In The News

Prom is usually special night to remember. But, eighteen year old high school student Olivia Pelley ended up missing her prom after needing to be rushed to the hospital. She told ABC News that while in the middle of taking pictures with her classmates before attending the Cochrane-Fountain City High School junior prom on April 25th, she started to not feel well, experiencing pain, and went to the hospital.

Olivia explained to ABC News, "I couldn't stand. I couldn't concentrate. I didn't want to go [to the hospital]. I didnt' want to think something was wrong with me. I wanted to go to prom." Still in her prom dress, she went straight to the hospital and missed her prom.

Olivia had a kidney transplant from her dad seven years ago and has been dealing with many health complications since. But, she was finally starting to feel better in the weeks before her prom. Her classmates had even voted her prom queen, and she was planning on going to prom with her very first date ever.

But, Olivia has one amazing older brother and he stepped right in to help make sure Prom 2015 wasn't completely ruined for her. Michael explained, "As soon as I got that call about what happened, I immediately though, 'I need to do something.'" The twenty-two year old who attends Winona State University started planning a second prom for his younger sister. He told ABC News, "I was determined to make it happen. I couldn't let one of the greatest moments in my sister's life turn into the most tragic." And, plan he did!

With the help of Olivia's high school principal and vice principal, local businesses to sponsor, and classmates, Michael put all of the pieces together and raised enough money to have a do-over prom at the school. He even got her prom date to show up and booked the same DJ from the junior prom she missed!

At least 70 people showed up, giving Olivia a prom night to remember. She explained, "I had a great time! This prom was fun because it was with my friends and family, and I got to spend time with people I love."

Unfortunately, Olivia's health problems are not over. She may even need to receive another kidney transplant. Fortunately, though, Olivia's big brother Michael's unconditional help is never over. He set up a GoFundMe in order to help raise money for Olivia's medical expenses, including hopefully helping to find possible donors. You can read more a Olivia's story on her GoFundMe page and learn how to help out. We're so glad Olivia has such an incredible brother to not only give her a second chance at prom, but look out for her in every other aspect of her life, as well.

Sources: ABC News, GoFundMe

Outdoor parties are always so much fun. Fresh air, blue sky, sun beating down... that's the ideal, at least. It's always scary planning an outdoor party because as much as you hope the weather is perfect for the event, you need to be prepared for the worst, too: cold, rain, wind...*poop*! Yup, apparently poop should now be a concern when planning outdoor parties because it literally fell from the skies for one unsuspecting 16 year old, Jacinda of Levittown, PA, and her family and friends.

While celebrating her Sweet Sixteen birthday party with family and friends outside in her backyard on Sunday, May 17th, Jacinda received quite the surprise: an airplane flew by her house and dumped feces all over the backyard her 16th birthday party was being held at!

Fox 29 Philly got the whole story and interviewed Jacinda's stepfather Joe Cambray. He explained, "Out of nowhere, from the sky, comes a bunch of feces, lands on her." Poor Jacinda! This is not a way anybody wants to spend their Sweet 16. Luckily, though, this all happened after they at the birthday cake. Joe said, "We just got done with cake. Thank God. We took the cake back in, because within two minutes, something fell from the sky. It was brown, it was everywhere, it got on everything."

How to ruin a Sweet 16 Party? Plane releases its "bathroom contents" above them! Story at 10 on @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/65N8dqQPvA

— Brad Sattin (@BradSattin) May 19, 2015

The FAA told Fox 29 Philly that all airplanes are required to dispose of the waste at the airport. The family filed a complaint and the FAA will be investigating what happened. Hopefully Jacinda sees some birthday justice!

Our best to Jacinda and all who attended her Sweet Sixteen party. We hope everyone still had an amazing time celebrating such an important milestone.

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High Schools around the country seem to be getting stricter and stricter with their prom dress codes, with Prom 2015 coming to a peak. Girls are being told what type of dresses they can and can't wear, and if they don't follow the rules perfectly, they're being banned from being able to attend their prom. This continues to surprise us at Rissy Roo's, because this year's dresses couldn't be more elegant. The two piece, open back, and cut out looks of Prom 2015 all show off skin, but in a totally classy way.

High school senior Mireya Briceno unfortunately found out the hard way just how strict prom dress codes have become. She wore the elegant polka dot dress La Femme 21452 to prom, and was forced to leave her dance in Michigan after the administration found her dress in violation of the dress code.

While Mireya's mom, Connie, thought her daughter looked, "classy and elegant," (which we couldn't agree with more), administrators at Mireya's high school, Muskegon High School, apparently did not agree! After already purchasing the dress and showing up at prom, Mireya was told to leave prom because of a dress code violation. The school hasn't stated exactly what the violation was, but Connie believes the dress must have been deemed too revealing.

