After surviving my first year of school dances, I finally feel as if I have gained enough experience to be prepared for next year. And hopefully, for the upcoming junior class, these tips can help with dance preparations.

1. Ask your date early. Although it seems crazy to ask 5 months in advance, it’s not. Those of my friends who asked early were much happier than those who waited until the last minute. If you hold off, you could end up dateless and sad.

2. Regardless of how early people start posting their dresses in the Facebook group, you do not need to choose what dress you will be wearing 4 months before the dance. You have time. And I promise that there are more than 250 dresses in the world. So even if you are last to buy a dress, it can still be different from everyone else’s. (But it’s always nice to be the one who has everything sorted while you watch your friends scramble for the perfect dress.)

3. If you have a core group of friends that you are pretty sure will be going together, make a Facebook group early. If you float from one group to another, try to latch on early. Once groups start distributing money and responsibilities, it gets much harder to join.

4. Designate certain people to be in charge of expenses. If one person does not take charge of bus/pizza money, there will be a problem. Having multiple people to pay for different reasons makes things complicated and it’s rare that one person will agree to pay over $1,000 for a bus. (Bus only applies to Counties. Do not rent a bus for prom. It’s at school. That’s a serious waste of money.) Also, make sure you have people willing to donate food, drinks and decorations to the cause, it will make everything a lot easier. Asking parents for these small charities is never a bad idea.

5.When someone is nice enough to allow a bunch of teenagers into their home before or after each of these dances, be sure that they receive an abundance of gratitude. Try to have a few people offer to help set up and to clean up. Nobody likes to clean up a mess that isn’t theirs. If you’re really good, they might even offer to host the next party.

And remember, there’s nothing more stressful than trying to get everything together the week before a big dance. Plan ahead.