Thousands of Grade 12 students are probably standing in front of a mirror practicing how they will deliver the traditional prom invitation.

Gone are the days when a guy would nervously go up to a girl, when her friends aren’t around, and meekly ask her out. We’ve even (thankfully) moved on from popping the question via text message. That doesn’t mean there’s any less pressure though. In fact grads are upping the ante — or maybe it’s the antics — when it comes to delivering the invite.

Teens are now taking their cue from elaborate wedding proposals and as a result a new word is being introduced to our language: Prom-prosal.

There’s YouTube prom-proposals, serenading young ladies and even planes that fly over schools towing a banner with a message on it for a particular student. One student even got down on a bended knee and pulled out a box with a ring in it at the end of the school play. The audience gasped, thinking they were witnessing a marriage proposal.

While it seems school administration is generally OK with this idea, students can go too far sometimes. In Shelton, Connecticut, student James Tate was suspended and banned from going to prom after he prom-posed to another student by pasting large, cardboard letters on their school entranceway.

While it’s good to see romance blooming in the younger generation, this new practice raises a few questions, at least for me. While everyone likes that special feeling when they are “wanted” can such a public display of affection be embarrassing? What about those who don’t get asked? Or the chronically shy that just can’t take the step to ask anyone, in any format? What does seeing these very public invitations do to their self-esteem?

While the elaborate promposals may not help the shy-guy, if you’re on a budget you can still be creative. For example, there’s flash mobs where a group of people assemble in a public place and without notice (to the unsuspecting people around them) start to dance and sing. In this case, the scene is carried out in a mall or department store. There’s also old-school proposals like using marking pens to write on the student’s locker or vehicle’s windshield and the ever-popular sticky notes that spell out words.

Not everyone likes promposals, but I say let the romance bloom! It’s high time the boys crack the stereotype that we are too macho to show affection. Now…pass the tissues!