# Boy, things have really changed



## pchinvegas (Sep 24, 2013)

"Back in the Day" the Home Coming Dance was a big deal. They boy timidly ask you to go, you got Mom to take you shopping for a fancy dress. The night of the dance he'd show up at the door with a corsage, Mom would take a pic or two and off to the dance you'd go.
Here's the plan for my Senior Grandson and his friends this IS Home Coming Las Vegas Style 2013

Monday prior to the Saturday night Home Coming Dance a bouquet of flowers and a mushy card asking her to the dance $25.
Saturday afternoon at 430 PM Jager will pic her up at her home, they will meet friends/classmates at a nearby park for pictures by a photographer. Price determined later when we decide on the pictures we want.
6:15 Pm they proceed to a friends house nearby where they board the party bus they have until midnight. $94.00 per couple.
7 PM Reservations for Dinner at Red Rock Hotel Casino $60.00 per couple.
Board the Party Bus for Caesars Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip  to see the Atlantis Show at 9 PM.
Then off to Paris Hotel Casino for a jaunt up to the top of the Eiffel Tower for more pictures $32.00 per couple.
Short ride to the "Las Vegas Sign" More Pictures.
Then parts unknown on the Party Bus till they return at midnight.

I have no idea what the hell happened to the Home Coming Dance, I'm not sure there even is one.


I'm not sure how I feel about all this but I do know my Grandson is an A B student, excels in Football, Pole Vault and is a Powder Puff Cheerleader and is a polite all around good young man and this is just how it is in 2013.


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## Jackie22 (Sep 24, 2013)

Yea...things have change, now the Senior trip is to Cancun.  I know my 8 year old grandson may go on a school trip to Washington DC, at a cost to mom and dad of $1600...


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## pchinvegas (Sep 24, 2013)

Wow, Jackie22 I hate to hear what these kids come up with that a lot of money


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## Katybug (Sep 24, 2013)

*While I was reading the schedule I was wondering how the dance figured into the plans, then you said there may not even be one!!??  Sounds like a real money making proposition and too bad it's come to that.  What about the families who can't afford such a lavish evening?  They're completely left out.  These are far from good changes from our day, IMO, tho I'm sure the high schools around here (or most other places throughout the country) aren't offered such an elaborate evening.  Appears you pay heavily for living in the most glitzy city in the country.  But I'm sure your g'son and his classmates will have a wonderful evening and I know how proud of him you must be.*


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## JustBonee (Sep 24, 2013)

Saw on a chart somewhere that it costs over $240,000 to raise a child from birth to age 17, and that amount  goes up yearly.  So, I wonder how many of these extra ​school activities even get figured into that amount.. and they have plenty of them.  

I know that my granddaughter, a freshman in high school this year, has been raking up expenses already for every sport and choir activity that she goes to ... it is even "suggested strongly"  that the kids  each give the bus driver, who takes them to these school events,  $3 when they get on the bus..  each and every time!.. 
It's getting a little crazy.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 25, 2013)

My Senior Prom spreadsheet ...



Wash and dry electric-blue 3-piece suit: $1.50
Ask Donna Salerno to prom: $0.00
Pick flowers from her front yard: $0.00
Bottle of Jack Daniels: $5.75
1/2 ounce of Purple Haze: $25.00
Limo: $0.00 (friend with father in business owed me favor)
Dinner at Windows on the World: $84.50
Beach house rental at Southampton, NY for 1 night - $0.00 (another friend owed a favor)
Limo back home: $0.00 (same friend as before)

*Total: $116.75*

Never _did_ get to the dance itself, but hey - had a great time.


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## That Guy (Sep 25, 2013)




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## Katybug (Sep 25, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> My Senior Prom spreadsheet ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



*Still laughing at your post, tho don't have a clue what Purple Haze is -- just know it probably worked in your favor. And lucky you for being able to call in all your paybacks, saved you a fortune.

Does no one make it to the dance? LOL


*


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## SifuPhil (Sep 25, 2013)

Katybug said:


> Still laughing at your post, tho don't have a clue what Purple Haze is -- just know it probably worked in your favor.



Sorry - "Purple Haze" is a very potent strain of marijuana, named after Jimi Hendrix's song of the same name. And yes, it was VERY favorable. 



> Does no one make it to the dance?  (wink!)



As far as I know, in my case only the goodie-goodies actually went to the prom itself. The rest of us naughty students scattered to the four winds.


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## Katybug (Sep 25, 2013)

I feel a bit sorry for the parents of these girls....spending a bloody fortune on a prom gown for their daughter and it ends up being a bit of a  "naughty scattering to the four winds," as you described it.  Glad you got lucky that night and cherish the memory.  Hey, we treasure those memories these days, don't we?


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## SifuPhil (Sep 25, 2013)

Katybug said:


> I feel a bit sorry for the parents of these girls....spending a bloody fortune on a prom gown for their daughter and it ends up being a bit of a  "naughty scattering to the four winds," as you described it.  Glad you got lucky that night and cherish the memory.  Hey, we treasure those memories these days, don't we?



Oh, heck, yeah - especially after one becomes a monk! :angel:

My son went to his senior prom but it wasn't anything fancy - they stayed local, didn't spend much, behaved themselves and had a good time, but not TOO good. Didn't want him to end up like his old man ...


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## Anne (Sep 25, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> My son went to his senior prom but it wasn't anything fancy - they stayed local, didn't spend much, behaved themselves and had a good time, but not TOO good.



That's what *he told you!!!*


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## SifuPhil (Sep 25, 2013)

Anne said:


> That's what *he told you!!!*



That's true. If he's really the chip off the ol' block that I suspect he is that story about their going to the soup kitchen to feed the homeless, then going to church and sweeping out the pews, probably isn't _100%_ true ...  

