As mums and garters come into fruition and groups start fantasizing over possible dinner spots and reservations, homecoming season is in full swing. What is most overlooked and underrated about the whole homecoming process however, might just be how the boy asks a girl.

Each time Homecoming (HOCO), season rolls around, the pressure is on for people to find a compatible date. Because of social media exposure, students are pushing the creative limits of their imagination to snag a “yes” from the perfect date.

“The idea was simple: I would be dressed up as a king, and there would be people carrying me on a throne,” senior Jon Shin said.

Shin also brought out a 100-foot red carpet, a grape feeder and a personalized band playing in the background.

“In our heads it sounded so simple, but when we got down to thinking about how we were actually going to pull this off, it became a lot more complex,” Shin said.

In total, Shin’s project required a month of constructing and putting together salvaged plywood to build a sedan chair that would be paraded around D lunch, en route to ask the “queen,” senior Alexa Ruder.

“I really couldn’t stop laughing,” Ruder said. “Seeing a bunch of my friends and Jon up on the throne was great. I wasn’t expecting anything to that level, but I’d say it was all perfect.”

Most students will never take it to that extreme of a level. A majority will simply put together a witty, quirky, eye-catching poster.

“Me and my girl have been dating for a while now and I knew she wanted to go to homecoming,” Freshman Chris Terrazas said. “I figured it would be cool to have a bunch of sentimental pictures from our relationship and make a sign that said: Can you picture us at Hoco?”

Location also plays a key part in the invite.

“She’s a cheerleader and I’m a football player so I wanted to ask her at one of our games,” Terrazas said.

As the dance draws closer, every waning day, the rush to secure a date is in full swing. One of the accommodations of HOCO is, the opportunity to ask someone who doesn’t even attend our school.

“He asked me with Boba and it said, ‘I know I don’t Boba your school but HOCO?’ senior Emily Pederson said. “The proposal surprised me, but I was super excited and happy. It was cute.”