Coronavirus: Family hosts 'porch prom' after high school dance was cancelled

Celebration ended with high school senior being crowned prom queen

Family hosts 'porch prom' for high school senior after dance is cancelled because coronavirus (Jaci Chapman)

With numerous events, from graduations and weddings to concerts and festivals, cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, people are getting creative with celebrations from the safety of their homes.

For one family in Highland, Texas, this meant throwing a prom for their daughter Grayson Chapman, a senior in high school, on the porch of their house.

According to Grayson’s sister Maura, a freshman in college, when the family found out the high school student’s prom was cancelled, she and the rest of the family felt like they had to do something to mark the occasion.

“I thought: ‘Oh man, we need to do something at least,'” she told KTAB.

So, the family decided to host a “prom on the porch” complete with festive lighting, music and hanging gold stars.

“We just kind of drug things out that we had at home and we made it special,” Grayson’s mother Jaci said.

And while the mother-of-three told Fox News that her daughter thought it sounded “a little cheesy at first,” the three Chapman siblings dressed in their prom attire and eventually got into the spirit.

“Grayson thought it sounded a little cheesy at first. But she was so excited to get to be able to dress up after all and go to her last ‘prom,’” Jaci said. “Once we started getting the porch decorated and cranked up the music, she really started getting into the spirit of it!”

The party, which was only attended by the immediate family and an uncle and cousin - in accordance with social distancing recommendations - ended with Grayson being crowned prom queen, according to her mum.

“Not surprisingly, my senior won prom queen!" she said. “So this spring may not be going according to plan, but we try to adapt and celebrate our seniors the best we can.”

As for whether other families should follow their lead and host porch proms, Jaci said she recommends it - as it gave the family an opportunity to celebrate their daughter and her last year of high school despite the school event being cancelled.

“Grayson has had so many events cancelled, and she's taken in all in stride. We wanted to do something special for her,” she explained. “It wasn't at all the prom she had envisioned going to, but we've tried to teach our children life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you react to it.”

In Texas, there have been 4,650 positive cases and about 70 deaths from coronavirus, according to the latest figures.