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Mia had the time of her life at her year 11 formal.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Mia says her year 11 formal was amazing but admits it was all \u201cquite stressful\u201d.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Simon Schluter<\/cite><\/p>\n With her year 12 formal coming up in the first week of school next year, Mia has already started planning.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mia\u2019s night began with her private school classmates getting ready together at someone\u2019s house where \u201cmillions of photos\u201d are taken before students are whisked off in a limo to the main event.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was absolutely amazing, everyone was on the dance floor,\u201d she said, before admitting it could all be \u201cquite stressful\u201d.<\/p>\n Being underage, all Mia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cwiping themselves out\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are dealing with minors, it\u2019s a tangled web,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Oakley runs \u201cA Night Wasted\u201d, online training for parents hosting formal events, who sometimes don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cParents are trusting you to do the right thing by their child who is at your home,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are seeing a lot more drug activity. We are getting dealers circling properties in their cars.\u201d<\/p>\n A waiver regarding alcohol a parent has received.<\/span><\/p>\n Alcohol permission waivers for parties are also circulating. One parent, who didn\u2019t want to be identified, said she refused to sign one when her son went to a party.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It would also not prevent students drinking before they arrived at the party.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they like to do is they like to pre-load before they get to a party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately if you haven\u2019t 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\u2019t look after them and something goes wrong, you could be sued.\u201d<\/p>\n Melia said parents could face both criminal and civil action.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are risks. They\u2019re really serious risks. There\u2019s been incidences where kids have taken drugs. It\u2019s just a litany of things that go on with underage parties and drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cNo one is drunk, there\u2019s never any trouble.\u201d Hicks said students were mature and \u201cdon\u2019t get the credit they deserve\u201d.<\/p>\n Hicks said he charged between $400 and $650 an hour for a limousine, which could fit 16 people. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s their night, a big night for kids. It\u2019s definitely like a wedding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hicks deals predominantly with the students \u2013 from both private and public schools from every corner of Melbourne \u2013 who he said in many cases saved their own money and booked the limo themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are going to work at Maccas, you aren\u2019t going to [not spend your money on a formal] because the economy is in crisis; I don\u2019t think the kids care about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile a school can\u2019t control what happens before or after, they make it clear what the school will deem acceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Axup said the school formal for some was pushed as the \u201cbe all and end all, as the pinnacle of the year\u201d, but he believed it was just one of many celebrations in year 12.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nSchool formal costs<\/h3>\n
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