Homecoming is in two weeks and students have prepared for the big night by securing groups of friends to hang with, dinner out and, most importantly, whom they are dancing with.
It may be right around the corner, but it is not too late to get a date and make special plans for the night of Oct 20. Guys have already started to ask girls to homecoming in the most creative, silly and embarrassing ways.
Whether it is in the breezeway or the cafeteria, in front of a crowd or in private, girls have different preferences on how or where they want to be asked to homecoming. Some girls simply don’t care how or when the question is popped. As freshman Oliva Graziano said, “either way, it’s still an invitation.”
One invitation, such as the one between junior Gabe Giacalone and sophomore Mattie Burris, involved something simple but personal: a pack of Gushers fruit snacks.
“I knew she liked Fruit Gushers and I wanted a creative/surprising way to ask her during lunch,” said Giacalone. “I put a note asking her to homecoming in a package of Fruit Gushers, then resealed the package. That day at lunch I gave her the Gushers, she opened them, found the note, and boom goes the dynamite.”
The Gushers fruit snacks worked and Burris happily agreed.
“I was speechless and so happy!” Burris said. “I was also amazed that he had gotten the note inside of the Gushers package!”
Students have spotted similar acts of creativity over the past couple of weeks leading up to homecoming, enough so that some girls expect to be asked elaborately. “I do think that girls expect to be asked in cute ways,” Burris said. “It makes everything that much sweeter and it’s fun to be able to re-tell the story.”
Senior Kelly Wilson has observed this ritual for four years and believes that it most likely won’t change. “Asking girls to homecoming has always been a big deal because boys try to be unique and creative which means the gestures get a little crazier to top what has been done in previous years.”
However, students such as sophomore Robert Dyer are confident it is not necessary to go all out when they ask a girl to homecoming.
“They [boys] should not feel pressured to ask elaborately,” Dyer said. “It should be between you and her and no one else.”
Girls feel that when they are asked in a cute or flattering way it makes the question more special and memorable.
“I think that girls want to be flattered and humor is a top trait in personality for me. I think for a lot of other girls as well,” Burris said.
Some guys may think that asking a girl to homecoming in front of a lot of people will give them a better chance for success.
“Sometimes it’s embarrassing for her to say no, and a guy might ask a girl in large groups of people in hopes that she says yes,” Dyer said.
Burris points out that for girls they are less likely to say no, especially if they are asked in person. “Girls probably will say yes to the guy if they ask you in an amazing way instead of, say, over text,” Burris said.
Dyer feels that asking a girl to homecoming in a creative way will catch a girl’s attention. “It makes girls feel like the guy genuinely cares.”
Because this creativity has become so popular with students over the past several years, it will continue to thrive for guys and girls at AHS.
“I guess it’s just a tradition,” said Giacalone. “And tradition never graduates.”
