With winter formal fast approaching, you can barely walk through campus without seeing a sign with formal? written on it or a car covered in sticky notes or spray paint. Here are some of the many creative (and adorable) ways Mustangs have been asked:
“Basically for prom a couple of years ago I was walking in the hallway and I saw a guy with a baby goat, and then he walked into Ms. McCluan’s classroom and asked a girl to prom. I don’t know why he needed the goat but it was cute. He also had a bouquet of daisies and wildflowers.”—Senior Mariko Kobayashi
“My favorite would probably be when the girl creates a scavenger hunt for you and the objects spell out the words of Formal.”—Senior Wesley Chapman
“This one girl made a box that had question marks on it that she hid in. Then she popped out of it saying, ‘Formal!’ The guy said yes and gave her a hug.”—Freshman Tayler Haggard
“This girl wrote the invitation, put it in a box, and had him unwrap it on Christmas (it was his birthday on Christmas too).” –Senior Hannah Lafond
“A girl made a video for the winter assembly where she was looking for her date around the school. Then the video ended and she came out of the back door and “found” her date. That was the cutest thing.” – Senior Carolina Diaz
“For my friend’s secret Santa gift in Spanish class, he bought a giant chocolate bar and in the chocolate bar he put an invitation to formal. It was really adorable.” –Sophomore Katie McPherson
“While taking a test in my class, this guy filled out the spaces in an answer document and made the word ‘formal?’ The teacher gave the guy an F on his test. It was pretty funny.” –Sophomore Jack Boyce
“Last year, my friend baked a cake and brought it to school for her boyfriend. It was a chocolate cake with white icing. Anyways, the icing on the cake spelled out ‘Formal?’ I thought it was so cute! Her boyfriend loved it.” –Sophomore Britany Adams
“I know someone that asked a friend to formal with a fortune cookie. They actually made a fortune cookie and made a fortune that said ‘Will you go to formal with me?’ It probably took her a long time to make.” –Sophomore Taylor Johnson
“I went into my Spanish class and on my chair there was a pink notecard. My girlfriend had asked me to go to MORP with her…It was cheesy, but yeah.” –Junior Marisa Mathis
“There was a game show…it was called ‘Find Wilson a Prom Date.’ It was the best game show ever.” –Senior John Wilson
“I don’t think any of it is cute…. This person I know asked this person out and he gave an envelope to a teacher to give the girl and when the teacher actually gave it to the girl, she stuffed it in her backpack and forgot about it. Then she said no.” –Sophomore Sierra Zounes
“What if you got a salsa jar and you put a sign on it that said, ‘Spice up your formal with me’ or, “Will you salsa dance with me?’ or something salsa related.” –Sophomore Manon Wogahn
“One year there was a guy who asked a girl to prom by dressing up in mariachi costumes with his friends and ambushing the girl by singing to her in her Spanish class. Needless to say, she said yes.” –Junior Ross Cooper
“Freshman year, my friend bought a bunch of balloons and filled his girlfriend’s entire bedroom with balloons. He put a note on the door along with a needle that said, “Pop the balloons to find your surprise.” She had to pop the balloons until she finally popped one that had a note inside that said “Prom?” Despite the loud popping noises the balloons made, scaring her and making her jump, she said yes with a smile on her face.” –Junior Katherine Fidel
“Last year, this guy sang a song during an assembly to a girl to ask her to prom. It was really cute.”—Senior Avery Gallagher
“My sister told me that one of her friends asked her boyfriend to formal by putting a box on his doorstep that said ‘My dad will let me go to formal with you when pigs fly.’ Inside the box were balloons with pictures of pigs on them, so they flew out when he opened the box.” –Senior Amber Michaelis
“My favorite way of asking that I’ve heard was someone who put two rocks on their potential date’s doorstep. One was a tiny pebble that said ‘Yes,’ and one was a big boulder that said ‘No.’ There was a note next to them that said ‘Bring your answer to school.’” –Senior Kara Gorman
“I think someone baked a cake with “Formal” written on it. If they said yes, they got to eat the cake.” –Senior Katie Clinton
“I’m a big believer of asking someone in a straight-up fashion. I know of someone who carved “Formal” into a pizza. It actually turned out more awkward than cute.” – Junior Benjy Malings
“Someone talked to the teacher ahead of time, and they were doing a PowerPoint in class and it had a slide that said, ‘Will you go to formal with me?’” –Junior Brittany May
“Someone used an In-and-Out hat… it said “Formal – are you in or are you out?” –Junior Jenni Ehlers
“A guy received a stick of butter at the beginning of class, and had no idea why. At the end of class, he got the box for the butter, and written on it was, ‘Now that I’ve got you all buttered up, will you go to formal with me?’” –Junior Emily Nathan
“This one guy ordered a pizza and on the inside he wrote ‘I know this is cheesy, but will you go to the dance with me?’” –Junior Mike Guhl
“This one girl I know snuck into the young man’s bedroom and wrote in fake blood on the mirror ‘lamrof’. It was very reminiscent of The Shining.” –Junior Marisa Pearce
