Contact Brampton Grange on 01604 844 717

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Please don’t forget to mention The Prom Organiser when booking!

16-year-old school-leavers are now eager to celebrate the end of their exams and students can spend all year planning their prom which is usually set well away from the school. It is a night to celebrate and remember as the party goers arrive at their destination and step out of stretch limousines.

Now with a brand new school year, everyones back and all the talk is of the Year 11 Prom. Albrighton Hall Hotel and Spa in Shrewsbury has realised the importance of the school prom and are holding their first Prom Fayre on October 20th between 6 – 9pm.

The evening promises to be a great success with lots of local exhibitors, a fashion show, free make-up and hair tips plus a prize raffle with all proceeds are going to the Breast Cancer Campaign. The first prize in the raffle will be a prom dress like the one Laura is wearing from Jessica’s Bridal in the photograph opposite taken by Brian Fisher Photography (Shrewsbury’s specialist printing on night events photographer). Visitors’ will also be able to take a look inside and out the limousine from 2XL who will also be attending the evening.

Entrance is free and everyone who attends will be able to enjoy  a ‘mocktail’ (non alcoholic cocktail ) on arrival, so even more reason to attend and get some inspiration to make your prom the best it can be!

For even more inspiration for looking great on your prom night with zero stress why not visit thepromorganiser.co.uk. the website has some great ideas and blogs.

For any further information or register for the Prom Fayre please contact Fiona Clarke At The Albrighton Hall Hotel  on 01939 291 732

Hello,
I organised my 6th form leavers prom last June and used your website for advice. It was very helpful so thought I'd mention some things I think you could add as a sort of thank you
Personally, I'd love to see a "6th form/ college prom" section. There are just as many of these as there are proms for after GCSEs, in my area at least, but the main difference is that most people are over 18. The biggest problem I had was that there was a mix, with 2 months worth being under 18. Obviously everyone wanted a bar but many venues rejected us straight out as they refused to have a mix. One club accepted us and I told them around 16% would be minors. On the night it turned out many guys had brought girls in the year below as +1s. This led to around 30% being under 18 and the club stopped letting them in. This led to a huge fiasco outside and I had to get the owner there as the manager was no help. The owner showed up in a land rover with what looked like personal security… a bit mafia esq! After a while of shouting from both sides and pretty intense bargaining, he offered to hire in extra bouncers and split the club into two areas, one of which under 18s couldn't go.

This happened because I failed to get a written contract of all their terms and conditions. I had written confirmation of our booking but nothing about their policy on what happened. I understood that under 18s were a problem but his verbal agreement that it would be workable and us paying extra for more bouncers (which he didn't actually provide until it all went to hell) convinced me it would be fine.   Check out venue tips here

Anyway, this is a long winded story of how my prom went wrong and I think it would be great if you had a page stressing the importance of drinking laws and the rules and tips on how to play it safe.

My advice would be:
1) When taking tickets, calculate exactly how many under 18s there are going to be.
2) Make it perfectly clear how many there will be and keep the venue informed throughout the ticket sales process.
3) If the club give strict numbers of minors, don't sell under 18 +1 tickets until everyone else has had a chance to buy them. That way, under 18s in the leaving year have priority.
4) Get a written signed contract stating the venues backup plans, i.e., what has to happen for everyone to be kicked out/stop letting people in?

That was my main issue and one that I think other 6th form prom teams would find very useful.

Another small issue I had was with photographers. The school IT guy also runs a photography company and he quoted us £350 to show up and take set shots with a screen where students would have to pay around £10 online for prints  and an extra £700 for someone to take roaming photos and give them to us on a disk to put on the Facebook group.
I thought that was way too much so I paid them for the set shots but hired a friend with my mums SLR camera for £100 to take the roaming photos and give them to me. This was fine until the professional guy found out and got angry at me threatening to take me to court over it… clearly not a very nice guy if he was willing to take money from students. Anyway, perhaps making it clear that photographers don't like to have other companies there as well would be helpful.

