Planning a Homeschool High School Formal
As many of you know, my two oldest children are in high school and my third child is about to enter high school. As you approach those homeschool years, it can bring back some nostalgia. You can sometimes wonder if there is something your child is missing out on different school activities or events.
Some homeschool parents may feel the pressure to include their children in things like school dances, plays, or other public school activities. I have never felt pressured this way, and I would never keep my kids in public school just to attend a school event. However, I was prompted to look into one such school event when my children voiced wanting to attend a high school formal. My children weren’t pushy about it but I could see that this was something that would give them a new experience in our homeschool.
When faced with this idea of a high school formal, I couldn’t help but think of how they are now compared to how they were when I was young. For me, I never attended one high school dance and feel that missing out didn’t affect who I am. I am a very productive member of society. Even though I didn’t attend a dance when I was in high school, I know that they were much more appropriate than they are now. Nowadays it seems most high school dances involve inappropriate dress, music, party limos, and more. That’s not the experience we wanted or would ever allow our kids to have. We wanted to give our kids the experience of a formal but one with more class and less showboating.
When I began thinking about my kids attending a formal, I did my research. Here are some options you can look into depending on where you live.
Options for Dances/Formals
Many states/homeschool groups offer these kinds of experiences for kids. Take some time to search online or contact local homeschool groups to get information regarding the types of events they hold for homeschoolers. School dances/formals are generally toward the end of the traditional school year. Look at your local churches. They may host formals for students or be willing to host one for students who attend the church.
If there aren’t any homeschool groups or churches in your area that host dances for homeschoolers, then you have two choices:
1. Count your losses. As I said earlier, I didn’t attend one high school dance and I turned out just fine.
2. Volunteer to host/create one. If you can’t find what you want then create it, but be prepared for the work ahead.
Planning and Hosting a Homeschool Formal
Every situation will look different based on how many kids you have at the dance, what you include, food, and so forth. but here’s what that experience looked like for me.
Our church offers a homeschool group and they had a planning meeting I attended. At first when I went, I was hoping to just help in some way since my kids wanted to attend. However, at the meeting I learned that they didn’t have anyone to lead the charge and would have to cancel the formal if no one would lead the event. So on behalf of my kids and the others, I stepped up so it wouldn’t get canceled and prayed it would be a blessing to all.
As I said, everyone's experience will look different. Since this group is a part of our church and has leadership in place many of the rules for the high school formal were already in place and I abided by them.
They were as follows:
Open only to those who homeschool and attend our church
No dates
No slow dancing
Modest dress requirements for girls. No short dresses, low neck lines etc.
Formal attire for the boys. Tucked-in, collared shirt, etc.
Music free from vulgarity and profanity
With this information in hand I began to plan out the event. Below I have listed the steps I took from start to finish.
Choose the event date and time. Decide if you are going to do a weekend night or day time dance. Figure out the best time or send out a survey to see what would work for parents. However, don’t be afraid to pick a date and time yourself.
Choose the location. Look for a free venue such as a willing church. If you can’t find a free venue, try looking at places that rent out their spaces such as fire houses, hotel rooms, etc. Make sure to keep it within a reasonable price.
Plan the theme. We went with neon nights (think glow everything). We thought of some others like gold rush (all gold and black), a masquerade, story book theme, winter wonderland theme, 50s theme. If you need other ideas, Google is your friend.
Send or Share the Formal Invite. Create a free invite on an app like Canva. You can then have it displayed at church or sent out in an email or given to kids at a homeschool group.
Menu planning. Choose the menu for the evening. We did Olive Garden catering.
Set a budget. Be sure to set a budget for each thing. From décor to food to games to venue rental (if you don’t use a free space). Keep a list of everything you purchase for the evening, then divide the total amongst potential attendees and set a payment date for the ticket price.
Enlist help. You can’t run things along. Get someone to help decorate and set up the day before, to help to take down and clean up the night of. Get someone to handle the ordering of food, purchasing decor, planning the games. Ask for chaperones. We tried to have as many chaperones as possible stay, but we also had many who dropped their high schoolers off.
Plan a flow for the night. We started with picture taking in front of the backdrop. Then moved to dinner serving and chatting. We played games (bingo and spoons) and had gift card prizes. Then it was dessert and dancing time until the end. Our event began at 5:00 PM and ended at 9:00 PM.
Create a music playlist. I asked all the parents to have their kids send in song requests and customized a playlist off of their recommendations while also verifying language and so forth. This was a highlight because the kids absolutely loved hearing their song come on.
Although it was a lot of work, it brought me a lot of joy to know the kids had a wonderful night. It was so inspiring to see a room of 20+ teens enjoying themselves while all conducting themselves in a God honoring way. I hope this helps any of you wondering about planning an event like this. Until next time friends!
