It’s safe to say that my 18 years on Earth have been filled with seeing promposal, after promposal, after promposal—from seeing students stand on top of bleachers with a big poster to someone presenting a pizza with pepperoni slices spelling out ‘Prom?’.

Promposals are everywhere, in our high schools and in pop culture. We see them in movies like High School Musical 3 or shows like Girl Meets World, hear about them in music, and even see them on our social media feed. Truth be told, promposals have been around for a VERY long time.

But let’s be real…certain promposals are extremely tacky and cringey. Just look at some that I found on Google with a simple “promposal” search.

Example #1—Car Promposal

Imagine having a car that you love and then someone covers it in hundreds of sticky notes in an attempt to ask you to prom. Now, this may just be me but I’d be so mad if someone did that. Not only would it be a pain to take off, but it also may leave random sticky spots on the car. 

Example #2—French Fry Promposal

Or what about this? Putting good fries on a paper to spell out prom.

While the thought may be cute, think about the mess. Or even worse, think about the wasted food because your date didn’t use gloves or imagine having to pick up all the fries after getting promposed to. It’s like your date is saying “Hey wanna go to prom? Yes? Cool, now pick up this mess.” I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want my promposal to be so messy and so complicated. 

Example #3—Poster

Don’t get me wrong though, some promposals are actually really cute. 

Above is a cute example and brings up good memories for both of them—and it doesn’t result in a mess too big to clean up. It’s nice and simple, but it looks like this person actually put thought into making this for his date. 

Not all promposals are created equal. Some are really nice and thoughtful, but some of them….they’re not the best. While prom is just around the corner, think about how you want to ask out your special someone in a sentimental way, without leaving them or yourself to clean up afterward.