Other than that, things that worked well:
1) I took £350 cash with me to buy rounds of 50 shots, line them along the bar and get everyone there to take them all at once. Didn't end up doing this annoyingly, due to the under 18 nightmare!
2) Phoning taxi companies and getting lots of discount cards to put on the door and telling them when the prom ended.
3) Buying bottle openers with the school name on it (people loved this)

Anyway, sorry for the long email! Just thought my experiences might be of use!

Kind Regards,

Steve

Help us spread the word!

A designated web site has been set up for the prom show  www.ukpromshow.co.uk)  with a list of exhibitors, links to exhibitor’s web sites. Directions to the venues and also a page to register for free tickets.

Admission is FOC & guests will be greeted with a complimentary non alcohol cocktail & an A5 Prom Brochure.

There will be a small catwalk show of non professional models in the main banqueting suite; at 7pm/8pm/9pm an informal parade from several companies will take place lasting approx 10- 15 mins.

One of the earliest decisions the prom committee needs to make is whether there will be a prom king and queen. Here is some information on how it's done in America (after all, that's where this whole prom thing has come from in the first place) and some thoughts about whether it fits for a UK school prom.

American prom kings and queens

Being the king and queen of a prom is a Big Deal in America. You can tell by the number of films and TV shows that feature it. I'm old enough to remember a whole episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that revolved around the contest to become prom queen for example.

In many schools, electing a prom king and queen is nothing more than a popularity contest. The candidates need to be nominated and seconded, and then weeks of crazing campaigning involving posters all over the school and bribes and secret deals are carried out frantically right up until the vote, with the winners announced at the prom itself.

Nowadays however, many American schools are only letting students who have achieved a certain level of academic grades, or those who participate in extra-curricula activities be nominated. I suppose they're trying to encourage better performance at school and also improve the image of academic success. I quite like the idea of linking that prime moment in the spotlight with more than just a popularity contest.

Does the whole prom king and queen thing work in the UK?

Well, yes, if you want it to! Some schools don't like students to be too distracted by their campaigns and so don't allow the whole popularity contest aspect of voting for a prom king and queen. If that's the case in your school, you could do it differently…

Choosing the prom royalty on the night

You could ask a group of teachers, or a secretly allocated group of guests (who would be excluded from winning) to agree on a prom king and queen on the night itself, perhaps based upon their outfits and how well they're dancing.

If that seems like too much of a minefield, then simply arrange for a ballot on the night, just like the general election. You could give voting slips with each ticket, so people can only make one vote each.

Adopting the high flyer approach

You could always set criteria for nominees like being in a school club, getting certain grades or having been positively involved in school life in some other way. It depends on your school; that might cause an uproar in some and for others it might be a way to improve how much people participate and how well they do in that prom year.

I don't think that being prom king and queen has taken off in the UK as much as it has in the States, but who knows what will happen as it grows in popularity. And who wouldn't like to have a fuss made over them?

Are you having a prom king and queen? How are you going to decide who it should be? Let us know in the comments!

If you're looking forward to your school prom, you're in the right place!

In case you're new around here, let me tell you about some of the things we talked about last academic year and what we have lined up for this year.

And I'll also tell you about our juicy monthly prize draw on Facebook.

Before that though, don't forget to download your FREE prom organiser e-book by clicking on the link at the top, or the button over there on the right or just by clicking here. You go ahead, I can wait.

So, what can you read right here, right now to get you up to speed on all things prom-tacular?

Posts for prom committee peeps

From whether you're the right kind of person to be on a prom committee to the nuts and bolts of what the people on a prom committee actually do, this is the section you need to read if you want to be right in the thick of organising your school prom.

See all the prom committee posts

Fundraising and finance for proms

Not the most fun or glamorous part I know, but still important. Find posts on prom budgets, cashflow and how to manage it all in the prom finance section.

Organising the prom

Once you've got the committee and money plans all sorted, it's time to think about your prom theme, key people like your prom photographer and how to entertain your prom guests.

