Prom comes with enough pressures as it is: finding the right outfit, planning a mini photoshoot, and getting reservations for a delicious dinner. But teens today have to add another weight to their load - the promposal. A new practice that's flourished in the digital age, promposals are bigger than ever. Is the big event creeping up on you? Woo your #1 prom pick with these great last-minute promposal ideas.
Since When Are Promposals a Thing?
If you danced the night away to Sum 41 or Britney Spears, then the idea of putting on a big production to ask someone to the prom seems super strange. Yet, Gen Z's all about putting on a show. Much like birds and their competitive plumage in the wild, the bigger and bolder the promposal, the more likely they are to cinch the 'yes.'
Promposals in their modern context didn't get major traction until the 2010s and have developed into a standard expectation. Even couples are often pressured to come up with their own unique promposal despite having every intention of going with one another regardless. These promposals can be as simple as a poster board with some balloons or as elaborate as a traffic-stopping display, but they're all in good fun.
Quick and Creative Poster Promposals
The ultimate last-minute promposal is the one where the tradition got its start. Poster promposals are easy because all you need is a poster board and some craft supplies to make a big statement. Get inspiration from your favorite memes, music, and tv shows to see what endearing concepts you can come up with. Need a little help? Build off these.
@taylor_brownn16 still can’t believe he did that in class #fyp #promposal #promdate original sound - taylorbrown
- Scrabble ask - Thrift a scrabble board and spell out your promposal using scrabble tiles.
- Word search promposal - Fill out a word search with each of the words in your promposal.
- Nancy Sinatra-inspired - Go classic with a "These boots are made for walking…with me to prom" Nancy Sinatra poster.
- Muscial theater promposal - Big theater fan? Try out a musical theater inspired poster with phrases like "I'm not throwin' away my shot…to take you to prom."
- If your potential date loves horror flicks - Horror movie fans would love to get a Freddy Krueger promposal with the phrase "Taking you to prom is all I see in my dreams."
- Easy old-school promposal - Go back to grade school with a 'check yes or no to prom' poster.
- Read all about it - Cover your poster in newspaper, and write something like "Did you read the news? I'm inviting you to prom!"
- Say it with a cartoon quip - Pull a SpongeBob themed poster out of your hat with the quippy "Ravioli, Ravioli, give me the prom-uoli?" reference.
- You belong with me promposal - Hit it big with the Swifties by referencing her lyrics in your poster promposal. For example, you could pull out an old favorite, "You belong with me…at the prom."
Delicious Promposals That Are Baked With Love
If you like to bake or have a few days to wait for a custom order from a local bakery/restaurant, then these delicious promposals will entice anyone with good taste.
- Go traditional with cupcakes - An absolute classic promposal is giving them a box full of cupcakes that are arranged to spell out "Prom?"
- Say it with a slice - Another staple in promposal history is using pepperoni to spell out "Prom?" on a pizza.
- Find a sweet way to spell it out - For sweet tooths, buy a premade cookie cake and spell out your promposal request in M&M's or chocolate chips.
- Sneak it into soup - If you've really got some time on your hands, spell it out in a bowl of alphabet tomato soup and see if they can unscramble the few letters in your bowl.
- Espresso your desire to go to prom - For a low-key promposal, get them their favorite Starbucks order and ask the barista to write your question in the space for your name.
- An inside lunch promposal - Bring them a box of their favorite meal for a lunch treat and write your question on the top of the lid so they'll see it when they open it.
- Donuts will do it - Ask a local donut shop to do custom donuts for a tasty promposal.
- Make it their destiny to go with you - Make some homemade fortune cookies and put custom fortunes inside that are really your prom query.
- Cute popcorn promposal idea - Bring them a fresh bag of movie theater popcorn with a note that says, "this might be corny, but would you go to prom with me?"
Crafty Ways to Create a Memorable Promposal
With a hot glue gun and your imagination, there are no limits to how awesome you can make a promposal. You don't have to be a master at every kind of craft to be able to bring these creative promposals to life.
Promposal at the Tourney?
— Minnesota Hockey (@MinnyHockey) March 8, 2023
Yes #TheTourney23 pic.twitter.com/lxPem9CY75
- Say it with DIY jewelry - Buy a bag of assorted letter beads and some elastic. String up a bracelet or necklace with your question spelled on it.
- Lock in their yes - Ask a friend of theirs for their locker code and fill it with balloons and a small sign asking them to prom.
- Tune into promposal trends - Take whatever current TikTok trend's going on and incorporate it into a promposal that you can send to them.
- The power of flowers - Order a bouquet of flowers and get it sent to their house with the question on the card.
- Book-lover's promposal idea -Buy a copy of their favorite book and send them on a hunt throughout it to spell out your question using the actual text.
- Give them a puzzle to solve - Using any well-known cypher, make them an aged scroll cypher for them to decode your question.
- Chew on this - Give them a bucket of your favorite bubble gum with an invitation that says something like "It'll burst my bubble if you say no to going to prom with me."
It's All About the Effort You Put Into It
It doesn't matter if you don't have perfect handwriting or you accidentally misspell part of your promposal. What's important is that you took the time to put effort into something solely for someone else's enjoyment. And it's never too late to get started on a cute promposal idea, so get your keys and head to the craft store. There are promposals afoot.
