Formal Dance Ideas

Planning a formal dance for an entire school can be a daunting task. Every year, student councils are faced with this monumental task for several events, such as homecoming, prom, and winter formal. For most schools, the "theme" of the night largely dictates the overall feeling of the event. For those in charge of the event, deciding upon such a theme is a huge step in the right direction for the event planning. Here are several ideas for themes for high school banquet-type events for a large number of people. While all of these themes are directed towards a more formal setting, the ideas can be tweaked somewhat to fit a more casual atmosphere if desired.

1) "Blue Note": Have a jazz themed night, complete with classical jazz music to swing dance by. The decorations can be fairly simple, perhaps with an emphasis on musical decorations (cut outs of notes) or an attempt to give the feeling of a New Orleans-esque area. If you're serving food as well as hosting the dance, this theme really has no restrictions on what "appropriate" cuisine would be considered. During the dancing time you may wish to have a live band in order to keep the feeling of the night more authentic.

2) "Red Carpet": As the name suggests, this night has a very Hollywood theme. Encourage your guests to dress extravagantly in an elegant fashion. Decorate the event with a red carpet walkway, classy black and red rose flower arrangements, and keep the lights both dim and sparkling. You'll have more liberty with the music at this event, and you may wish to play a colorful mixture of both older favorites and newer pop hits.

3) "Salsa Evening": Like the "Blue Note," this theme provides an easy way to choose the playlist for the evening. If you are concerned that many of the participants will not know how to salsa dance, consider either hiring a professional instructor to teach a few basic steps at the beginning of the evening or find several students who are well trained in the art and have them lead in the instructions. Obviously, the food for the evening should probably be Mexican cuisine; you can possibly get a good deal on catering for this event from a favorite Mexican restaurant. For decorations you can either keep it classy or go for a more casual appeal with red peppers and fake cacti.

4) "Masquerade": Always a fun theme, an evening of masks provides easy decorations ideas while leaving plenty of room for creativity in food and music selection. Consider selling blank masks for a cheap price along with the tickets to encourage your guests to come masked. Be sure to create plenty of well-decorated masks to use as center piece decorations at the event itself.