The frizzy hair, the acne, the gawky posing — it’s what every high school dance is made of, but now you can relive the milestone without the awkwardness.
Greenpoint bar and lounge, The Springs, is throwing a winter formal every Friday and Saturday in February and taking everything you loved about the winter formal, like dancing to the Electric Slide, the Macarena, the Cha Cha Slide and the school-made decorations, while adding an adult twist to it.
The "Enthusiastic Dad’s Winter Formal" will have a photo booth with balloons, a wall covered with silver tinsel, classic hand-painted banners that say "Welcome Class of 2019," "Winter formal" and "Winter Formal at The Springs" — and lots of alcohol.
"This will be a throwback to people’s first experience with underage drinking," said The Springs owner Anthony Serignese.
A four-hour open bar has been designed to bring back memories with wine coolers and cheap beer, a punch bowl, Miller High Life, frozen punch "slushies" and the bar’s usual craft cocktails, Serignese said.
And although the formal is not based on any single era, it will feature decorations like twinkle lights and streamers and music from the 1980s through the 2000s.
Many of The Springs’ patrons were born in the ’90s, so there will be more nods to that decade, however, Serignese said.
The idea came to Serignese after seeing a review of The Springs’ holiday-themed Donner & Blitzen’s Reindeer Lounge that described the bar’s decor as "enthusiastic dad."
"It’s like one of those Lifetime movies where a teen girl broke her foot and can’t go to the prom, so her family throws a prom in their living room," he said. "We’re throwing a winter formal in our bar. Our tag line for the event is ‘Relive your youth while you’re young.’ Everybody knows how to drink now and nobody’s throwing up in the bathroom. There’s no bad acne and no frizzy hair — it’s a redo."
If you go: Tickets are $65 per person or $60 per person for parties of five or more. The winter formal photo is complimentary and winter formal or semi-formal attire is encouraged. The party begins at 10 p.m. at The Springs (224 Franklin St.)
