After Prom - saves lives

So, it's now 5:30 in the morning and we have been home for about 20 minutes.  My DH is already upstairs asleep, but I am still too awake from the night to nod off quite yet.

Tonight was another milestone for my DS - Senior Prom.  With Senior Prom come the After Prom experience.  Do any of you have an after prom in your high school?  I have to admit that I never heard of it until we moved up here.

In my day (boy that sounds old!) after prom was dragging your half drunk butt down the shore with 20 of your closest friends for a weekend of partying.  Left the prom at midnight, changed in the car and drove all night.  Now the other thing was that the drinking age then was 18 and well, I was 18 that year.

But up here in Central NJ, for the past 23 years our high school has held an after prom lock in type party.  The kids go to prom, come home, change and go to the high school for fun, food and prizes until 6:00 am.  Then they sleep, wake up, pile in cars and go down the shore for the weekend (and apparently, Monday).

It was pretty amazing.  A casino room with prizes.  Indoor laser tag and other fun bouncy type stuff.  Guitar Hero contests and basketball shooting.  A very funny hypnotist - he had the kids talking Chinese..lol. 

We actually started working on this when school started in September.  Bingo nights, many calls to local businesses and then for the last month the DH and I were in the food committee.  We call or visited every restaurant, fast food and store in a 15 mile radius.  Then we had to pick everything tonight.  Then DH took a nap.  12:45am - off to the high school for 5 hours of kitchen duty.

And boy can theses kids eat.  First it was finger food, then Pasta, wings, sandwiches and such.  At 4:00 am we started putting out breakfast and desserts - cookies, muffins, bagels and such.  Leftover food is donated to a local food bank.

What a generous outpouring from businesses, from parents and mainly from the organizers.  Congrats to all for a great 24th year. 

For after proms - and saving lives.   Even if we are all exhausted......