Enjoying your school prom

Let's face it, there are some bits that you might be worried about, such as the whole getting a prom date thing. Well, we've already given ten romantic ways to ask someone to be your prom date, wondered whether you even need a prom date anyway and given some tips on how NOT to get a prom date. No doubt there will be more to come…

See all of the "Enjoying your prom" posts.

Looking fab for your prom

And how could we have a prom blog without advice on how to look your most gorgeous on the night?

One of our most popular posts is about choosing the best prom dress design for your body shape, and there is also one about rather fabulous corsage bracelets too.

That leads me rather neatly onto what's coming soon: the first will be a post about which colour suits you best, and I'll be doing a series on different prom themes to help you with some ideas.

Is there anything you want to know about? If you have a prom related question, simply drop me a line and let me know.

Facebook

We hang out on Facebook too, come and join us and you'll automatically be entered into a monthly prize draw for iTunes vouchers (or vouchers for something else if you don't have an iPod). Find us on Facebook here and click on "like" at the top – we'd love to get to know you.

And don't forget your e-book!

Happy new school year!

Em x

The Prom Organiser wordsmith

Thanks Atif!

SMALL HEATH SCHOOL PROM 2010

When I started secondary school in 2005 the idea of going to prom didn’t even cross my mind. Furthermore it also didn’t cross my mind that it would be a big part of my life in the last year of school, never mind remain in my heart for undoubtedly the rest of my life.

It was around about the start of this year when it was confirmed that the idea of prom happening this year was going to become reality. I remember thinking about what I was going to wear and how it’d be like 7 months in advance!

1 week before Prom

Now it was the 1st July and I had finally bought all of my prom clothes and accessories. I still couldn’t believe that in 7 days it would be Prom and school life would be coming to an end.

I remember thinking ‘hold it together Atif’. So that’s what I did!

I was going to make this the best prom of Small Heath School!

3 days before Prom

It was the 5th July, and I had got 4 friends together to help out with an idea that I’d come up with.

The idea was to create a ‘backdrop’ which fellow students/friends would use as a background to photos they were going to take on the day.

So for the full day we put our heads down and ended up with something awful!

I spoke to a teacher Mrs Usman about it and we ended up arguing about changing the whole ‘backdrop’ idea but I was persistent about not changing it, in the end however it was changed but not until the final day…

PROM DAY!- 8th July 2010

Venue: Bia Lounge Time: 6PM-9PM

I was so excited I woke up at 9am even though prom wasn’t until 6 in the evening.

I spent most of Prom Day running around sorting out ‘my beautiful backdrop’. I was looking forward to putting it together and I remember saying to myself ‘stick to what you wanted to do, don’t listen to everyone else’.

However this would later turn out to count for nothing. It was 3 hours before Prom and Mrs Mckee, Mrs Usman, Anisa, Awaas, Bushra, Halima and I were all at the venue blowing up balloons, sorting the backdrop and generally decorating the place as much as possible.

As Mrs Usman, Anisa and me were trying to put the backdrop together they kept saying ‘it would look nice Atif it we cut the stickers out instead of sticking them like that’. Deep down I knew they were right but I wasn’t going to budge; this was my idea and I was going to do what I wanted to do! In the end I just went along with what they said however the last word was always going to be mine!

3 hours to go till Prom

I set off from the venue, when I got home there must have been about 2 hours to go – plenty of time to change – or was it? I remember my mum saying ‘Atif do this do that’ for an hour!

There was just one hour left and I finally got into the shower and had a trim. ½ hour to go till Prom which was at 6, I knew I was going to be late. I ironed my shirt which took 15 minutes! 15 minutes to do my hair and put on my clothes? I knew I was going to be late.  So I started on my hair and was done by 6PM! Great I was late to Prom!

I put my clothes on, sprayed some perfume on and got out the house by 6:15 I must have arrived by 6:30 PM with the sound of Jay Sean Ride It was blasting in the car I was in. As soon as I arrived I remember one of the teachers saying ‘C’mon Atif we’ve been waiting for you’ which I must admit made me feel special.

