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Prom
Guide To...
Most of all, have fun creating this fabulous evening. Click on the theme that most interests you or scroll down to read through them all. Fantasy: a fabulous theme. There are several of these themes available and if you combine them, you really have something special. The room will be all white and glittery and include balloon clouds with iridescent shreds, white glittery castle towers, a staircase and a beautiful gate with glittery plumage décor. Add white fantasy trees made of balloons and iridescent shreds…and a magical walkway of white disks covered with white gossamer, which makes a great entrance. Castles: cobblestone and rolling meadows on the English countryside, that’s what I think about. There are some great wrought iron looking fence props and cobblestone fence kits that you can set up outside the event entrance. You can even buy paper cobblestones for the floor. Use them to lead to the castle entrance (the actual prom) and once inside, amaze your guests with any number of castle kits and citadels/archways that are available! Surround it with pine trees and lights and you have quite a romantic setting. Art Deco: beautiful! Using black and purple, the focus of this theme is a great fountain surrounded by oversized rhinestones. Art deco fans atop purple columns covered with deep purple Mylar curtain scream elegance. Make diamonds out of holographic paper and hang them from the ceiling or scatter them around the stage. Behind the stage, build a huge art deco fan with holographic accents. Add black and deep purple gossamer. WOW! Starry, Starry Night: elegant. Stars are such a great theme. You can easily decorate (stars come in balloons, cut-outs, candles and "b" lights) without spending a lot of money. Consider a metallic star arch kit at the door—an easily made prop that you can buy. Some other things that work well are columns with stars atop, Mylar star balloon centerpieces, large (36") Mylar stars floating on the ceiling, large stars center table under the centerpiece, an archway covered with stars for your photo opportunity and lots of star sprays here, there and everywhere. Hang star banners from the ceiling and add star cloud clusters with latex balloons covered with stars coming from above. Fabulous shining star stands are available for the corners of the dance floor from the prom prop companies—I’ve seen them in black and blue; some are lit, some not. You may also want to add a fabulous moonwalk bridge lit with candles for a great photo opportunity. If not that, there is a prop called the "visionary fan" which is black and silver and covered with metallic stars at the top. Hollywood: cool. This is a great theme and there is so much available to execute it. A backdrop that says "Hollywood" just like the one in the Hollywood Hills will really set the stage. Large film reels, a celebrity star walkway, old-style movie cameras, large rolls of paper film to use for decorations and even spotlights you can build all add to the glamour and allure. Everybody will feel like a star at this event. Celestial Magic: not a "what’s your sign?" event by any means, but something that highlights the galaxy! There are great columns with stars and moons plus a matching backdrop available for the entrance or behind the stage. Put oversized metallic stars in the center of the tables and use candles for centerpieces. From the ceiling, drop gold half moons and suns. Ask a balloon specialist to help you create comets and shooting stars by adding balloon tails to hanging Mylar stars. Add a lot of little lights and balloon clusters hanging in corners, and, voila! you have your own galaxy. Mardi Gras/Masquerade: I love Mardi Gras. It’s colorful, it’s easy and it’s fun. Using purple, green and yellow streamers, masks, banners and other touches, you can create a carnival atmosphere without even trying. Add a Mardi Gras party kit, and your classmates will have the time of their lives—hats, noisemakers, feathers and beads for all. There’s even Mardi Gras Mylar curtain with all three colors of streamers for a fabulous backdrop. Give people masks—and let them arrive incognito, at least at the beginning! Top the tables with green plates, purple napkins and gold garland napkin rings. Inexpensive and fun. As your photo opportunity, you may want to consider oversized Mardi Gras full face and half masks (some as big as 8’ tall). Anderson’s has a funky palm that goes with this theme that has Mylar leaves made out of purple and gold! It’s A Jungle Out There: ain’t that the truth! You can make jungle vines, jungle grass swinging arches, palms and other props from several Anderson’s kits. There are lion and tiger cut-outs, fabulous green gossamer and tissue shreds trees, plus purple and green balloons available to design your motif. Add some moss-covered trees to make a lush jungle and you’re all set. Tropical Paradise/Luau: it’s like a beach party, but far more elegant. Set up a grass hut, palm trees, a back drop of the ocean and sand-colored gossamer to create a prom paradise. Add a cascading waterfall using metallic blue sheeting and you have a terrific photo opportunity. Skirt the tables with grass skirting, give out tiki glasses, even put a cut-out of a Tahitian God in the corner. Hang seagulls from the ceiling, add paradise flowers and a few seashells, some marine blue background paper and metallic blue paper for water and you’re done! If you have the time, you may want to make an island in the center of the room (another great photo opportunity or a place for your king and queen to rest!). You may even want to provide leis, beachcomber hats and grass skirts for fabulous pix as well. Time: another popular theme. There are clock towers you can build, oversized watches, clocks and band backdrops for photo opportunities, oversized hourglasses and even gears that look like the inside of a timepiece that you can use for décor around the room. You may not know this, but you can even find chocolate foil-wrapped watches to tie off the napkins. If you have the time and inclination, another great photo opportunity would be a big calendar with your class year emblazoned across it—stand under it for a great pic. Sherwood Forest: romantic to the hilt. Lots of trees, a bridge, shrubs, an old river mill with water, a bench or two outside the mill and a walkway of cobblestones throughout the room. Add some fake grass, hang dark green and blue gossamer from the ceiling to make it look dark and forest-y and you’ll feel like you’re in Old England. Plus, there’s this great trellis archway that you can set up at the entrance where guests enter. The props are available from Anderson’s. Cruise: you can actually buy a ship of dreams. Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if it were real? Well, moving on, a cruise theme is great. You can have all sorts of activities: a casino, a lounge, a dining area, a souvenir shop and more. Using available props, build a pier, a 15’ x 12’ x 18’ cruise ship with lights as your focal point and add some shimmery paper that doubles as water. A cut-out of the captain as a photo opportunity (your school principal maybe??) is one great final touch. Under the Sea: another popular theme. Using fish netting, a seascape mural or two, metallic blue sheeting, and shells, you can make even the most boring room into an Atlantis of sorts. There is a giant cut-out of King Neptune available (complete with pitchfork) and plant life kits. Use an aquamarine background paper on the walls and floor to make it look like it’s 20,000 leagues under the sea! Finally, using clear balloons, you can create bubbles anywhere and everywhere around the room. By the way, a good balloon sculptor should be able to make you any number of sea creatures. Egyptian Desert: there are pyramid kits, hieroglyph arch kits, sphinx kits and more to help you set the tone. Add oversized Egyptian fans set atop columns, a camel cut-out and a desert mural for an ancient Egyptian look. You may even want to build your own oasis. Paris: is there anywhere that’s more romantic? Frankly, no. You can build an Eiffel Tower with lights, create your own Champs-Elysées with rented white light-covered fichus trees, benches, little cafes (there are a lot of kits available to do this), cut-outs of street artists, waiters and more. Plus you can put up a directional sign that points people to the Louvre, the Picasso Museum, the Arc de Triomphe, Disneyland Paris and other Paris landmarks. City Lights: if you love the big city, you’ll love this. You can choose from any number of cityscapes or make your own. Go for big skyscrapers or a cityscape in the distance—either one works. In fact, some are real looking and others are fun caricatures of actual buildings—check them all out before deciding which look to use. Add tiny white lights from behind to create an alive and well city at night or do some backlighting (just make sure to use one color or multi-colors of gel paper in the windows to create the effect you want). You end up with a great backdrop, focal point and photo opportunity all in one! If you decide New York City is your destination, you can rent, buy or make a Lady Liberty for the photo opportunity or just as a backdrop. There are also a few bridge kits available—and by adding lights, it’ll look like the George Washington Bridge or any number of other famous bridges leading to Manhattan. General Music: musical note balloons, musical banners, an actual runner that looks like piano keys at the entrance, huge notes hung from the ceiling and balloon columns in black, white and gold all make for a great classical jazz event! A couple of varieties of walk-through piano arches are available or you can make one yourself—it looks like a grand piano turned on its end. A great photo opportunity—I kid you not! Behind the band, hang musical note murals. Hip Hop: this is an Anderson’s theme and it’s great. It comes with a Hip Hop Cityscape kit that is fabulous (dancing buildings), a jalopy "limo," dancing street lights and more. Dress it up with street signs, balloons, background paper and lighting. You’ll swoon. All that Jazz: cut-outs of jazz players, black and white balloons imprinted with musical notes, sax and trumpet cut-outs to hang from the ceiling with silvery 3’ musical notes all make this theme worth doing. Since most jazz clubs were decorated in black and white in the 20’s and 30’s, stick with that. Cover the floor with black and white paper, use one of the giant saxophone cut-outs for a photo opportunity and maybe add one of those piano archways we discussed previously as an entrance piece. There’s also a great standing keyboard you may want to use to lead people into the room! Taj Mahal: a land of enchantment. There is the black castle called the "Castle of Dreams" that has gold majestic tops just like you see at the Taj Mahal. You can create an arch entrance out of the same material, lay down a gold runner, fill the room with black and gold balloons and add gold palm trees as you would find in the desert. A backdrop of gold hanging stars from the ceiling (and maybe a big moon overhead) would be the final touch needed to create this fantasy. Magic: I know you’ve been to a magic party at least once in your life. And you probably had a great time. Hire some strolling magicians to walk through the party while it is in progress. Decorate with top hats, magic wands and playing cards (since card tricks are certainly popular). Top hats make for great inexpensive centerpieces. And the dessert buffet should certainly contain pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate and then tipped with white for edible magic wands! Casino Royale: keeps you busy, that’s for sure. You’ll need to seek out some help with the tables and the dealers, so you may want to find a local gaming company. But, this is one theme that’s always a hit. Blackjack tables, over/under wheels and other games are fun! fun! fun! Have the committee get prizes donated and distribute play money to all that attend. They can then use their winnings to buy things in a souvenir shop or for a raffle. Pass out chocolate dice, dice beads and other favors. Decorate with dice balloons, oversized playing cards, hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. Use a standing spread of cards as your photo opportunity. Colors should be red and black—balloon bouquets can fill the room wherever it needs help. Lastly, there are kings and queen Mylar balloons that are sure to add to the drama. Have fun with it—it’s an easy theme to pull off.
To inquire about any related product, email us nanette@party411.com or call 877-514-8411. Check out our complete list of Prom favors and accessories.
Enjoy your big evening, from the Party Girl and Party411! Return to Prom Planning Guide
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Here are some creative ideas you can banter around at your next prom meeting!
Most of these props are available from the many prom prop companies…decide
your theme, decide your budget and then go for it. Then, check out our table
decoration and other ideas for the final touches!