A Night to (Barely) Remember

Ah, the 1980s in the United States. Such an incredible era in which to come of age. Such remarkable contributions to the world in terms of music, fashion, makeup, and hairstyles. What American phenomenon best provides a snapshot of what the '80s meant in those terms to those of us who survived that decade? Why, the high school prom, that's what!

(It is highly recommended that you choose one of these links and fire up some '80s music--free!--for yourself before proceeding with the rest of this post: here or here.)

Faithful readers might already suspect where I'm going with this. Good friends Jay and Erin, party planners extraordinaire and perpetual instigators of hijinks and social activities amongst our dear group of couples friends, invited us to their home in the Red River Valley for a 1980s prom for adults last night. Couples showed up in their '80s regalia to find Jay and Erin's garage decorated like a high school gym with metallic streamers and lights. '80s music blared from strategically placed speakers throughout the house and garage all night, and the refreshments table featured spiked punch. (The only thing missing: chaperones about 30 years older than us wandering the dance floor, brandishing rulers, and admonishing us to keep our distance from one another.)

We were all so photogenic that everyone was snapping pics throughout the night as though it were a Moberg family get-together! I have been judicious in my selection of photos to post here (ever-mindful of the possibility that employers, clergy, and scandalizable parents could access this blog). Here's hoping that pictures will be worth a thousand words; they just might give you an idea of what good sports everyone was to find '80s prom gear, rat their hair, and play along with the theme. It truly was a blast.

Prom theme: "A Night to Remember." (Notice the word "Barely" inserted with a caret before "Remember.") (Notice also the faux basketball hoop resting on the garage door tracks. It's all about the details, baby!)

The dark green carpeting leads from the garage floor up the steps into the mud room of the house. When the garage became a gymnasium, however, those steps became the default entrance through the balloon archway for the Grand March. The streamers (official prom colors: teal and silver) ran around the perimeter of the garage with strings of lights wrapped in tulle in each corner. Jay hung a disco ball and rigged two spotlights to shine on it from atop each garage door opener unit (upon which he also set up wireless speakers for the music).

All the kids had a slumber party at Jesse and Nicole's while the parents enjoyed the prom, but the babysitter/saint, Elizabeth, brought the troop over to Jay and Erin's to watch the Grand March. Left to right: Suzanna, Hillary, Big Ethan towering over McKenna, Mya, Abigail, Gabriel, Hannah, and Li'l' Ethan.

Daddy and his sweeties!

The only couple whose photo in the balloon archway I don't have (here they are in the dining room): Susie and Jeff

Let the Grand March begin with the host couple: Erin and Jay! (Love the side pony tail, Erin.)

Aren't we "like, totally" hot?! (Can you tell that Susan's hair is ratted and mine is moussed, gelled, and waxed into a Brandon Walsh 'do?) (My boutonnière is a leftover from our own wedding! Get! Out!)

Nicole and Jesse. Which is more '80s: Nicole's bedazzled dress top or her hairsprayed bangs and sides radiating from her skull like the Statue of Liberty? (P.S. Erin, Susan, and Nicole went to a hair stylist yesterday afternoon to get special '80s styles for the prom. Yes, they paid someone to make them look like this!)

Rob and Laurie. The volume in Laurie's hair is matched by that of Rob's tux shirt's frills.

Jared and Tanya, Jay and Erin's next-door neighbors. That's some awesome hair, Tanya.

Tracy and Corey. Corey, Jared, Rob, and Jeff were in a four-way contest for "Most '70s-Looking Tux/Suit at an '80s Prom."

Missy and Joey. Joey won the unofficial award for "Male Who Obviously Didn't Let His Date's Choice of Dress Color Dictate His Selection at the Tux Rental Shop," otherwise known as the "Frankly, My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn" award.

The ubiquitous "Let's get one of all the girls together" photograph.

The male version of the photo above. We're "gnarly to the max." And "bodacious." And "bad to the bone." ("Barf me out" and "gag me with a spoon.")

Apparently if you own the garage/faux gymnasium, host the party, and supply all the booze and food, you're an automatic shoe-in for King and Queen of the Prom titles. (Get a room!)

And again: Get a room!

Who knows? It's probably perfectly innocent, but it looks borderline incriminating, so here it is. (You're welcome, Erin.) (Those specks on the garage floor are plastic cutouts in the shape of the word "Prom" written in cursive. By the next morning, they were all over the house, too.) And now, let the dancing begin:

Um, why is Rob getting all the female attention?! He's a "total clydesdale."

Nicole, this is the kind of dancing that would have the chaperones all over us like white on rice . . . but without any chaperones around, grind away!

Like Corey Hart, I wear my sunglasses at night. (Well, Rob's sunglasses.) Studly, no? (Correct answer: "Fer shur!")

Although one wouldn't normally look at me and think "Gangsta!" I think I fare better in that regard than Rob, whose pocket square (designed to match his wife's/date's prom dress) does not hip-hop fashion make. (It's "grody" and "hellacious"--he's a "major poser.") Nevertheless, we're both still pretty "rad" and "tubular" and "bomb."

On our way back home today, we stopped at Olive Garden in Fargo for dinner. (Other on-the-road meal highlights from this trip: Saturday night take-out from Giuseppe's, a new Italian restaurant in downtown Grand Forks [reviewed favorably here and here] that makes terrific chicken marsala and Friday night eat-in at Taco del Mar in Bismarck, where the salsa left a heat signature that I still can feel!) We didn't get back to Dickinson in time for Bravo Broadway, the final performance sponsored by the Dickinson Area Concert Association. But we did have time for another Star Wars movie!

I realize that some readers may feel that an '80s prom for adults is an idea that is "totally bogus" and "heinous," but Susan and I are glad that our "posse" is so "def," "dope," "fly," and "legit" that they found the idea "way cool" and went along with it all the way. I had a "totally radical" weekend!