Meh - the poor lad is married now, so whatever _really_ happened 6 years ago should probably remain under the tongue for his own good.


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## MercyL (Oct 11, 2013)

I remember making sure there were condoms in the house, but then my sons did not care to go to their prom. They saved their money for things they wanted to do to their car.
I went to only one dance at my high school, during my freshman year. My parents moved us from the city to a home they built in an area that was under development. There was only one high school for that particular school district back then, and most of the students were white, farmers or living on family farms. I could count my Black classmates on one hand.

Having moved us all to a predominantly white area, my parents forgot to consider what sort of social life we'd have. They also forgot terrible things could get. When they finally realized that my going to a predominantly whit high school meant that most of my friends would be white too, they decided that I could not visit or date anyone I knew.

Pretty stupid, eh?

So, I had no social life.


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## Katybug (Oct 12, 2013)

Oh, Mercy, I hate that for you.  These days things really have changed so much and your situation wouldn't have happened in today's world, you would have many friends and dates.  Makes me sad that you had to go through that at such an important time of your life.

It was the opposite with me in that my family moved from way outside the city limits to downtown just before I turned 16.  Since none of us could drive and we didn't live very close to each other, I had no social life to speak of 'til we moved..  Once I began at the City High School, which was probably 10 times larger than the one I had been attending, it was like a different world.  Of course, getting our license & being able to date and drive made all the difference.   

I went to the prom in my Jr year with a gook looking guy who was rebounding.  His steady g/f had just dumped him a few wks before and he was still angry/jealous and was about as much fun that night as a stomach virus.  I couldn't wait to get home.  My Sr year,  I had the biggest crush on this one guy and we spent a lot of afternoons together.  I was so smitten and thought the feeling was mutual, but it took him FOREVER to ask me to the Senior Prom.  He finally did and we had so much fun, but I was disappointed he didn't kiss me goodnight or ask me out again other than with a group.  I was bummed for months over that!  At a high school reunion 10 years later, I understood why, as he brought his male partner with him.


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## Old Hipster (Oct 12, 2013)

People at work show me pictures of their kids or grand kids in their Prom dresses, they all look like a bunch of hookers.


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## JaniceM (Sep 15, 2017)

Well, maybe it's only my opinion, but I've always thought "extravagant, expensive, and formal" are ridiculous for school kids.  But to each their own.

My high school didn't have a prom-  it was a "G.A.A. Formal" hosted by the Girls' Athletic Association (preppy, ya know    )  but I wasn't interested.  Went to many regular high school dances, starting at 11 years old, but never liked anything more formal.  And still don't.


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## Deucemoi (Sep 15, 2017)

junior/senior prom 1966..  yokel dudes high night date...
suit= dunno cost was the same one I wore to demolay meetings
corsage=dont remember the cost but probably under $20
no limo, drove our pontiac 
none of the girls in my senior class would go or for that matter even speak to me and most of the junior girls were the same so I asked a freshman girl I didnt even know.
night of the prom I went to pick up my 'date'. had to meet daddy and mommy. then was shown a flower in the fridge, yokel dude (me) said what is that. it is a buttoneer, dummy now asks what is it for, it goes in my lapel...(dummy,,, mens corsage) oh??ha??
daddy asks me when do I think we will be home, I say probably before midnight as I have national guard drills this weekend. daddy's face lights up, 'oh your in the guard'
been so long ago I guess we had a good time.


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## Buckeye (Sep 15, 2017)

MercyL said:


> I remember making sure there were condoms in the house, but then my sons did not care to go to their prom. They saved their money for things they wanted to do to their car.
> I went to only one dance at my high school, during my freshman year. My parents moved us from the city to a home they built in an area that was under development. There was only one high school for that particular school district back then, and most of the students were white, farmers or living on family farms. I could count my Black classmates on one hand.
> 
> Having moved us all to a predominantly white area, my parents forgot to consider what sort of social life we'd have. They also forgot terrible things could get. When they finally realized that my going to a predominantly whit high school meant that most of my friends would be white too, they decided that I could not visit or date anyone I knew.
> ...



Mercy - that does not sound like a fun high school life.  Your parents thought they were looking out for you, but...  

On the other hand, I went to a very small high school in Southern Ohio (which is very poor), and we were all white.  Every one of us in all 4 grades.  The closest we came to mixed dating/mixed marriage would involve a Methodist and a Baptist.  

Yes we had proms, and no, no one showed up in a limo.  At best, Dad washed the pickup truck.


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## jujube (Sep 15, 2017)

Our homecoming dances (early 1960's) were held in the cafeteria/general purpose room.  They were sock hops.  The only difference from the regular Friday-night-football-game sock hops was that the girls wore big ol' gaudy purple-and-white mums with glitter on them.  

Since we only won one football game during my first three years (and it wasn't the homecoming game), the sock hops were not celebratory, nor did anyone particularly want to "come home" for them.  

When my daughter was in high school, things were getting a little more dressy for homecoming.  Still no limos or formals or tuxes, though.  Just a little dressier than school attire.

My granddaughter's homecoming dances, though, were almost as fancy as prom.  

Getting out of hand in my opinion.  My grouchy old lady opinion.


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## Sassycakes (Sep 15, 2017)

When my daughter made her Communion in the early 80's It was a rule  for girls that you wear a white dress and boys a white suit. I don't remember the cost of the dress but I think it was around $60.00. In 1999 when my niece's daughter made her Communion some of the Mother's paid about $400. for a dress. One woman I knew paid $400. for the dress $100. for extra sequins on the dress and she even hired a Limo to drive her daughter to church. Thankfully my niece was smart and a good at sewing so she made her daughter's dress and it was Beautiful.


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