For years, the senior prom has been held in the school gymnasium. No matter how you decorate, it still looks like a gym. This year the prom committee decided to do something different. When we went to the school superintendent asking if the prom could be somewhere else this year. We told him about our idea to have the prom at a local city park. He thought our idea was really original and said he would help us get permission from the city to use the park for the prom.

Since the prom was outdoors we chose "Secret Garden" for our theme. We spent our decorating money renting free standing latice walls which we decorated with artificial ivy and flowers and placed around the outside of the prom site. The DJ we hired brought his ownlighting and sound systems and even helped the decorating committe set up the lighting over the dining tables.

I took pictures at each stage of the set up to record our progress. It took all the members of the committee all afternoon to get everything ready. It was a lot of work, but everything looked perfect. The tables had been arranged around the dance floor, covered with light green linen and set with fine white china with a green leaf border. Each table had centerpieces made from miniature hurricane lanterns with a small dried flower wreath around the base and a citronella candle inside to help keep the insects away.

Dinner was served buffet-style on a couple of tables covered with white damask linen. The main dishes were rosemary chicken and beef stroganoff. The side dishes were green beans almondine, rice pilaf and roasted potatoes. Everything was kept hot with chafing dishes brought by the caterer.

The couples began showing up wearing tuxedos and prom gowns; everyone looked great! A photographer went to each table and took group pictures.

The DJ played romantic music during dinner so everyone could chat while enjoying their meal. An hour later he started playing dance music and couples started dancing. Soon everyone was on their feet and moving to the beat!

After about an hour the DJ announced the nominees and opened the envelopes revealing the names of who was voted prom king and queen. They danced to a song together after they were crowned with wreaths of ivy and roses.

The dancing continued until after midnight. I had a really great time and was so happy to see everyone else enjoying themselves. Some of the Seniors even stayed after the prom helping the members of the prom committee clean up.

I hear the Junior class already is planning to have their Senior prom at the park next year. I heard the city is planning to do some landscaping in the park over the summer so that it is even nicer.