Themes like Party in Paradise (Homecoming, 2018), Road Trip around the USA (Sweetheart, 2018) and Glow-in-the-Dark (Prom, 2020) can be tacky and messy if not done right. 

With the challenge of a tiny budget on their minds, it is nearly impossible for Student Council to pull off these themes without the dance looking a little bit off. 

While it sounded nice on paper to “Party in Paradise” at Homecoming, it was less glamorous in person when you took your pictures next to a pool noodle with a flamingo head on it. 

This isn’t the fault of the people decorating the photo booth at Homecoming last year, but rather the fault of such a low budget. Financially it makes sense that the theme was portrayed in pool noodles. 

Furthermore the theme party in paradise makes no sense when it’s 20 degrees outside, and I find myself posing next to a tiki while in a faux fur.

I can see the appeal of getting to choose the theme of a dance and seeing it come to life. But, I can also clearly, without the light from a glowstick, see the appeal of just having the same themes every year.

One of the benefits of a consistent theme is avoiding ideas like glow-in-the-dark, which, to be brutally honest, is definitely not the first thing I think of when I hear from.

When I hear glow stick I think of C.A.N. Night in 8th grade, not a dance people, on average, blow over $900 on. 

The themes would make more sense if people attending the dance actually dressed to the theme — but the people going to the dance never dress with the theme. Perhaps it would be easier to dress with the themes if they were more simple. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying a glow-in-the-dark dress anytime soon.

I propose we have the theme black and gold for every dance. It would look classier, and the money we save by reusing decorations could be used for other StuCo events. 

Not only does it financially make sense to just reuse the decorations each year, but it also makes it way less stressful for Student Council members planning the dance. 

These are the dances we will look back on and tell our kids about, so lets make them something more true to Blue Valley and less true to Hawaii.