Potluck Prom is a project started at Boulder High School, in Boulder Colorado, to save money that might otherwise go to prom dresses, shoes, hairstyling, manicures, make-up jobs, dinners out, and stretch limos or buses. We plan to donate the money we save to a charity that we select together.

Going to the prom can be fun, elegant, and special without costing a lot of money! In fact, it can be more fun when there’s less pressure to make everything “perfect.” Swapping dresses, sharing a homemade dinner, fixing each others’ hair instead of lining up at salons can all make prom night more genuine. Offloading all that stress just might make prom night perfect.

We’ll host a prom dress and shoes swap, a sewing workshop for quick and easy dresses, and a cooking workshop with ideas for fancy potluck items.

We encourage students to total up what they would spend on a new dress, tux, shoes, limo rental, flowers, and dinner out. Then see how much of these savings you feel comfortable donating. We will collect and pool donations in order to demonstrate how much students can save by holding a potluck prom.

This is a way for affluent teens to show that we do know and care about the less fortunate, and furthermore that we can do something to help.

Please join the conversation below. Do you have ideas for swapping or making clothes, recipes for potluck dinners, or other ways to make prom night both special and inexpensive? And to which charities should we contribute?