Prom 2025 etiquette: Long Island high school seniors share tips for a perfect night

Nicole Proto, 17, a senior at Valley Stream Central High School, says she hopes she and her date will make their entrance to their senior prom this June in a rented white Porsche or vintage Cadillac that matches her dress.

"To me, prom is the most important event — it’s like a runner-up from your wedding almost," Proto says. "Everything has to be perfect."

But, you know, no pressure.

So, how to make the prom "perfect" from promposal to after party? These high school seniors share the prom etiquette in 2025, from deciding how to invite a date, what to wear, whether to rent a luxury car, what to do after prom, who pays for what and more.

Step 1: The promposal

This one puts the stress on the boys, students say. They must come up with a creative way to ask a date to the prom, almost like when men ask women to be engaged, students say.

"One hundred percent. I have a girlfriend and she’s expecting it from me," says Nolan Graham, 17, a senior at West Babylon High School who says he is looking at Pinterest and searching on Google for ideas on a way to pop the question. It’s important even if you are in a relationship and it’s obvious you’ll attend together, he says.

Oh, and don’t forget the promposal flowers, students say. "It’s a given to get flowers. If you don’t have flowers, what are you doing? I’ve seen a lot of people with a poster board that has a catchy phrase," says Noelia Taveras, 17, a Malverne High School senior.

The event should be photographed by friends for posting on Instagram or TikTok, students say. Most promposals happen in the spring. "I haven’t seen a girl ask a boy, but that would be cool," says Kaiden Ulysse, 17, a senior at Malverne High School.

Step 2: No date? No problem.

"A lot of people go in a big group," says Sarah Holden, 17, a Massapequa High senior who is planning to do just that. "I think it’s different now. People are more comfortable going by themselves."

Ulysse agrees. "In current times there’s a lot less pressure to go necessarily with a date," he says. He is going with a girl, but they are just friends, he says.

And going with a date of the same sex is also fine, students say.

Step 3: Who pays for the tickets?

This is a personal decision based on each couple’s situation, students say. "I was going to pay for my own, but my boyfriend was like, ‘I thought I was going to buy your ticket.’ He offered to. I said he didn’t really have to," says Samantha Offitto, 18, a senior at Massapequa High School. They are both seniors at the school, she says.

Ulysse and his date are each paying for their own tickets, which are $75 for the prom at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

Graham and his girlfriend, both West Babylon seniors, are also going dutch.

Students say that if both students are seniors going to their own prom, they each pay for their own ticket, but if a senior invites someone younger or older or someone from a different school district, they typically cover that person’s ticket.

Step 4: The dress

The shopping has already been happening hard-core, students say. "A lot of girls will start in January," Offitto says. She picked a light blue dress with a corset-style top and jewels bedazzling it.

At some schools, the girls set up a system of sharing what dress each one has chosen to try to avoid anyone wearing the same dress to prom, students say. At Malverne High School, one student created an Instagram page so others can post a picture of their dress.

Popular this year are tight-fitting, so-called "bodycon" dresses without sleeves, girls say. "Mermaid style," says Sydney Walinchus, 17, of Massapequa High School.

Step 5: The tuxedo

Boys wait for a cue from their dates before ordering a tux, students say. "You pretty much just wait for her to pick out the dress," Graham says.

Then, the boys match their accessories to the color of the girls’ dress. Graham’s date has chosen a pink dress, so he’ll wear a gray tuxedo with a pink bow tie.

Step 6: The prep

For the girls: Hair, nails, makeup. They cover the cost themselves. Corsages and boutonnieres are still de rigueur; boys pay for the corsage, girls for the boutonniere.

Step 7: The entrance

Some couples will rent a fancy car like a Mustang or a Porsche, students say. "Something that a high schooler couldn’t afford," Ulysse says. They’ll even try to match the car color to their outfits and take photos with it.

"It’s like an added layer to your aesthetic at prom," Ulysse says. Some will have a family member take it back to the rental place after they’re done "showing off," Ulysse says, and continue to prom in a regular car or party bus.

Malverne High School holds a pre-prom red carpet event at the high school, where students stop and walk the carpet for parents and others to see their looks before heading to the prom venue. Taveras says her date’s father is renting them a Rolls-Royce Cullinan and will drive them to the red carpet and then drop them off at the prom.

"The car is usually all on the guy," Proto says. "It’s the one day they get to show off."

Step 8: The after-party

Usually, friends have a group chat to plan the after-party, Ulysse says. His friends are planning to go to a bowling alley, he says.

Graham and his West Babylon friends are doing a two-night trip to Sag Harbor, an unofficial after-prom tradition at the school. Everyone covers their own costs, he says.

By Beth Whitehouse

beth.whitehouse@newsday.comBethWhitehouse1

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.