Students will be sporting their mums and garters this weekend when homecoming takes place Friday, September 17th. In recent years, students have put personal twists on asking someone to the homecoming game. These creative asks earned the title of HOCO proposals.
The “proposals” soar to new heights each year. Trendy pictures with clever captions about how someone got asked to homecoming take over social media feeds. “Askers” get inspiration from Pinterest or Instagram. Most commonly seen are posters with puns on them about the special night. Although, some ideas go above and beyond. For example, junior Kyndall Litchfield got asked by the question appearing on the Sod Poodles Score Board. Her now homecoming date had surprised her with the ask when they attended a baseball game together. Sophomore Audrey Boissionneault got invited to go to the game with flowers and HOCO with a question mark spelled out on a poster. Rylee Archer asked her boyfriend by writing the question on the inside of a mint container. She asked him to close his eyes and, similar to a real proposal, she got down on one knee.
“I looked up online: cute ways [to ask someone to homecoming], and I was like oh he likes gum so I could do mints and open it [and there the question would be written],” junior, Archer said.
Including inside jokes or shared interests in the proposal makes the ask more memorable and special to the other person. Sometimes even groups of friends get involved to help with coming up with ideas or creating posters, getting flowers, etc… What makes these proposals special is the thought and hard work put behind them.
“After I thought of the idea, I was really excited to do it,” Archer said, “So, the day after I thought of the idea I ran to Walmart and started working on it.”
The surprise element behind the asks makes the moment even more enjoyable. The proposals take place anywhere from a month to week of the homecoming game. It is never too late for two people to go the homecoming game together.
“It was really hard to keep it a secret because the whole time I wanted to tell him [about my plan,]” Archer said, “He did not know anything about it until it happened.”
