“Our aim was to throw a really fun party…as we celebrated good things about prom and poked fun at some of its tired traditions”

At #conferencewin, we spent time brainstorming themes. We had 1 minute to think of 3 different themes. One of our themes was Prom Gone Wrong. Something struck us about that theme, as we talked more we realized we had a wide range of experiences of formals and proms. Almost immediately we began to think of ways to throw a party called “Prom Gone Wrong”. Our aim was to throw a really fun party, with good food, games and merriment as we celebrated good things about prom and poked fun at some of its tired traditions.

We decided we would try this as our first outreach event. As we planned for this event, we thought about food, music, games and prizes. We also hired an RIVCF alumnus, Ainsley to set up a Prom Photo booth. We also offered to take interested students out shopping at local thrift stores to find their perfect prom outfit.

We encountered a few setbacks: too much food and too ambitious a meal that we set out to prepare ourselves took us out of some of the intentional inviting process; the room booked wasn’t entirely conducive to our vision for the party; and perhaps the most surprising setback was that the Ryerson Student Union had paired up with a course union and threw a Prom party on the same night as our event! But, despite the setbacks, we had a great time! Friends who hadn’t previously come to an IV event came and had a great time!

One of my highlights was when Serena* and her boyfriend came to our event. Serena is one of my childhood best friends, she is not a Christian nor is she a student at Ryerson; however, her boyfriend worked for the Oakham House (where the majority of our meetings and events are held). I ran into her boyfriend one day when I was on campus and invited him to come to our event, he said he had to work, but mentioned Serena might be available**. I asked Serena if she’d be interested in coming, and she was! She came and had a great time. And though her boyfriend was working he kept coming by and checking in on her and our event; suffice it to say, we received the best service from the Oakham House staff that evening! It was such an unexpected blessing to share my work with this good friend, and also to build connections with the staff of the Oakham House; two things I had really been praying for!

Another added blessing was that a couple of my intern housemates came, and were a great help in welcoming people and inviting them to participate in our activities for the evening!

We learned so much in the process of putting on this event. Though in some regards it didn’t go as planned, we were blessed and surprised abundantly throughout the all aspects of planning and putting on this event. Following the event, we had some time to debrief as a team; and also have some great follow-up conversations with our friends who came to the event.

*name changed

** A little sidenote: Serena and I had a wee falling out in high school when I first became a Christian. Since then, we have reconnected, and she’s asked questions but on the whole, she is baffled by my work with IV.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.