Before the Dance

Picture time . . .

Of course before the dance, I wanted to get pictures.  The girls were all for pictures . . .

Cynthia's dress was gorgeous on her.  It looked like something you'd buy in the store, but she made it!!  What a beautiful dress.  She did such an amazing job making it.  That is really cool that she can say she wore a dress she made to her senior dance.

Zack wanted nothing to do with taking pictures . . .

Kind of reminded me of his first formal . . .

He didn't want his sister touching him two years ago and neither did he the other night.

The kids met up with some friends before the dance and had dinner.  They were all dressed up, and their server asked what school they were from having prom.  The kids responded that it is the best school around. Of course, she inquired more and they said they were homeschoolers.  She seemed shocked when she told them, "I didn't know homeschoolers did prom, too."  Duh! Homeschoolers can do the same things public schoolers do and sometimes even BETTER!!  :)

So glad, we can give the kids the same opportunities as other kids.  No missing out on fancy formal dances.  No missing out on science labs and classroom style classes.  No missing out on graduation.  No missing out on socialization.

The Hatter's Tea Party

As a homeschool mom, one of the many things or concerns outsiders seem to have is whether or not the kids will get enough socialization.  It is hard to believe, but one could say homeschoolers get plenty of socialization.  We are in our tenth year of homeschooling - WOW!! - and it is Kassi's senior year.  In the last two years of her high school career she has had the privilege of attending more formals than the average public and/or private schooler.  

Being her senior year, we offered to coordinate one of the spring formals with the stipulations that it be at our church facility - so we didn't have to search for a site - and we use a DJ friend of ours.  Given the green light, we started the planning process.  We booked the DJ, and marked the facility calendar.

Then we brainstormed some dance themes to have the high school co-op kids vote on.  Zack even got in on this throwing out ideas.  We tried to come up with some fun themes that weren't too 80's-90's throwback ideas.  We also wanted themes that would be easy to decorate for and serve themed food. 

After much discussion, many Googling hours, and many hours on Pinterest, the kids were give four choices to vote on . . . The Hatter's Tea Party; A Galaxy Far, Far Away; Enchanted Woodland; and Bright Lights, Big City.

. . . and the winner . . . 
                                     The Hatter's Tea Party.

Once the theme was decided, we were in full dance mode.  We were constantly thinking about what we could use for decorations, what type of fun theme foods to serve, how to decorate, and color scheme - we didn't want it to be too girly because we wanted the guys to want to come.  Once we had ideas, BIG ideas, we knew we had to get the kids to come.  So we talked it up! We had signs up at co-op.  Emails were sent out, and tickets went on sale.  

We made keepsake tickets for the kids so they would have a piece of memorabilia for their scrapbooks. 

Jay was awesome!  I knew what I wanted in my head,  but I wasn't sure how to  execute it.  So, I would explain it to him and he made it happen.  And that is exactly what happened with those tickets. They turned out awesome!!

Same goes for the decorations.  We bought things - tea pots, tea cup sets, flowers, clocks - from the dollar store, thrift stores and Flower Factory.  If you have a Flower Factory near you, you must check it out immediately!!  We definitely wanted mushrooms as decorations, but all the tutorials were extensive.  Leave it to Jay to come up with a plan.

Can you guess what these mushrooms are made out of?  Try safety cones and upside down plastic flower pots. After we spray painted them, the girls painted the dots and I added the moss.  The day of the dance, Jay added some finishing touches - butterflies & birds.  

Last night was the big dance.  We spent a little bit of time setting up Thursday evening and decorating on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

I am very sad as I didn't get photos of everything.  I got pictures of the snack room, but none of the dance area.  The dance area had a tree with purple lights and the Cheshire Cat's smile, the mushrooms were sproactically placed, there were tissue flowers hanging from the ceiling, and rope lighting along the room. Plus the DJ had his lighting equipment.  We even had garland made from decks of playing cards hanging from the doors and draping the tables.

I think the evening was a success!  There were 72 dance attendees and 11 adults, which included the DJ couple, the dance photographer and helper, 6 roaming chaperons, and one yearbook photographer/chaperon.  Keeping in line with the theme, we made bite sized finger foods.  On the menu: mini cupcakes, mini cheesecakes, cream cheese mints, ham pinwheels, pretzels, tea punch, lemonade, and bottled water.

There was a ton of dancing, singing, shouting, and SOCIALIZING.