Mireya and her mom even made sure to follow the guidelines when picking the prom dress, which states that backless dresses are acceptable. Connie explained to Yahoo Parenting, "The rules states the dress needed to adhere to the 'fingertip rule' - meaning the dress had to hit below your fingertip when standing with your arms by your side. They also said no midriff showing, which to me means stomach. And they said the words, 'Backless dresses are acceptable.'" Sounds like Mireya's old-hollywood style polka-dot dress fit all the rules to us!

Mireya was super upset with what happened, and we couldn't blame her. Her mom explained that Mireya called her crying from the parking lot outside the prom. Connie said, "I told her to go to dinner with her boyfriend, and try to enjoy the evening. She was really upset. She has her boyfriend's prom in two weeks, but still, this was her prom. She missed out on a memorable time with her friends."

We're so sad that Mireya missed out on her big night, but glad to hear that she'll have another shot at going to prom and wearing her stunning dress! And, we hope her high school at least gives her an answer as to why she was singled out and kicked out of prom like this.

While Mireya's experience rocking La Femme 21452 was unfortunate, this is definitely an abnormal experience. La Femme 21452 would be considered a very classy and appropriate dress by most people, and I'm sure Mireya's pictures speak for themselves. There's nothing wrong with showing a little skin in a totally classy way like this!

Sources: Yahoo Parenting, Erin Zaragoza Photography

Prom 2015 has brought prom proposals to new heights. Basically the days of simply just popping the question and asking someone to prom is over.... especially when it comes to celebrity promposals. Luckily, the boyfriend of Modern Family star Ariel Winter knew he had a big task on hand asking a celebrity to prom, and had just the right tricks up his sleeve for Ariel's promposal. Because... not even being someone's boyfriend or girlfriend is enough to get out of promposals anymore!

So, Ariel's boyfriend convinced a friend to pop out of a box, holding a "PROM?" sign, and throw flowers at Ariel. And, when we say throw flowers... we mean literally just chuck a bunch of flowers right at Ariel! We think they were flower petals that were supposed to be lightly tossed at Ariel. But, as the saying goes, you say "to-may-to," I say "to-mah-to." It's pretty hilarious (and cute!), and Ariel got a good laugh out of it, too. Watch the cute promposal video below to see for yourself!

What do you think of the Ariel Winter promposal? It seems to fit her personality perfectly to us! And, she and her boyfriend look like they have a lot of fun together!

That's not all, though - Ariel already went to prom and you can see her in her prom dress on her Instagram account! She wore an elegant black and nude lace dress that we're absolutely obsessing over. Recognize it? It's a Jovani dress that we sell at Rissy Roo's: Jovani style 78450!

Jovani style 78450 is a beautiful lace gown that features a plunging neckline and a sexy open back and nude underlay. This is definitely a dress that's fit for a celebrity. We can easily see this dress not only at prom but on the Hollywood red carpet.

While Jovani 78450 is *the* Ariel Winter prom gown, there are plenty more dresses that are very similar to the look she chose. For a similar look, go with Mac Duggal 61930. Just like Ariel Winter's prom dress, it's a black and nude lace gown, featuring an open back, a plunging neckline, and cap sleeves.

Lace dresses, especially black and/or nude, are very popular for Prom 2015. So, if you don't like either of the above two prom dresses, there are plenty of other black lace dresses to choose from on RissyRoos.com if you want to take a cue from Ariel for prom or any other formal or semi-formal event.

By the way, could Ariel and her boyfriend look any more classy together?! Plus, the caption on her Instagram pic is sooo cute ("Shmoopberry and I take prom<3")! If you want to see more of Ariel in her Jovani prom dress, make sure to check out her Instagram account!

Prom can not only be a fun time to dress up and have a special night out with friends, but it can also be a time for very special things to happen. Recently one of those very special moments happened at a high school in Kentucky. A basketball star at Eastern High School in Louisville, Kentucky, Trey Moses, asked a girl with Down Syndrome, Ellie Meredith, to be his prom date in the sweetest way possible. He proposed to her with a bouquet of flowers and a sign that referenced Taylor Swift, the girl's favorite singer.

Trey was originally going to ask his girlfriend to go to prom with him, but decided to ask Ellie instead. He texted Ellie's parents the night before to get their permission, and they were happy to say "OK!"

So, the next day, he showed up to Ellie's PE class with a sign saying, "Let's Party Like It's 1989." And, party they will do because Ellie said YES to the promposal!

Trey and Ellie are going to prom! @EHSBestBuddies #thepromposal pic.twitter.com/kcIfHHlI77

— Eastern HS Media (@EasternHSMedia) April 2, 2015

This all happened in part due to a special program that Trey volunteers for, called Best Buddies. CNN, who wrote about the story, explained that "Best Buddies cultivates friendships between students with and without developmental disabilities and prevents students like Ellie from feeling isolated and left out of social functions. Trey also explained that he wanted to take Ellie to prom because, "She's great...she listens and she's easy to talk to."

