High costs and higher stakes: The rise of the five-stage school formal

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Mia had the time of her life at her year 11 formal.

The whirlwind of a night began months prior as she and her classmates bought dresses, booked in limousines and hair, nail and make-up appointments, and organised parties for before, during and after the event.

Mia says her year 11 formal was amazing but admits it was all “quite stressful”.Credit: Simon Schluter

With her year 12 formal coming up in the first week of school next year, Mia has already started planning.

Welcome to the new world of school formals. Some students are dropping more than $1000 for the nights, which have blown out to four and five-stage events. But with a reported rise in alcohol permission waivers for house parties, experts warn parents can still be held responsible if something goes wrong.

Mia’s night began with her private school classmates getting ready together at someone’s house where “millions of photos” are taken before students are whisked off in a limo to the main event.

After the formal there was a costume change at another house before students went to a ticketed after-party at another venue, not organised by the school.

School formal costs

• Limousines: Between $400 and $650 
• Corsages/buttonholes: Between $55 and $200
• Make-up and hair: Up to $300
• Dresses: $300 or more
• Tickets: $100 to $250
• After-party: Free or up to $50
• After-party dress: Up to $300
• Nails: $40 to $60
• Fake tan: About $45

Costs can vary depending on the student, school and event. For some, COVID-19 and the cost of living has meant they are scaling back, but the opposite also applies.

Mia, who does not want her surname used, spent about $300 on a dress, $650 on hair and make-up, $50 on nails, around $100 on a formal ticket and about $50 on an after-party ticket, not to mention jewellery, new shoes, a second dress for the after-party and the limousine.

“It was absolutely amazing, everyone was on the dance floor,” she said, before admitting it could all be “quite stressful”.

Being underage, all Mia’s events were alcohol-free, including before and after parties, and their bags were checked at the formal, which she said was extremely well managed by the school.

This is not always the case. U-Nome party security owner Naomi Oakley said for some formals, the five-stage process could end with students “wiping themselves out”.

“When you are dealing with minors, it’s a tangled web,” she said.

Oakley runs “A Night Wasted”, online training for parents hosting formal events, who sometimes don’t know what they are getting themselves into. She said these events could end in serious sexual assaults and children being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“Parents are trusting you to do the right thing by their child who is at your home,” she said. “We are seeing a lot more drug activity. We are getting dealers circling properties in their cars.”

A waiver regarding alcohol a parent has received.

Alcohol permission waivers for parties are also circulating. One parent, who didn’t want to be identified, said she refused to sign one when her son went to a party.

Lawyer John Melia said parental alcohol waivers would not protect parents from liability and they still needed to comply with responsible service of alcohol guidelines and rules.

It would also not prevent students drinking before they arrived at the party.

“What they like to do is they like to pre-load before they get to a party,” he said.

“Unfortunately if you haven’t got proper security people … it can be a nightmare. You as the home owner owe a duty of care to the people coming into your property. If you don’t look after them and something goes wrong, you could be sued.”

Melia said parents could face both criminal and civil action.

“There are risks. They’re really serious risks. There’s been incidences where kids have taken drugs. It’s just a litany of things that go on with underage parties and drinking.”

Melia said schools were working with parents to actively stamp out alcohol permission agreements and schools were active in calling parents if teenagers appeared to be drunk at formals.

But not all formal events lead to trouble. Shane Hicks, owner of 1800 Limo City, said his school formal clients were the best behaved of his clientele. “No one is drunk, there’s never any trouble.” Hicks said students were mature and “don’t get the credit they deserve”.

Hicks said he charged between $400 and $650 an hour for a limousine, which could fit 16 people. It’s not just a drop-off at the formal. Hicks will also pick students up, and take them to a private home to get changed and eat before they go to an after-party.

“It’s their night, a big night for kids. It’s definitely like a wedding,” he said.

Hicks deals predominantly with the students – from both private and public schools from every corner of Melbourne – who he said in many cases saved their own money and booked the limo themselves.

“If you are going to work at Maccas, you aren’t going to [not spend your money on a formal] because the economy is in crisis; I don’t think the kids care about that,” he said.

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Colin Axup said schools had clear guidelines on expected behaviours for school formals, including running information sessions on safe partying for students.

“While a school can’t control what happens before or after, they make it clear what the school will deem acceptable,” he said.

Axup said the school formal for some was pushed as the “be all and end all, as the pinnacle of the year”, but he believed it was just one of many celebrations in year 12.

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