Your Survival Guide for the Year 12 Ball/Formal

Getting ready for the night of nights, the night of nights, alright

For some (ok most) the night of the Year 12 Ball or School Formal is rite of passage.

You’ve grown up seeing older siblings and friends get ready for the event of the year and you’ve waited somewhat patiently for your turn.

According to 1000 Gen Z’s in our January Survey, 17 per cent said attending was very important to them and 34 per cent said it was somewhat important and they were looking forward to it. While 20 per cent felt neutral, 10 percent said they weren’t into it and 19 percent said they didn’t attend or weren’t planning to attend.

But a vast majority of those surveyed had said they are really looking forward to it.

If it’s your final year in secondary school, after what’s probably felt like decades of waiting, you’ve arrived at one of the most memorable nights of your life.

Yes, it’s your turn to parade around in your best get-up with your ball gown or suit and tie. You can finally brag that it’s your Year 12 Ball/School Formal.

And while you’re probably so stoked for the night to come, if you’re not sure what to expect we’ve put together a brief ‘survival guide’ so you can absolutely win the ball/formal 👇

Pre-plan the day.

Let’s rewind. If your ball/formal is coming up there are things you should organise before the night itself.

We’re talking general admin things like:

• Whose house is the limo coming to? (if you are getting group transportation)
• Are you going somewhere before the ball for photos? If so, you should liaise with the photographer and limo company

Make sure you sort out those things ahead of time, so you don’t have to worry about them on the day.

Spend time with your mates.

Whether you’re going with a date, going stag, or going with a bunch of your friends, don’t forget to make time for all your mates.

It can be easy to get swept away in the hustle of the night. Or if you’ve brought a date, in hanging out with them all night.

But your Year 12 Ball or Formal is actually one of the last times in your final year of school to get to spend time with your friends. Years in the future you’ll be happy to remember the moments you spent with them.

Capture those moments.

Take lots of pics! Future you will be grateful.

Even in a year’s time you’ll be able to look back at your photos and smile.

And in ten years time you’ll probably look back at your photos and cringe because of what you were wearing and/or the hairstyle of the time. But you’ll have photos at least to look back on and laugh.

Stay safe at afters.

The ball/formal never ends just there. There’s always an afters.

And while yes, we admit, it is very fun to keep the party going. Who doesn’t love an afters?

Don’t ruin your good night by getting to out of control. Text your parents so they know where you are/what’s going on, stay safe and at the end of the day make sure you get some sleep at least.

But also: don’t attend if you don’t want to.

We know we are slightly contradicting ourselves here after we’ve just said it’s the event of the year.

But if you don’t want to go to your ball/formal because it’s not your thing, or it’s an event you know you won’t have any fun at, you don’t have to go.

There is an expectation that we all have go to our final ball and formal. But you don’t have to, and it’s not an expectation you have to listen to.

If you’d rather do something else with your time, you are defs entitled to do so.

If you are going to your Year 12/Ball soon we hope you have a great night. Hang with your friends, eat some good food and dance the night away.