Located at the Jim Henson’s Studio in Hollywood, this year’s “Finding Neverland”-themed prom seemed to be more about finding something to do or dancing while listening to out-of-date songs on dance floor.

When I first arrived at the venue with my friends, I was expecting to be surrounded by Muppet paraphernalia. However, the clean and spacious venue, with pretty lights hanging from the ceiling from every possible location, offered  nothing to me that screamed of the Neverland theme. Actually, the two giant statues of the Kermit (the only Muppet in sight) were the decorations that caught my attention more than anything else.

Inside the dimly lit studio where the dance floor was located, a curtain separated a sitting area from the dance floor. In the front was the DJ and dance area and in the back was a photobooth, food bar, seating area and gambling tables. I was glad that the curtain was there to separate the two areas so that I didn’t have to see what was going down on the dance floor while resting on a couch with my Sprite.

The selection of activities available beyond dancing was mildly disappointing. There were traditional photo booths—one located outside right next to the entrance and the other inside the dance studio—a flip book station, a caricature station and gambling tables, which included games such as poker and blackjack.

There were about six different tables that slowly filled up over the night. There were usually no avaiable spaces to join the game as many people stayed there for long periods of time in a cycle of wins and losses.

My friends and I enjoyed how fast the photobooth lines  went, and with two different stations, we were able to line up again and again for photos. The worker was also kind enough to print out more than two copies when a large group of my friends and I went for a group photo.

However, the flip book station was a completely different story. Within an hour of people lining up for flip books, the color printing ran out and all the books came out in black and white. My friends and I waited for nearly an hour before we were able to take photos, and the line only grew  longer as the night went on. Although I did not get a caricature drawn, there was also a long line since there were only two artists for a myriad of couples.

There was a candy bar and a Dippin’ Dots station to satisfy those with sweet teeth, as well as identical food bars both inside the dance area and outside near the photo booths. My friends and I definitely feasted more on the dessert than the other food options, which were all delicious.

As the night went on, I spent most of my time on the dance floor. Although the dance floor was relatively small, it was not even close to being completely filled up. Half of the students were on the dance floor while the other half were outside mingling or taking pictures. This may have been partially due to the mediocre songs that the DJ had chosen.

Although there was nothing wrong with the older music that he chose, I felt as though it didn’t get neither me nor my friends into the dancing spirit. There were very few songs that spurred a  the party mood, but overall I felt as though the atmosphere was killed several times due to the choice of music.

I had a good time at prom mainly due to the people I surrounded myself with. Compared to when I attended prom two years ago, I had a more thorough experience this time because I actually set foot on the dance floor. Although there was a disappointing lack of activities for my friends and me to partake in, we were happy just being in each other’s company.