Don’t Roll Your Eyes At The ‘Mom Prom,’ Because It Is The Best Idea Ever
This morning I discovered the “mom prom,” and it made me feel like a teenager again. I don’t mean that it made me excited to go to prom or full of hopes and 18-year-old dreams; I mean that the phrase “mom prom” made me roll my eyes harder than I have since I was a high school kid and everything my mother did was mortifying.
“Oh my God mother,” I heard a voice say. “Mom prom? Ughhhhh.”
I think the voice was mine from the past, but it might have been my daughter’s from the future.
(Related: The Reason This Teen Asked His Mom To Prom Will Make Your Heart Grow Three Sizes Today)
Truly, the phrase “mom prom” is probably the lamest pairing of words the world has ever seen. The words conjured images of my mother and her friends dancing around in 1980s prom dresses (despite the fact that my mother’s prom occurred in 1970) and making total dorks of themselves. But as I read more about it, I suddenly had a change of heart.
“The Mom Prom, open to all women ages 18+, mirrors a typical high school prom with some grown-up additions. Fancy dresses (including actual prom dresses) are encouraged. There’s a photo booth, a DJ, hors d’oeuvres, a red carpet and professional event photographers. A Prom Queen will be crowned, and a Mom Prom Court.
But unlike a high school prom, there will be a cash bar, a silent auction and swag bags.”
The word that changed my entire perspective on this whole, teenager-embarrassing fiasco was “bar.” But it is not only because I am a lush. Once I came across the word “bar” and realized there would be alcohol, I realized how much fun it would be to wear 80s prom dresses and dance and get drunk while someone else watched the kids for the night. Forget the date, or the corsage, or the awkward sex; “mom prom” is a big, hopefully drunken dance party, and that sounds wonderful.
Of course, once I stopped imagining my mother and her friends and started imagining myself and my friends, it seemed a lot less lame. I realized that 90-percent of my objection to the “mom prom” premise was an objection to the name itself, because as I have complained before, adding “mom” to any word makes it sound inherently lame and embarrassing. “Mom hair,” “mom car,” “mom book,” and now “mom prom.”
The only part about this that still gives me pause is the idea of a “mom prom queen” and a “mom prom court.” Prom queens and prom courts are ridiculous and stupid even when the teenagers are doing them. We are grown adults and should not need to select one of us to be the most special for the night; we should just get our hair blown out, put on fancy dresses, and take a limo someplace to get drunk and dance. It doesn’t even have to be a “mom prom,” I would accept just having the limo drive us all to the nearest bar with a drinks special.
Of course, there are some benefits to an event more organized than just a pub crawl for mothers. The mom prom in Huntsville, Alabama, is also a charitable endeavor dedicated to benefiting ICAN, a nonprofit dedicated to maternal and child health. The proceeds from last year’s mom prom allowed the to start up a “doula scholarship” that pays for a doula for a pregnant lady who wants one and otherwise could not afford one.
Photo: Shutterstock
