Posts Tagged ‘prom dresses’

Celebrating Our Environment

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Tomorrow is Earth Day! In honor of Mother Earth, here is a compilation of posts Parentella has done about the environment.

  • In Our Schools:

The Science Club at Bloom High School in Illinois is doing amazing things in terms of teaching students to be leaders in environmentally friendly science.

Parents and teachers communicating online helps protect the environment while simultaneously increasing learning time.

The Alliance for Climate Change offers free seminars to schools teaching about global warming and how to stop it.

Teachers may want to consider a “school supplies closet” where kids can donate leftover supplies for the next class coming in.

  • Food

Bento box lunches are not only fun for kids, they are good for the environment, too!

  • Fundraisers:

Recycling programs at schools not only bring in money, the kids that run them learn important leadership skills.

Fundraisers at schools should reflect our values, and one of our values should be protecting the environment.

At one school, re-selling used prom dresses made the school a lot of money while saving the girls a lot of money, too.

At another school, re-selling used Halloween costumes also brings a lot of money to the school, while simultaneously saving parents money on new costumes.

  • Crafts & Books for Kids:

Earth Day flower craft & “Let’s Celebrate Earth Day” book

Spring Sun Flower Craft & “One Little Seed” book

Recycle used strawberry baskets into fun and useful baskets.

For back to school, make your own book covers out of grocery bags.

Make your own Halloween costume rather than buying pre-made.

At Christmas time, recycle old boxes into fun crafts.

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Compiled by Christi Grab, Parentella’s Editorial Director and author of  The Unexpected Circumnavigation: Unusual Boat, Unusual People Part 1 – San Diego to Australia.

A Powerful Lesson for Teen Girls

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Teenagers today are obsessed with appearance, status, and popularity.  This is extremely apparent come prom time for female students.  Societal forces are so strong that these adolescents feel compelled to purchase dresses and other material items from top designers that are often way out of their price range.  After adding on expenses for the tickets, hair, makeup, nails, and limos, the final price for a girl attending the prom could easily been in excess of $800.

Is this a fair burden that any student should feel they have to carry even in a good economy?  The recent recession has had a drastic effect on families across the country and taught our nation that we must live more within our means.  Convincing high school students to buy into this philosophy is easier said than done.

Like a holiday gift, the idea came to us in mid-December from a representative of the New Milford Woman’s Club.  They pitched an idea called Project Prom Dress to my New Milford High School staff with the premise to collect, “Gently used,” prom and other formal dresses for current students to wear to prom and other affairs.

In order to attract high school girls to attend, we developed this vision of having a gala where they would be active participants in the development and implementation of the event.  Several brainstorming and planning meetings took place between staff, students, and the New Milford Woman’s Club prior to a formal announcement of the night.

We decided to advertise this endeavor as a “Green event,” and marketed to current juniors and seniors to make financially responsible decisions as opposed to spending hundreds of dollars on a dress that will only be worn once.

The idea of schools and communities collecting gently used dresses for students to wear and reduce the financial burden placed on young girls is not new.  When I researched the idea, I found that many other organizations set up simple events where girls would just come to a central location and pick out a dress.  What made our idea unique was (more…)