With the 2010 prom season almost upon us, the ‘how are you getting there?’ is almost as important as the ‘what are you wearing?’
A far cry from the old disco in the assembly hall, in recent years, the American style school prom has become the highlight of the school calendar. Girls spend months agonising over what dress to wear, who to go with and how to make that all-important entrance!
But amidst a sea of stretch limos and black cabs, how can you make your drive to the prom stand out?
Jim, the proprietor of Weymouth’s Party Hire Brigade, says, “making an entrance at the prom has become one of the most important parts of the night. Everyone wants to be original, but people often end up hiring almost identical cars.”
In fact, the people who stand out are those who do something completely different. The two girls from Hampshire who were wheeled into their prom in sealed 6ft high Barbie doll boxes (complete with barcodes, price tags and the Mattel logo) made headline news. Their inspiration came from seeing some photographs of boys arriving at their prom on orange space hoppers!
The boxes took a fortnight to make though, so if you want something a little easier, why not ‘think outside the box?’
For instance, it’s more unusual to see a retro or classic car on prom night, so you could ask a friend or a neighbour to dust down his 1970 Austin Allegro for the occasion?
Or how about eschewing the big red double decker bus (now quite a common sight too) in favour of a big red party fire engine? The Party Hire Brigade is a fire engine ‘limo’, that came out of service with the London Fire Brigade in 2004 and is now seeing active service on the streets of Weymouth!
“We only take one booking per prom,” says Jim. “That way, whoever we drive knows that they are going to make a truly original entrance. We can also do tours around the town before the prom which is great fun and really gets you noticed!”
The fire engine can be hired for just you and your prom date - or for a group of up to eight of your friends. The driver dressed in full fireman’s uniform completes the image and is on hand to help guests in frocks in and out of the limo.
