Prom season is a traditional, exciting time, but it all comes at a cost. The amount of money poured into promposals nowadays is unnecessary. According to Fortune.com, an average promposal in the United States costs upwards of $324, as 80 percent of those who prompose plan to do so by spending money. You can save your money and make the moment more special if you avoid the main-stream, attention seeking gestures.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that asking someone to prom is a nice gesture, and some of them do bring that “Aw” factor with them, but scrolling past endless, basic promposals is nothing but boring. Where did the creativity go? What happened to sharing that moment with close friends? Why does it need to be on every social media platform? Do all your followers really need to know how someone asked you to prom?

Each year I see a new promposal that is truly creative and shows that someone cares, but I tend to see many more basic promposals, and they are usually ones I have seen before. For example, a giant teddy bear with a punny phrase attached to it. Where is the originality? If you really want to show you care, come up with something new, exciting and personalized. Pinterest may have your back on a lot of creative-style projects, but not this one. Rather, create something with a personalized twist.

More importantly, promposals are meant to be shared between two people and those close to them. So, why must one’s hundreds or thousands of followers be alerted of your promposal? An added bonus is that your “grand gesture” does not have to be physically grand, make it personalized and special and it will be something much more memorable, as the whole world won’t have access to the photo.

As prom season approaches and the pre-prom stages begin, consider making a memory, not a mediocre, media post that ultimately breaks the bank.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Hannah Gretz at [email protected].