Prom season is upon us.
Here are a few ways we as Young Life leaders can serve our high school friends, parents, and administration.
PRE-PROM
Dress/Tux Shopping
Go shopping with them. Do you think your YL guy would rather go with his leader or his mom to Men’s Wearhouse? It’s a toss up, but for the female YL leaders it’s a no-brainer contact work opportunity.
Pimp That Ride
Offer to pimp out your Rav-4 and dress up as a limo driver to escort your high school friends and their dates to dinner and prom.
Chef-boy-r-prom
Offer to cook/serve an elegant candlelight dinner for your high school friends. Do it at your house, their house, the YL house, or outside at a park.
Post-a-pic
Show up at the pre-dinner photo spot with a nice camera that you borrowed from your retired uncle. Take pics, edit them, post them on facebook, tag your friends.
Pray
This is a night full of regrets for many of our friends. Let’s beg God to protect them and to give them courage to make wise decisions.
Prep
Help your high school friends think through the evening ahead of time. Tell them you know what temptations they will face. Tell them that Jesus knows (Matthew 4). Tell them to look for a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). Who else is having these important conversations with them? It’s one of the reasons we work so hard to earn the right to be heard.
DURING-PROM
Volunteer
You might be surprised at how grateful the high school administration will be to hear an adult ask if they can help supervise the prom. It’s not like a ton of adults are lining up to referee dance wrastlin’.
Pray Again
Prom Alternative
Some of your friends didn’t ask to the prom. They say it’s not a big deal, but no one enjoys being left out. Imagine how excited they would get if you offered them another hangout option during prom. You could do something low-key or even create an event like “MORP” (Prom backwards.) Instead of the dance you could create an evening of a fancy meal followed byvideo scavenger hunts, rolling houses, ice blocking, movies, and even your own little dance party. That’s the stuff memories are made of.
AFTER-PROM
If your high school puts on an After-Prom event, volunteer to help. Our YL team used to film music videos of kids during the event. We used the YL skit closet and had kids dress up and lip-sync the song of their choice. We got some construction lights and designed a lil stage. After we shot the music videos we uploaded them on the YL YouTube page for kids to view. It was a big hit. If your school doesn’t offer an After-Prom consider offering your friends a late night alternative.
What suggestions or ideas do you have? Please share in the comments below.
