The best night of their lives so far…

As teen sims age closer to their young adult birthday, they have the opportunity to attend one of the most anticipated rituals for their age group, senior prom.  They will get to go assuming that the Sims 3 Generations expansion pack is installed, of course.

A couple sim days before their last teen day, teen sims will often look forward to attending prom.  You may see a wish pop up that they want to attend.



This is a fairly easy wish to grant, it just takes a little time.  Usually about the same time as this wish appears, there will be a message telling you when prom will occur.  In this case, my teen sim got the wish to attend prom on Monday and the game notice told me that prom was scheduled for Thursday.  Now is the time that you want to get your teen sims’ formalwear outfits planned and find a date for your sims.

A date for prom isn’t mandatory, but when a sim attends with a date, especially one she is good friends with, she is much more likely to have a good time while at the prom.  Sometimes your sim will get a secret admirer note from another teen sim, so use that as an indication of which other teen sim to pursue for a date.  The next time your sim meets him, check the romantic interactions for the interaction to ask the sim to prom.



As with all the other romantic interactions in the game, either gender can initiate this interaction, and there is also no restriction requiring that prom dates be of the opposite gender.  Sims don’t judge, they go with it.  Once your teen sim has asked another teen sim to the prom, she will usually get the wish to attend prom with that sim.  The disadvantage here is that if you promise this wish along with the previous wish to attend prom, you now have two wish slots occupied; depending on how much else you direct your sim to do, this could restrict how many more lifetime reward points she is able to earn.

When prom day arrives, the game will display a notice about three hours before your sims’ ride arrives.  This is your last chance to make final adjustments to your sims’ formalwear.  Sims go to prom in style, renting a limousine for the ride to school, and if your sim has a date to the prom, they will usually ride together.
 


In my case, prom day coincided with Snowflake Day, which is why my sim and her date are dressed in their cold weather clothing, but it also looks like someone left the sunroof open in the limo.  Usually this will be the first time that your teen sims have ridden in a limo so they will have that memory pop up as well.  The limo behaves exactly like the daily school bus and takes your sim and her date to the school to attend prom.



When your sim arrives at the school and enters it to attend the prom, you will see a new memory and if you want, you can share the memory online right away.  I’m a little split on whether or not to share too many memories.  On one hand, there is a badge that you can earn for your SimPage on TheSims3.com for sharing memories, but how many memories can you share before your player wall makes it look like you’re not getting anything done except playing the Sims?  This is a question that each individual simmer should ask himself; I will usually only share the most significant memories such as when lifetime wishes are achieved.

Anyway, back to the prom.  Depending on your sim’s relationship with her date and her mood when she leaves for prom, there are a number of different possible messages and outcomes from attendance.  In my recent game, Stacy’s date decided now was the time to try to advance their relationship beyond just being friends…








Things were going so well for Stacy and Peanut that she was even selected as prom queen!



Naturally, being chosen as prom queen added a hefty reward moodlet as well…



Like all things, prom comes to an end at 10:00pm sim time.  Well behaved teen sims are advised to head straight home after the dance.



The message notes that there is a photo or two in my sims’ inventory, but I didn’t see any this time.  Usually, there will be a photo of your sim and her date both in their formalwear, in poses similar to the greeting card photos that they can get at the seasonal fairs or at City Hall (if you have the Seasons expansion pack installed).  My sim didn’t have a photo from prom, but she did have another souvenir.  She got to keep the crown she received as prom queen.



So is it worthwhile to send your teen sims to the prom?  It can be.  The experience I showed here isn’t always going to grant your sims the same rewards.  But no matter what happens, your sims will have some new memories and could come away from it with more lifetime happiness points.