10 Surprising Facts From The History Of High School Proms That You Never Knew

The first recorded prom in history took place with the male students at Amherst College inviting the female students from Smith College to dine and dance back in 1894.

The dance started leaking over to high school students throughout the early 1900s but wasn't a nationwide event until the '30s.

In 1936, the first official guidebook for organizing the dance was published with the lengthy (and redundant) title, The Junior-Senior Prom: Complete Practical Suggestions for Staging the Junior-Senior Prom.

While today we see the bundle of flowers usually placed on a young lady's wrist or pinned to the top of her dress, the earliest examples had them on her hip.

The term "corsage" actually means "bodice," dating back to the 19th century with French origins, so it makes sense that's where they decided to place them back in the day.

Thanks to the post-war economy boost in America, proms transitioned from the traditional high school gym to more luxurious banquet halls, country clubs, and other swanky venues instead.

In 1963, President Kennedy scheduled a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser in the largest room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. There was just one problem — the students of John Burroughs High School had already booked the same room two years prior.

JFK ended up allowing the kids to take the larger room and settled for a slightly smaller one for his dinner. He even stopped by to say hello to the teens along with comedian Jack Benny, who had also been at the fundraiser.

This was likely due to more pressing cultural issues of the time, like the Vietnam War and the anti-establishment movement young people began following throughout the mid-1960s and into the '70s.

I have a feeling the novel and film Carrie by Stephen King also didn't do much to make the tradition seem more appealing when they debuted in 1974 and 1976, respectively.

The daughter of President Gerald Ford was lucky enough to have her entire class welcomed to their dance back in 1975 for what had to be one of the coolest venues a student has ever entered. So far, she's the only First Kid to have had that honor.

Mr. and Mrs. Ford unfortunately did not sign up to be chaperones and skipped the event.

The dance has continued to rise in popularity steadily ever since, with the '80s and '90s capitalizing on proms with films like Pretty in Pink and Footloose reigniting teens' excitement for the tradition.

Both Canada and the United Kingdom have been embracing the annual shindig in their own countries, and there are plenty of others across the globe who have adapted their own versions of the formal dance in their neck of the woods too.

For example, Norwegian teens gather for a dance near New Year's known as the Nyttårsball.

Accounting for the tickets, dress cost, tux rental, limos, and other common prom expenses, parents have paid an average of around $900 for their youngsters to attend the annual dance. In 2013, the average peaked at $1,139 for some very lucky teens.

Of course, there are cheaper ways to get around the cost, which more frugal families have embraced over the years.

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