Prom is back in Hamilton, and so are ‘promposals’

There was nothing unusual about cleaning the foyer of her family's newly purchased home on a snow day in February. At least not until she received a surprise visit from a classmate, who braved the weather to pop the question.

My mom was like, grab this box and move it over here.' ... I thought nothing of it," said Grade 12 student Kaitlynn Anderson, 17. I walked over and he was standing there, so I was super shocked."

Her friend, Drew Edgar, held a sign with meticulously traced, perfectly spaced bubble letters: Prom 2022 is getting closer so I'm going to push my luck and say I'd be on a high if you'd be the one to go to prom with me!"

She's a big Chainsmokers fan, so I gathered a bunch of song names," he said of the American electronic band. I just gathered four that really worked well and everything started to flow nicely."

The so-called promposal" worked. Anderson agreed to be his date for the Ancaster High School prom later this month.

Personal, creative and often unexpected, promposals are like marriage proposals - but punnier. They emerged in the 2000s and have been popularized by late millennial and Gen Z graduating students.

A promposal is basically asking someone for their hand at prom," said Bianca Esposto, student council president at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're either together or a thing. It can just be going to the dance."

In 2022, the promposal seems to be an essential part of the annual rite of passage. In recent years, students have set up Instagram accounts to feature these public bids for affection - or just a dance partner. Swipe through TikTok and you'll see songs, dance troops, rose petal trails and other elaborate gestures.

Often, promposals draw an audience.

One promposal at the west Mountain high school drew hundreds of students to the foyer with a popular Bruno Mars song blasting on a speaker, said Esposto, who helped a friend organize it.

It was a super cute moment, she said. It was so big and our whole school was watching."

Students say excitement for the annual dinner and dance is at a high this year, after it was cancelled two years in a row amid the pandemic.

Everyone's talking about it and I think everyone's really looking forward to it," said Kiera McCarles, 18, adding that her school's prom is coming up on Friday.

The Grade 12 Waterdown District High School student was promposed to during a lunch break last month by her friend Josh Nicu.

I was ... coming out after class one day, and Josh and a bunch of other friends were in the parking lot, and I just saw Josh holding a sign and there were some volleyballs laid out on the ground," said Kiera, who is going to school on a volleyball scholarship next year.

Five identical volleyballs were laid out on the sidewalk, each with a character: P-R-O-M-?

Seventeen-year-old Nicu said the promposal went really well," but admits he was a little nervous - not that she'd say no, but about the dozens of spectators enjoying the show with their lunch.

Plus, he'd had just minutes to prepare before the bell rang.

I was like unwrapping the flowers as she was walking up, and I was trying to do it as fast as I could so they'd be ready when she got there," he laughed.

Nicu says promposals are the standard now."

If you're going to ask someone to go to prom, you have to prompose," he said.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com