For over a month, the Yearbook and Journalism classes had planned everything from the DJ to the decorations for this year’s Winter Formal. Here are some of the highlights from the planning and setup process.

Before the dance could be promoted, students had to decide on a theme. “We were between the themes Let’s Glow Crazy and Winter Wonderland,” shared senior Greta Knipe, a third-year member of Journalism and Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Explorer. “The glow theme would have featured neon colors, while Winter Wonderland had decor typically associated with winter. We ultimately chose Winter Wonderland because it seemed more festive.” The previous year, the theme had been “December Disco,” but Journalism and Yearbook students adjusted the theme to something more traditional based on the responses to that theme.

Shortly after this decision, promotional posters for the dance were hung around the school. It shared pivotal information about the event, such as the 7 to 10 p.m. time, the date of December 2nd and the $20 entrance fee. Social media posts, school walls and the morning announcements soon became flooded with information on the dance to make sure all HHS students were aware of it.

Students from the classes were also in charge of determining the DJ for the event. Hudson had switched from DJ Smoov to Drop the Beat Productions due to Smoov’s high price and maintenance for all the other school dances, and they decided to keep them for Winter Formal as well. A large perk to the new service is that the DJ was willing to come to the Yearbook class and ask questions about how he could help with the dance. “The DJ spoke to us about how we wanted to run the dance, and was open to our class’ ideas,” shared senior Ali Knauf, a member of the Yearbook class. “It was beneficial to meet with him in person since we could better plan the dance with his collaboration.”

The next big decision was the swag the first guests would receive. Last year, vintage reflective sunglasses were given to the first 500 students. This year, they incorporated the scrapped glow theme by distributing foam glow sticks to the first 500 arrivals. “Everyone seemed to really like the glow sticks at the dance, but it took a lot of time to prepare them,” shared Knauf. “Each of the 500 sticks were individually wrapped in plastic and had a tab that needed to be pulled out for the battery to work. If we hadn’t unwrapped them, it probably would have looked like a real Winter Wonderland with white plastic all over the floor.”

Most noticeable during the dance was the seasonal decorations. Some were repurposed from last year’s dance, such as the table settings. “I know Ms. C worked really hard on the table decorations, and they turned out so cute and fit the theme perfectly,” Knipe commented.

The trees in front of the auditorium returned as a cute photo opp and will stay there until mid-December. Past the trees and near the sign-in station, students walked through a lit pathway to the gym that looked like a tunnel of snow.

In order to set up all of the decorations, students from both classes met on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. to begin decorating. This was the first time the classes had been altogether in one place since they occur at different periods, and all communication had been through their shared teacher. Students came in and out to help decorate and bonded through the process. 

By the end, the school had been transformed into a winter wonderland perfect for the winter dance.