High school proms are big deals to teens, but grown-ups don't seem to tire of the many balloons, streamers, photo ops, and revelry, as this roundup of recent events shows.
BAM's prom-inspired kickoff for the Sundance series opening.
Photo: Alison Whittington for BizBash
For a kickoff party for the Sundance Institute at the Brooklyn Academy of Music held in June, BAM's special events department went with a prom theme inspired by the opening-night screening of American Teen, a documentary following the lives of high school seniors. Planners decorated the lobby of the Howard Gilman Opera House and upstairs Lepercq Space with decorative archways, tassled streamers, and colorful balloons.
Photo: Alison Whittington for BizBash
Nonprofit Once Upon a Prom, which donates prom dresses to Washington-area girls, held a benefit in April that took its design cues from the organization's mission. In addition to an abundance of hot pink accents (flowers, chair cushions, and gobos), Janet Flowers created frilly sculptures of prom gowns on wire dress forms.
Photo: Kyle Samperton
The prom theme for Gen Art Chicago Film Festival's recent opening-night party was also film-inspired, by the preparty screening of Bart Got a Room—a film that centers on a young boy desperately seeking a prom date. Gen Art planners decked out the Ravenswood Billboard Factory with paper lanterns and installed an area where guests could pose for pictures in front of a backdrop of moons and stars. Specialty cocktails had thematic names like "Principal's Office" and "Last Dance."
Photo: Courtesy of GenArt
