It’s prom season all over the country, and while it’s been fun seeing all of the awesome photos of our local students all dolled up while preparing for the big night, I’ve been preoccupied with the fact that my own teenager is going to her first prom this Saturday in Tate County.

Now, I will write a separate column just for the dads and find a more covert way to distribute that one (not really, but it might not be the worst idea I’ve ever had), but to all the parents of students headed to prom this year: Did y’all know how expensive it is?

I myself went to four proms in high school. Most of that was due to the fact that my high school sweetheart was a year older than me, so I got an early start as a sophomore at a school where only juniors and seniors were invited, unless your date was older. Because of that, you’d think I’d be prepared as a parent for how much goes into prom night, right? Nope. Because during all four of those proms in the 1990s and early 2000s, I was a guy. The girls have SO much more to do.

And, again, it’s not like being a girl-dad is new to me. Sawyer just turned 16 earlier this month, but there are some things you just don’t think too much about until you have to, and prom is one of those things. So, over the last few weeks, it’s been a flurry of dress-shopping, dress-altering, shoe-shopping, having hair done, making appointments to have nails done (because you have to wait until just before, but not JUST before, apparently), and so on. 

There were corsages to think about and, what I had forgotten, someone needing to make sure the guy’s tux matched the dress. A little of that came rushing back to me, but then I remembered most of my proms included me grabbing a traditional black-and-white tux, just to make things easier.

My point in all of this is that the ladies have a much tougher row to hoe in their efforts to get ready for this big night. And I guess that’s true for most things. Be it weddings, proms, or most any other formal event, our job as guys is usually to show up, look presentable (while not clashing, of course), and not draw too much focus. To my daughter’s date’s credit, he seems to understand this, as he went along willingly with all the plans and didn’t complain too much. Seems like a smart guy.

So, after all of that, it seems the only thing left for them to do is go to actual prom. If they are anything like we were, that will mean dinner and a few dances, at most, before heading out for what had better be some innocent high school fun. I’m not worried that it won’t be. These kiddos were raised right. Besides, the one thing that has changed since my time attending prom is technology. So have fun, kids. We’ll be keeping tabs.

All jokes aside, we have a lot of good looking high school students out there this prom season and some really talented local photographers documenting it all. Here’s hoping everyone has a ton of fun this year, and stays safe while traveling around to the different events. 

Blake Bell is the general manager and executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.