Ellie is so excited for prom and can't stop thinking about it, saying, "I've only told about a million people!" Her mom explained, "Ellie can't wait to go dress shopping." We hope Trey and Ellie have an amazing time together at prom!

Sources: CNN & Digital Journal

Well, it's official: promposals are the best thing since sliced bread (and by sliced bread we mean a beautiful prom dress) when it comes to prom. A new nationwide study released by Visa Inc on March 31, 2015 shows just how popular promposals have gotten (by the way, if you want an 'official' definition of a 'promposal,' Visa describes it as: "elaborate invitations to the high school prom that can mirror a marriage promposal.").

Believe it or not, promposals are costing the average American household with teens $324 in 2015! Gone are the days of a simple note on the car of the person you plan on asking.

In Visa's press release about their survey, they explain:

"Promposals have become significantly more extravagant in recent years and now represent in excess of one third of the $919 total that the average prom-going teen will spend on the dance in 2015....While total prom spending is down 6% this year from the $978 that parents and teens forked over in 2014, Visa added the category of promposal spending for the first time to the company's annual survey."

Just a few days ago, we had mentioned in a blog post how popular promposals have become this year. This survey certainly proves it! Visa notes that the average prom-going teen will spend $919 total in 2015; this means that just the prom proposal is one third the total cost for the average prom-goer this year.

While promposals are so much fun and definitely worth the time and effort to put into creating one, we have to agree with Visa's head of U.S. Financial Education, Nat Sillian, that spending $300+ on a promposal may be a little overboard.

Visa has the tools to help out, though! Visa offers a free Plan'it Prom App to help teens plan out their entire prom extravaganza on a budget. Visit PracticalMoneySkills.com/Prom for how to download the app for iOS and Android devices.

Here's the full infographic for Visa's Prom 2015 survey (hover mouse over for arrows to scroll through images):

Promposals have been getting more and more popular each year, and this Prom 2015 season has definitely taken the prom proposals to a whole new level. No more does simply writing a note with a accompanying flowers or a teddy bear work. Now, it's all about dressing up as Prince Charming for the day or coming up with some other totally unique idea.

Lauren with the police who delivered her promposal!

Well, Amesbury High School junior Nick Fortuna, from Boston, Massachusetts, certainly found a very new and unique way to turn the normal note and flower routine into a very special promposal for his girlfriend Lauren Fedorchak. Believe it or not, Nick got the police involved in delivering a promposal! Nick asked police officer Ronald Guilmette to pull over his girlfriend at a traffic stop. Lauren gave the officer her license and registration. When the police officer returned, she received a "ticket," but instead of a traffic citation, the ticket said, "Prom with Tuna?"

Nick was waiting in Officer Guilmette's police car the whole time. Once Lauren was given her ticket, he came over to Lauren's car to surprise her in purse and give her flowers. Of course, Lauren said "YES!"

There have been so many amazing promposals this year, but this one may have taken the cake in our book! It's pretty impressive to get the police involved! And, major props to the Amesbury Police Department for being such good sports and helping Nick with his promposal. What do you think of this police promposal? Would you have gotten scared getting pulled over?

Normal life is like a dream for 17 year old Abby Gladin from Atlanta, Georgia, who is living with Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowl illness. For the last 10 years now, she's been in and out of hospitals and doctors appointments, getting countless surgeries and missing out on tons of school. She lives such a difficult life, so one of her dreams is just to live a normal life. And one of the most normal and fun parts of any teenager is going to prom, of course. In Abby's own words, all she wants is "a night of simple, sophisticated elegance." We certainly couldn't blame her.

So, one day while walking out of a routine doctor's appointment, she got an amazing surprise. She found her parents telling her that they'd be taking her on an extra special prom dress shopping expedition, complete with her own chauffeured car from Uber, all arranged by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The car took everyone to a boutique in Georgia, where she could pick any dress she wanted for free! She told 11alive.com, "I feel so special!"

Some dresses were harder than others to wear because of her colostomy, a medical device attached to her abdomen, but she searched away! She explained, "I want my dress to be something you'd see on the red carpet." After lots of looking, they found Abby's perfect dress (she said "yes" to the dress!) and she looked so gorgeous that her mother couldn't help but cry. Her mom explained, "Some days she doesn't see how really beautiful she is because of this." We sure hope this whole experience helped to show Abby just how special she is!

That wasn't the end of her special day of prom shopping, though. Miss Georgia and Miss Colorado stopped by to place a special princess crown on Abby's head!

Even though the end of the school year will bring more surgeries, Abby can look forward to a special night in a special dress with her boyfriend. 11alive.com said that they will update the story once Abby attends prom with pictures of her all dressed up, so keep a look-out!

Source: 11alive.com