The Prom!

I went inside Bia Lounge, our prom venue. Something stunned me: a DJ with music playing and two fellow students sitting down like they were watching him play.

A friend, Zain approached me as I went further in and I remember saying ‘what the hell is going on? This is prom, you don’t sit down, get everyone up!’

By 7 o'clock 9 out of 10 students were dancing, from the ‘geeks’ to the ‘gangsters’ which was a real achievement. Although I would like to take the credit, all credit goes to the DJ!

From 7- 7:30pm we had awards. Congratulations to Prom King and Queen; Khasad Ali and Rehana Kauser although I still believe I should have won Prom King, Next year eh?

Half 7 to 8pm was eating, personally I hated the food and didn’t eat most of mine, although people were going for seconds not mentioning any names (Mr Deaves).

8pm was when the DJ started the Music! 1 hour of non stop dancing – we were going to rock this dance floor by we I mean from everyone including Imran (receptionist) to Deputy Head Mrs Wilson.

8pm to 8:30 pm were the loudest most amazing times of times of my school career but it wasn’t over – we still had 30 minutes and we were going to use them wisely. I called over Hashim and said to him lets grab all the teachers from Mr Deaves (Head of DT) to Mrs Midworth ( Assistant Head) and at first they refused but this time I wasn’t going without a fight. In the end we had Mrs Wilson, Mrs Midworth, Mr Deaves, Mr Bhugvandeen, Imran, Nadeem, Mrs Kumar, Mrs Mckee & Mr Mohammed all on the dance floor!

8:30-9pm was incredible, fantastic, amazing, brilliant and not forgetting LOUD! We danced to everything, from YMCA to Bhangra.

I was enjoying every moment of it and I wasn’t going to stop! I was dancing with Mrs Wilson showing her how to dance.

9pm and it was over!

Small Heath School Prom for Class of the Decade was over and boy I was an emotional wreck but I kept it together. I was actually lost for words; I couldn’t describe this feeling, it was happiness and a sad feeling both in one.

All I could remember saying to myself was ‘I feel sorry for anyone who didn’t come tonight because they missed out on one of the best nights of their school careers’.

A feeling that I never thought I’d experience with a school had hit me; the feeling of pride. I was proud that I chose Small Heath School as my secondary school and I was proud of what had been achieved that night. The idea of making prom night the best night of our school lives had finally been made reality!

Atif Ali
Small Heath School
Class of 2010

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It's not too late to send us an article about your school prom – we'd like to post them over the whole summer. So if you want to show off your writing on your university application, or just get the kudos of being a published reporter (and a little thank you pressie from us too), check out the details in this post and drop us a line!

We'd love to hear about your school prom, and we're planning to run a regular feature over the summer looking at what schools have been doing all over the country, and we need your help!

If any of you are planning a career in journalism or writing for the web, this is a chance for you to get some exposure and have something to write on your university applications to boot. We'd love to gather a team of informal reporters who'll write an article for us about their school prom, and if there is a photo or two as well, that would be brilliant.

Fancy being a reporter for your school prom?

What we'll do for you
•    We'll send you some guidelines so you're not facing a blank page alone
•    We'll edit your article a tiny bit to make sure it's as polished as possible
•    We'll put a bio about you at the end of the article with a link to your site if you have one (and a picture of your shining face too if you want!)
•    You'll get all the credit and a permanent web page link that you can send out to family, friends, talent scouts ;o) But seriously, we'll keep the page safe with a permanent link so you can use it on applications for work experience / internships
•    We'll send you a little pressie to say thank you

What you need to do
•    Drop us a line through the contact form to say you want to join the team so we can send you guidelines
•    Write the article – around 500 words long is fine and that's only one page in Word.
•    Write a little bio about yourself (remember the golden rule of web writing: would you be happy for your Gran to read it?)
•    Send any pictures if you're happy for them to be published on the site

How does that sound? Drop us a line through the contact form if you're interested!