Prom is a huge deal for high school students, especially the girls. Most girls love to get all dolled up — whether it be for their date or just because it’s fun.

Brainerd High School’s prom is scheduled on Saturday, April 28, in the high school gymnasium. The grand march will be at 7 p.m., and the dance will follow. The theme of this year’s prom is “Garden of Dreams.” Entertainment will be by Tami Lu from Stage 1 and during the grand march, four students will present musical ensembles. Prom organizers expect about 600 students to attend.

“I’m super pumped for prom,” said BHS junior Abbi Browne. “I love dressing up and getting pampered. I get my hair and nails done and I tan, gotta do it.”

Browne, along with a few of her Class Cabinet junior classmates, who organize prom — Morgan Steffen, Brienna Wyatt, Grace Gilbertson and Jackie Caughey — all plan to go to prom with a date, along with a group of friends. They all were giddy talking about what they do to prepare for one of the biggest nights of their high school lives.

Steffen said she had some issues with her prom dress. She purchased a dress online and when the dress was delivered, “it was the most hideous dress and it didn’t fit.”

Steffen said when she saw the photo of the dress online it was the most beautiful dress and she sent in all her measurements to make sure the dress would fit.

“It was like four inches too big in the back,” said Steffen. “It was a scam.”

Thankfully, Steffen said she found her perfect dress last weekend at Glitz at the Mall of America. The dress is black, long and is sparkly with sequins.

“I’m not sure yet how I will do my hair and make-up,” said Steffen. “I did my own hair last year for the Christmas Ball and I was so stressed and it didn’t turn out. I’m going to get it professionally done this time.”

Browne said her dress is white, long and also is sparkly. She found her dress at The Wedding Shoppe in St. Paul. Browne said she didn’t have too many troubles finding her dress. She said she looked online to look at styles and colors to give her an idea of what she wanted to buy and then went shopping.

Browne said a family friend will do her hair. She said she may have her hair pulled to the side with a flower.

Wyatt said she “tried on like 500 dresses” before finding her perfect dress, which is a long, royal blue dress with a diagonal silver sequins pattern. Wyatt said she found her dress at Mestads in St. Cloud.

“I found the dress in pink, so I had to order it in royal blue,” said Wyatt. “I’m going to borrow a friend’s pair of shoes and a friend of mine who makes jewelry plans to make me something for prom.”

Wyatt said she’ll most likely do a random low bun in her hair and have fake nails.

Gilbertson said, “My dress is not long, but short. It’s lilac on the bottom and turquoise on the top with a lilac flower at the waist. I’m going to wear silver pumps and I’m not sure what jewelry yet.”

Gilbertson said it didn’t take her long to find her dress. She purchased it at Mestads in Edina.

Caughey bought her dress in Florida, where she was traveling during spring break.

“I call it my Florida fun dress,” said Caughey. “It is sky blue and has water colors in it and colored flowers. It has spaghetti straps. It was the second dress I tried on.

“I’m going to do my hair in a beachy style, half up and half down with curls.”

The girls said that their hair will take at least two hours to prepare and up to five hours for them to get ready for prom. But they said it is worth every minute.

“And don’t forget to shave,” Caughey said, as one of the top things to do before prom. “And get the eye brows waxed.”

JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851. Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jennewsgirl.