School dances are one of the most pivotal parts of a student’s four years in high school. As a kid you often see your older siblings or family members getting dressed up nice and fancy, and coming back to tell the stories of what happened at the dance, looking forward to the day you can attend one yourself. One specific dance that oftentimes gets overlooked is Winter Formal.

Winter Formal, as the name suggests, is a dance that takes place in the months of December through February. This is a special dance that many can look forward to because, unlike other school dances such as Prom, all grades are allowed to attend. So why is this dance so overlooked in El Rancho High School despite having a larger audience?

Many things can factor into this but one huge thing that has been brought up amongst the student body countless times is the price. With other, arguably more important dances, like Prom,  just a couple of months away no one wants to spend huge amounts of money to go to a dance that in the long run can seem insignificant. This is why when the price point of $90-$100 per person was brought up students were less than thrilled. 

Factoring in the cost of hair, makeup, clothes, and transportation together, this contributed to the low sales for tickets with the initial price. The dance was able to gain some public approval with the fun theme, and a beautiful venue but that was about it. 

So what did El Rancho do to combat the lack of sales? They lowered the price. This is something we have seen in past years with Winter Formal having a history of low sales, the price of tickets is almost always lowered. 

But it worked, and many more people purchased their tickets after the drastic drop to $40, with El Rancho promising students who had purchased tickets before the price change a refund on their ticket difference. “I still haven’t gotten my money back yet, but I’m sure I will get it back this week. When I do get it, I think I will greatly appreciate it because now I can put that money towards future senior activities,” says Senior, Nadine Palmerine. 

But was it worth it? One huge marketing point for the dance was the beautiful venue, The Nixon Library,  which was a huge positive amongst attendees. “For a fancy place like that to experience all that it was worth it for the 40 bucks,” says Junior Melina Castanon. Along the same lines, Nadine Palmerine states “I really liked how everything was set up and it was an overall beautiful place to take some photos.” 

This is not to say that the dance was perfect. One negative that was continuously brought up was the food. Some describe it to be dry and overall not what you would expect considering the original price of $90. 

It’s safe to say that the overall consensus of the dance was the same among all who attended: it was fun for the $40 price point but anything higher than that would have been too much. “If it was full price, I wouldn’t even have gone in the first place,” stated Melina. “In terms of the previous price I would have to say no, it wasn’t worth it because the food was not what you would expect if you paid $90. But since they dropped it to $40 it does make it more understandable.”

As we can see it was a fun night overall enjoyed by those who attended, made better knowing they didn’t need to spend an arm and a leg to attend.“ It was a great way to get all dressed up and make core memories with my friends.” states Senior, Nadine.