You don’t often hear the words “McDonald’s” and “prom” in the same sentence. But that will be one of the pairings on the evening of April 29 at the Riverside Brookfield High School prom, which is being held at the Hyatt Lodge at the McDonald’s Campus in Oak Brook. 

The hotel is nice, but some students and parents are grumbling about the lack of a sit-down dinner this year. McDonald’s cheeseburgers will be handed out as a late night snack at the end of the prom.

“I just think it’s funny,” said RBHS senior Justin Chaney of the late-night cheeseburgers. “I don’t know where they got that idea.” 

At the prom, there will be food stations including bruschetta, penne pasta, pizza, mac-and-cheese bites, dough-wrapped sausages, a nachos and ice cream sundaes.

Many students say they’re not impressed, although students don’t typically go to prom for the food.

“A lot of kids do kind of feel slighted about it, like it’s kind of cheap; that the price is staying the same, but there is no dinner being offered,” Chaney said. “No one’s really looking too much for it to be dinner, so I think while it’s a bit odd that they are choosing to do this, I’m not sure how big a deal it is when people are thinking of going to prom or not.”

Tickets to the RBHS prom cost $80 a person, which is less than a couple of other local high schools, which are having their proms in downtown Chicago.

The Lyons Township High School prom at Navy Pier will feature a buffet dinner and cost $115 per person. An optional post-prom boat cruise will cost an additional $45. Meanwhile, the Oak Park and River Forest High School prom at the Hyatt Hotel on Wacker Drive will have a sit down dinner featuring honey-glazed chicken at a cost of $105 per person.

For the past two years the RBHS prom was held at Lowes Chicago O’Hare Hotel, but a price increase and a desire for a new location prompted the change this year.

Assistant Principal of Student Affairs Dave Mannon said that junior class officers and junior class sponsors are responsible for selecting the venue and organizing the prom. A total of 396 prom tickets have been sold this year. 

New for this year at the RBHS prom is a prom court. Selected to the prom court were Keri Burke, Hannah Flynn, Marly Santora, Bella McGuire, Nida Aleksa, Krystal Fragoso, Dean Zigulich, Frank Urbanski, Jeremiah Clarkson, Edwin Rios, Christian Lopez, and David Pribyl-Pierdinock. 

On the night of the prom a prom king and queen will be selected by prom goers.