With Less Cash, Grad Parties Have Less Splash

Costs of Senior Year's Traditions Put the Squeeze on Celebrating

With the economy still slumping and college tuition rates rising, many families in the Washington area are looking to save by cutting back on a rite of passage cherished by generations of high school seniors: the grad party.

The colossal bashes of past years are largely giving way to more timid affairs, according to parents, students and vendors. Guest lists are shorter. Food is simpler. DJs are being replaced with iPods. Formal invitations are out; free Facebook announcements are in.

"There are still a lot of parties, but I feel like this year there are only a few really big ones that everyone goes to," said Diane Berringer, 18, who on Monday graduated from McDonough High in Charles County. "People just aren't having huge parties."

Most parents of high school seniors have been shelling out cash all year: college application fees, test prep courses, prom dresses, spring break trips, senior photo packages, class rings, yearbooks, 2009 memorabilia. After graduation, many students head to one of the local beaches for Senior Week. And after that, if students are college-bound, tuition bills arrive.

"It really adds up, and some of the things are ridiculous -- 80, 90 dollars for a yearbook? It's a great publication, but isn't there some way to offset the price? To do something a little less expensive?" asked Joan Carter Jermakian, a single mother in Bethesda who has been tutoring and substitute teaching since she was laid off from an event-planning job in March.

Jermakian said she didn't want her daughter, Rosie, to miss out on the rituals of graduating from Walt Whitman High School. Rosie's father agreed to buy her a dress for her prom, and her mother did her hair and nails.

For the senior beach trip, Rosie is staying for free at her boyfriend's parents' beach house in Bethany Beach, Del. And instead of a huge graduation party, the family plans to celebrate at Taco Grill in Bethesda, where Rosie works as a waitress.

"We're keeping it real," Jermakian said. "I think she's realized that the prom dress was important but it's not the most important thing."

The same is true elsewhere: Churchill High School in Potomac reduced the price of prom tickets by $5 by switching venues. Teachers at Westlake High School in Waldorf collected prom dresses and then gave them to students for free. A group of girlfriends at Briar Woods High in Ashburn swapped dresses for the prom rather than buy new ones. And at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, a group of football players sheepishly asked their dates to help pay for the limo.

"They saw the cost for the limo, and they knew there was no way they could pay for it. Not a lot of them are working, because it's so hard to find a job -- especially if you play sports," said Karen Becker, whose son Matt was part of the group. "The girls said, 'It's our prom -- we want our limo,' and they came up with the extra money."

Paul Beardmore, owner of the DJ Connection in Northern Virginia, said that he is playing at far fewer private parties this year and that although he has about the same number of graduation events organized by high schools or community groups, they want just the basic music package -- no karaoke on the side or "computer-controlled intelligent lighting."

"Everybody is cutting back -- that's a fact," he said. "We throw in little extras to entice people to book, like projecting the customized name of the high school on the gym wall. But it's still tough."