Winners List

2010

February - Kathy G. CHS- Virginia

January - Sheila Z. BMS - Florida

"We save money by placing spare change jars on all of the teachers desk and when the kids or teachers have spare change they throw it in. They all know it will take team work to be able to have our dance this year since our budget was eliminated."

2009

December- Elora M. - BHHS- Illinois

"Prom can be a very expensive endeavor for everyone involved. To save money when planning for prom we brainstorm ideas for what is the most important to the least and plan a budget to meet our needs. We think about the things we would like to have for our memories and make sure they are at the top of the list. We want to make sure that we get things that both the boys and the girls will get some use of and appreciate."

November - Shelly H. - AOHS- Illinois

"We are planning on saving money for this year's prom by looking for available coupons and discounts on our orders. We are also making some of our decorations as well as borrowing from the student council for props and decorations. When we are done with our prom, we will then donate our items back to student council (new and used) to be used for future dances and proms."

October - Bertha F. - RCS - New York

"We make our own invitations and have weekly meetings to make props. We save many things from different events such as homecoming and previous dances we save to try and recycle old props. If you need a column go to a carpet outlet and see if they have any carpet tubes they are discarding. Need a carpet for the entrance see if they have any remnants that they are disposing of. We have even taken a old carpet someone was getting rid of ( a beige) and spray painted it to look like stone walk way. For refreshments we usually send out letters to different stores and vendors that supply the school and ask them if they would like to make a contribution of a beverage or food item for our Prom as we are a small school and the junior class has to raise the entire funds to put prom on. We usually get all of the beverages, chips, snacks, pizza donated. The community is also a big help send out letters to the community to see if anyone has something that will help with this years theme. This year the fire department is having the same theme for their banquet and has volunteered to donate all of our table coverings and the decorations that they used. Our biggest expense is the D.J. and the favors that we hand out at the door. There are many ways to save you just have to think about what the theme is and ask the community for support as this their children and they want the Prom to be memorable also."

April - Marie S. - MMS- New Jersey

"We started at the beginning of the year with every catalog that was sent, held meetings with my officers for them to pick out what gifts they wanted and how much money was budgeted for prom. We need 400 gifts and they decided to order travel mugs. They picked out several different styles and indicated what they wanted on the mugs so I then began looking through all the catalogs. American Prom was the best price for what we could afford. Thanks to your free shipping, and no set up fees it was actually under the price that we budgeted."

March- Teresa C. - STHS - Mississippi

"I have a contest between the juniors and seniors. The teachers have "penny jars" in their room. Pennies, dimes, nickels, etc. are collected daily. The class with the most money is treated to a free lunch period outside for a week."

February - Jennifer V. - CMHS - Ohio

"The key to saving money is to get organized! To save money, the prom committee and I first determined our theme, what type of decorations we needed, what we "had to have" vs. "what we wanted, but didn't absolutely have to have", determined round figures on what we wanted to spend on certain items, and set a tight budget. I challenged each committee/group to try to come in under budget. The students split into groups and take charge of finding favors, decorations, invitations, each at a specified budget. I challenged the students to look for good prices on the internet and then contact local businesses to see if they could match or beat the prices found on the internet. As a teacher, it was great to observe the students getting so involved in price-shopping and bargaining with local vendors. You would be surprised how many businesses were willing to work with us. Of the four sub-committees we established, three of them have found the items they desired for amounts that were less than budgeted for. With the remaining unspent money, we were able to add some of the "things we want."

January - Jan W. - MRHS- Illinois

"We plan a year ahead and take advantage of the "buy early" specials. Use the clearance as sale items to decorate bigger and better. You can get twice the amount of items and stay in your budget. Don't just think about what will be used for Prom only. Buy items that can be used by the Music Dept for Musical Props, the Sports Boosters for event decoration. By doing this, you can share the expense with the other organizations and clubs in the school."

2008

December - Tonya M & PCA - Colorado

"The way that we have saved money is we use our centerpieces as favors. It lets us save money because we do not have to buy both, and every one is able to have a token from the banquet. We also save all the other decorations from year to year and see how we are able to use them over and over. This way we do not have to buy new items every year. Lastly, we use a person that helps in the school to take our pictures. He is able to take and print them for less then a professional. We are a very small school so we are always looking for ways to save money in everything we do."

November- Kristina M. & SHS - Tennesee

"We saved money by ordering during free shipping periods, buying in bulk, making centerpieces, using banquet hall that offered family member discounts and buying clearance items"

October - Jan H. & WKHS - Ohio

"This year our plan is to start early asking businesses to put in an card size advertisement in a preprom flyer. They can advertise limo's, dresses, tuxes, flowers, dinner coupons, etc. Their advertising dollars will bring in some preprom money and it will help with our budget!"