait! That’s not all. Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

hello@myschooldance.com

833-336-8656

February 7, 2020

If you haven’t noticed the copious amounts of red and pink hearts, chocolates, and flowers in the stores yet, Valentine’s Day is next week! Although this holiday might not seem so important to most, you can provide a fun approach to it with different activities for your students! My School Dance has a list of 5 activities that we narrowed down as our top picks. Here they are:

• Organizations-Split your class up into groups of 5-7 students. Have each group pick an organization such as a senior living facility, a homeless shelter, a boys and girls club, etc. They then can create some Valentine craft to give to this organization and brighten their day.
• Sweetheart Dance-Have your students host a Valentine’s Day dance. You can fundraise for it and donate your earnings to a local charity!
• Lunch Dates-Have your students invite a special someone such as a family member, parent, guardian, role model, etc. to a school luncheon. It’ll be a nice chance for the students to celebrate the holiday of love with their loved ones.
• Student Names-Send each student home with a list of the student’s names in their class. Then have them write one nice thing about each student. The next day have them go around and pass each of their comments to the other students.
• Arts&Crafts-Have your students create some type of craft or an artwork. Then, have them write a compliment or something nice about another teacher, administrator, custodian, or other faculty at the school. On Valentine’s Day, have them delivered to each person.

These are just a few of our top favorite activities that you can implement with any age level. Plus, a lot of these activities don’t require a lot, if any, money to do them. You can use a lot of the supplies that you already have to do these! Choose which activity works best for you and your students and let us know how it goes!

If you want more activities or tips for your school, check out these blog posts next: The Ultimate Prom Planning Timeline, 3 Ways To Effective Classroom Management, and How To Plan A Pinterest Party!

But wait! That’s not all. Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

We know Prom is one of your school’s biggest events for students and you’ve been planning all year long! For an event this big, you really need to start planning far in advance to ensure you get everything just right. My School Dance created an ultimate Prom planning timeline for you to stick to so you don’t stress about what needs to be done by when. Let’s get to it:

6-10 Months Prior to Prom

During this time, you should create your Prom committee and subcommittees. Once that’s done, figure out your entire budget for the dance and get that finalized with whoever is in charge of your school’s bank account. Next, choose the date of your Prom. Make sure to go through your school’s calendar to ensure there’s no other events on the same night. After the date is solidified, it’s time to choose a theme! You then can begin to fundraise and raise money for the dance!

4-5 Months Prior

This is where you get a lot of your specialities booked! The biggest one being your venue. Make sure to seek out different venues and book one for the date you chose. Then, you can choose a caterer if you plan on having food. Next, book your entertainment such as a DJ, band, photographer, etc. If your school is planning on having a Post-Prom Event, you’ll need to plan for that during these months too.

2-3 Months Prior

Choose your Prom decorations and have them ordered. Design your ticket and invitations for the dance. If you want extra safety, book security for the night of the dance. Seek out volunteers to chaperone the dance whether they’re parents or teachers. Order all favors, decor, invites, and any other supplies you haven’t to ensure you receive them by the day of the dance.

1 Month Prior

If your school uses invitations, send them out. Verify with all of your specialty companies the date and time (DJ, Band, Photographer, Caterer, etc.). Figure out the floor plan and seating area. If you have assigned seats, do that during this month. Begin to sell your tickets a few weeks out to give students a chance to gather the money. Create an event checklist for the day of to ensure everything is in place and you won’t forget anything.

1 Week Prior

Finalize a general headcount for the venue. Confirm once again with all specialty companies about the date and time they are to arrive. Assemble all of the decorations for prep.

2-3 Days Prior

Pick up last minute things, if needed. If allowed by the venue, begin to decorate the room.

Day Of Prom

Pick up last minute decorations. Finish setting up for the dance. Help speciality companies get set up in their correct locations. Run through your dance checklist to make sure you didn’t forget anything. Relax, and enjoy what you created!

My School Dance knows how difficult planning a huge event like Prom is. We created our platform to provide teachers, like you, extra help and less stress. You can utilize our platform to save over 25 hours in managing Prom this year. Plus, our platform is free. Let us help make Prom managing enjoyable for you!

If you want more Prom tips, check out these blogs: Big Or Small School? How To Choose Your Venue For Prom, 10 Prom Traditions That Might Shock You, and How To Publicize Your School Dance!

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January 24, 2020

Crazy to believe it, but love is in the air! Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and that means your school’s Sweetheart Dance will be taking place soon. Change it up this year and don’t choose a basic theme for your dance. Add some edge to it with My School Dance’s theme ideas for a Sweetheart Dance. Check them out below:

Red and Black Masquerade

Make all of your attendees wear fun, black or red, masks to hide their faces. A mystery is always intriguing to all! Make all of your decorations black, white, and red to add some color. You don’t have to go all out with decor, just some basic things. With this color scheme and theme, you’ll have a classy night going for your students!

A Sweet For My Sweetheart

Deck your entire venue out in candy themed stuff. A lot of the decor can be DIY, but you can also buy a lot of candy themed items. Have licorice hanging down the entrance way, have gumdrops surrounding the dance floor, and cotton candy dangling down the room. There’s so many different things you can do. This theme will sure be sweet!

Love Is A Work Of Heart

Make your entire theme related around artwork and hearts. It could look like you’re in an art gallery, which would be unique. Get the art students involved by having them create murals and other pieces for decor!

Black Tie Gala

Want to make your Sweetheart Dance a more formal event? Turn it into a Gala! Use black and white decor and crystals all over. Students would wear formal attire with black suits. Have all volunteers dress up too so it looks even more official!

Secret Admirer Dance

Make your theme a “love notes” theme. You can decorate the walls with love notes and have your students get involved by writing some. This would be very cost-efficient and a unique theme. You can sell roses at the dance for students to purchase for their secret admirer.

Hosting a dance is always a fun thing to do for your students. It’s even more fun when you can get creative with the theme, decor, and invites too. Try something different this year for your school’s Sweetheart Dance. It’s always nice to have some change!

Once you’ve chosen your theme, start creating your dance on your school’s My School Dance landing page. Your dance partner can help assist with any other details. If you aren’t already signed up, just sign your school up for free and get started!

If you want more helpful tips and tools, check out these blogs next: Big or Small School? How To Choose Your Venue For Prom!, How To Publicize Your School Dance, and How To Host A Sweetheart Dance On A Low Budget!

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Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656