SCHOOL DANCE IDEAS

For detailed information pertaining to Homecoming and  Prom dances, please refer to our Homecoming Guide or Prom Guide.

High School dances are one of the most popular events your student body can organize. Students can look forward to dance months prior to the big date. Whether you are hosting a back to school luau dance or a spring MORP (PROM backwards dance) this guide will give you important tips. A successful high school dance depends a number of factors Our dance guide gives you answers and advice for planning your next school dance.

Dance Videos:

Homecoming Dance

Valencia High Dance 2005 (WMV)  

Luau Dance

Valencia High Luau Dance 2006 (WMV)

Alemany High Luau Dance 2006 (WMV)

MORP Dance:

Esperanza High MORP 2006 (YouTube)

MORP Commercials:

Golden Valley High MORP (YouTube)

How do you budget for a dance?

Many schools use dances as a fundraising tool. They depend on ticket sales to help cover the costs of the dance, and as a result, they may drive up the price per ticket. Why not trying to budget your school’s dances into your student body budget? In other words, change the dance concept from being a revenue maker into an expenditure. This means that at the beginning of the school year, when you are planning your budget, you should allocate a significant amount of money for each dance. This may mean that your sports programs each get a little bit less in their accounts, but you have to remember a dance is your most popular student activity and involves a large number of your student population. Take the Homecoming Dance as an example. If you were to budget $8,000 for the dance as an expenditure at the beginning of the year, you then know that cost is being picked up by something else (part of soda sales, restructuring athletic monies, etc). Now let’s say you actually spent $12,000 on the actual dance itself. You may be thinking, "Oh no, we are way over budget," but this is not true. Remember, $8,000 you have already budgeted as an expenditure, so actually you are only needing to come up with $4,000. If you estimate you will have 1,000 students at your dance then you can set your ticket price at $4. If you make a dance affordable and fun, the students will come. If you are overcharging because you have to cover costs,  your dances will always have mediocre attendance.

What should the dance include?

Above, we mentioned the price of a dance costing $12,000. For $12,000, and much less for that matter, you can turn a dance into a major event. In truth, most of the students who go to the dances usually stand against the back wall wishing they could dance or praying that no one will ask them to dance. What is it that you do for these students? Add some additional elements to your dance. Bring in inflatable games, arcade games, a dessert bar, karaoke, magician, etc. Now you have sponsored an event that appeals to everyone and not just your dancers.

What is an appropriate ticket price?

As mentioned earlier, if you are charging too much because you have to turn your dance into a revenue-maker, your attendance will be low. Provide a ticket price that is adjustable. For example, provide a cheaper ticket price to students who purchase an student government Card. This way, you are rewarding students who are purchasing student government cards, and if students know they will get  dance discounts by purchasing an student government card,  then you will sell more cards. Also, charge your maximum price to students who purchase tickets at the door the night of the dance. They are already there, and they will not go home just because their ticket cost $5 more dollars at the door.

How important is the DJ?

There are a ton of DJ's out there, but a good one is priceless. Nothing will kill a dance quicker then a DJ who plays music your parents would dance to. You have to be careful that the DJ is playing the clean version of popular music.

How do you control Freak Dancing?

Freak dancing is a phenomenon likened only to Elvis shaking his hips. The best way to control freak dancing is to have a policy in place, but be careful.  If you come on too strong, your students will not want to come to your dance and, ultimately, will miss out on a fun and safe experience. I suggest having dance contracts that your students must sign. On the contract, clearly state what is and is not acceptable dance floor behavior. Ultimately, controlling freak dancing depends on how hard you are willing to monitor it. Most of the time, simply asking a student to stop will do the trick. However, if you have repeat “freak” offenders you can remove them from the floor and place them on a "time out." If a student continues to freak dance after a time out and warnings, then it is time to call his/her parents to come pick up. If you have large numbers of students freak dancing” at one time, simply ask your DJ to cut to a new song (slow song, 80’s hit, etc..).

Freak Dancing Bracelets:

An effective way to help curb freak dancing is to provide each student at the dance with a paper bracelet with adhesive ends. Students who are found freak dancing simply have their bracelets taken away by a chaperone. This is considered their final and only warning. If you approach a student who is freak dancing and does not have a bracelet that means they have already been warned, and they should then be removed from the dance. You can purchase these bracelets through peglegentertainment.com

PegLeg Entertainment No Freeking Policy

No Play List:

http://www.noplaylist.com

What are some different types of dances?

Back to School Dance or Luau
Homecoming Dance
Winter Formal
Valentine’s Day Dance
Prom
Sadie Hawkins

Dance Theme Ideas:

Prom Themes

Homecoming Themes

Event Planners?

Most, if not all, of the dances listed above can be done by your student government. Prom is generally the one that can require an event planner, mainly because these planners have a lock on many of the off-campus sites. With that said, one event planner may charge you significantly more than another planner for using the same site. Why? We don’t know. Therefore, do not sign a contract with an event planner without getting a quote from at least two other companies. At Valencia High School, we saved $10 per student for the prom last year by obtaining three quotes.  We had over 1,000 students at our prom which means we saved $10,000.

For a list of event planning vendors see our vendor directory
 

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