“I got a mole in Mr. Davidson’s class. It was a pun: 4 mole. There were snowflakes on it cause of the winter theme. She just threw it at me.” –Senior Stan Austin
“My friend took a giant sign and put it on his date’s window and covered her entire house with rose and signs. It cost him several hundred dollars.” –Sophomore Jerry Jin
“My friend went down to the football field and went to the varsity soccer game. She went with balloons and cards and everyone cheered when he said yes.” –Senior Valentina Calmo
“[My friend] had me find him in the hall and blindfold him with my jacket. I lead him to the front of the school. Her mom had two cakes, one said, ‘yes’ and the other said ‘si’ . I unfolded him and [my friend] screams, ‘will you go to formal with me?!’ He chose one and I ended up eating the other cake.” –Freshman Sophia Rucireta
“One of my friends asked their boyfriend by putting goldfish all around and up to the stairs. There was an actual fish and she asked him if he wanted to go to formal with her.” –Senior Annalise Brolaski
“Whoever wrote ‘Joe+Hale=Formal’ in blue tape near the parking lot is so cute, I can’t think of a more creative way to ask someone to formal.” –Sophomore Frank Song
“ My friend made fortune cookies and she asked him to formal on the fortune.” –Sophomore Audree Evans
“Last year this girl asked me to formal by playing hangman with me during class. I could kind of tell she was going to ask me since she seemed really nervous.” –Senior Ben Johnson
“My friend asked the teacher if she could ask this guy to formal on the last question of the test. I thought it was really cute.” –Sophomore Sara Shuldberg
“Someone got a box and came out of the box and asked if they would go to formal with them. It was really cute.” –Junior Devni Samaranagake
“You make a huge chocolate chip cookie and write on it ‘Will you go to formal?’ and put it in a pizza box and deliver it to them.” –Junior Morgan Tomlinson
“ [I] used a toy to sew on a note asking [my boyfriend] to formal and gave it to my puppy and told him to look at her new toy and he saw the note.” –Junior Emma Karp
“My friend put a note in a ring box and got down on one knee to ask me to formal last year. It was silly.” –Senior Kyle Dever
“One time my friend got asked to formal with a treasure hunt, and at the end he had to jump in a pool to get the last note. It was pretty cruel, but also hilarious.” –Senior Eric Rumble
“I know someone who wore spandex that said ‘Formal?’ and flashed the guy she wanted to ask.” –Sophomore Wendy Disch
“My friend threw a water balloon at his girlfriend and then gave her a towel that said, ‘Prom?’” –Sophomore Bri Palacios
“I heard of this girl who asked a guy in her AP world class in a DBQ. Mr. Huntley had him read it and in the DBQ was the question – which he read out loud. I thought that was super creative and cute.” –Junior Aine Gallahue
“I’ve heard about punching holes in paper and taking the little circles and writing the letters of ‘Formal?’ and corresponding numbers on the back so when you put the numbers in order it spells out the message on the other side. Tedious, but worth it.” –Junior Bram Linkowski
“Sophomore year, I got home from school around 8p.m., and my boyfriend was in my driveway. We go inside and my mom tells me to clean my room. So, I opened up the door and turned on the light. There were 300 red balloons on my floor with one on my music stand saying ‘prom?’” – Senior Kira Harland
“My friend wanted to ask her crush to formal in a cute way so she decided to have a study stesh with him and order a pizza. Earlier she had called the pizza place and got them to place the pepperoni into the world ‘formal?’” – Senior Jenny Fisher
“So last year, I made this fortune teller out of paper and wrote ‘you’re going to formal with me’ under every single flap. Guess it worked.” – Junior Betty Huang
“My friend handed my other friend a recipe in cooking, even though they had already finished making sushi that day; upon closer inspection, he realized one ingredient was ‘1 ½ tsp formal with me?’” – Junior Benjy Malings
“I was on a run with my friends during cross country, and we always run to this one place we call ‘Narnia.’ I got there and I saw my friend dressed really funny, and then I thought he was filming his Japanese project, so I started laughing at them. But then he started playing his ukulele and singing loudly. I thought he was just messing around, and then he turned around his ukulele and written on the back was ‘Prom?’” – Junior Emily Nathan
“My friend got a book his girlfriend was reading and underlined the letters in “formal.” – Sophomore Marc Bahbahani
“This one girl wanted to ask this one guy to formal, so she teamed up with his brother who let her into the guy’s room where she wrote, “If you go to formal with me, it would be out of this world” on his ceiling in glow-in-the-dark stars.” – Sophomore Danny Vasquez
“I was walking around the neighborhood and I saw a bunch of lettered balloons tied to a fire hydrant that said, “Formal? Yes!” I think one of them had a picture of a T-rex on it.” – Sophomore Eli Brown
“I’ve heard of people playing thumb war to ask, where they say, ‘1-2-3-4 I declare thumb war/5-6-7-8 Will you be my formal date?’” –Senior Violeta Nicolas