How to plan for your Year 11 prom

Check upcoming open days and book your place

From your school’s point of view, prom planning probably starts very early in the year as they have to sort out a venue, fix a price for tickets and start advertising it. Unless you’re on the Year 11 prom committee, you won’t have to deal with all that, but there’s still enough to organise to leave your head spinning.

Don’t forget the dress or suit

Obviously, one of the most important aspects of prom planning is the prom dress, or the prom suit. You want to look glamorous, but also cool. Maybe you want to feel like a Disney princess/prince, or maybe you want to feel like a rock star, or maybe you want matching ‘fits with all your friends.

To save money, consider renting your prom outfit if you don’t think you’d wear it again. Renting outfits for formal occasions like prom is becoming more and more popular, and it comes with the added benefit of being more eco-friendly than buying a new outfit. Year 11 prom is all about celebrating with your friends, so make sure you pick an outfit that makes you feel like yourself so you’ll look back on the photos fondly for years to come.

Get the limo booked

Quite often for a Year 11 prom, the arrival is one of the biggest moments of the night, when everyone pulls up in limos to have their photo taken on the red carpet with their mates. The local limos will get booked up very quickly, especially if other schools in the area are having their prom on the same night.

If you want to be a bit different to everyone else and potentially have a bit less competition, think about the size of your friend group and what alternative transport you could take. Maybe one of your parents has a cool car you could go in, or your friends’ group could hire out a couple of classic cars, or perhaps you know someone with a tractor who’d be willing to drive you in for a really unique arrival!

Hair, makeup, shoes and accessories 

If you’re working on a budget with your prom planning, there’s the option to style yourself (or take it in turns to style your friends) and wear shoes and accessories you already own. Accessories you might want to consider include necklaces, bracelets, ties and cufflinks, and you could even look at getting a corsage or boutonnière to match with your date if you have one. 

If you have a bit of extra cash saved up, you might want to splash out on having a professional style your hair or do your makeup. If you want to go down this route of being pampered, discuss with the stylist beforehand what look you’re going for and show them reference pictures so they can nail it. If you decide that you and your friends are going to help each other out, then a practice run or two beforehand can help make sure your look is exactly how you want it and you’re confident in what you’re doing on the day. 

When it comes to shoes, make sure the footwear you choose is comfortable. You’re going to be dancing and standing up a lot on the night, and you don’t want new smart shoes rubbing your ankles, or your feet aching from too-high heels. Pick what shoes you want to wear ahead of time and wear them around the house to make sure they’re not going to be a pain on the night.  

Pick your ‘getting ready’ location

You’ll want to get ready with all your friends for your Year 11 prom, especially if you’re travelling in the same vehicle together. If you’ve done some practice runs of getting ready, you’ll have a better idea of what time you need to meet on the day, but make sure you build in time to celebrate with just your mates, have a laugh together and have photos taken outside before you leave (your parents will probably insist on this).

Pick whose house you’re getting ready at and take into consideration whose parents are going to provide the best snacks, as well as who has the most space for you all and maybe even who has the nicest photo backdrop at home. Make sure you’ve packed your things up beforehand as you don’t want to be late on the day because you’re not sure where you put your shoes.

Get a playlist going 

While you’re getting ready, you want to get yourself hyped up. Put a playlist together ahead of time with the help of all your mates to make sure your prom preparation is as fun as possible. Make sure you’re using songs that get you in the party mood and ready for a night of dancing. This is an often-overlooked element of prom planning, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly important. After all, you don’t want to be fighting over what music to put on while you’re getting ready. 

And finally… don’t forget to buy a ticket 

There’s always one who says on the night, “I didn’t realise we had to buy tickets, guys”. Don’t be that person. Buy your ticket.

At the end of the day, Year 11 prom is fun. For some people, the planning is part of the fun, and for others it’s a nightmare. No matter where you fall on this spectrum of planners, rest assured that all the anxiety of planning will melt away once you’re on the dance floor with all your mates, celebrating the end of your GCSEs. Make sure you enjoy the moment and get plenty of great snaps to remember it by.