Hundred dollar dresses, spray tans, overpriced tickets, tuxedo rentals, and platform heels unimaginably tough to walk in fill the heads of high schoolers every year around this time.

With Prom quickly approaching on April 29., the search to find a Prom date has turned into an impossible yet imperative task for some people.

Time is ticking away on the prom ticket sales date, and both guys and girls without dates are panicking.

Why can’t those single individuals just pair up together and enjoy a night that only comes once a year, you might ask?

It is a reasonable question and one that I wish I had an answer for. The pickiness now-a-days for the “perfect” date is ridiculous.

If you’re dying to go then why can’t a close guy or girl friend pair up with you for one night?

Unfortunately, the expectations of Prom and the reality that people have made it into is the reason why both guys and girls are dreading going to Prom, even just with a close friend.

Dating and hookups in today’s day in age has become so materialistic and self centered that guys dread being seen with girls who are wanting to use them for the night and then dump them.  

The same goes for the other side: girls do not want to be seen with a jerk who only wants one thing. And if we are being honest here, most guys don’t care much about a prom dress, a tux, dancing, tickets, and the night that going to Prom gives you.

This reality is why most people don’t even want to go through the trouble of finding a date and all of the other details either for that matter.

But is it really worth not going to Prom, a night that you only get to attend twice in your life, just because you don’t have a date?

Without a date you don’t have a partner to take pictures with, no one to dance with when everyone else is coupled up, and you make an odd number of seats at your friends table to name a few negatives.

For some people Prom just isn’t worth it without a date.

“I think Prom is such a paired up event, so that’s why I’m not going without a date,” junior Emily Hall said.

From a guy’s point of view, things are not thought of much differently.

“I feel like if I wasn’t going with my date then I wouldn’t even be going at all,” junior Tyler Fritz said. “Junior year I understand why someone wouldn’t want to go at all without a date, but senior year is a must.”

The price of going to Prom is another huge turnoff for juniors and seniors.

Parents of teenage girls get their credit cards out and ready to buy their daughters their dream dresses, while parents of teenage boys get their credit cards out and ready to pay $200 for their son and his date’s prom tickets.

However, not having a date can save everyone a little money, as can not even going to Prom at all.

Either way, if you’re going to Prom or skipping out and saving money, it is still possible to have an enjoyable night no matter which route you decide to go.

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