Benilde-St. Margaret’s has had the tradition of hosting a winter dance for their students for a number of years; the earliest going back to 1977. There have been many different names and versions of this winter dance, the most recent being Holiday Ball. 

When it comes to Holiday Ball, students have a variety of opinions and thoughts about this dance. While many students see it as long and boring, others see it as something to look forward to after a long week of finals. However, despite the mixed reviews about this dance, it is a long-standing tradition at this school that will continue on. “I like Holiday Ball because it’s fun that there’s a dance during winter. And it’s also something to look forward to after finals,” senior Kiara Herro said.

Because of this, the Benilde- St. Margaret’s student council has decided to take a different approach to the winter dance this year, rebranding it as Holiday Ball 2.0. This will allow the winter dance tradition to live on while taking students’ opinions into consideration in making it more enjoyable. BSM’s student council has been working hard to ensure that Holiday Ball 2.0 will be a better experience for everyone attending. “I’m actually really excited for Holiday Ball this year. I feel like it has had a bad reputation in the past, but I’m excited that it’s changing this year. I think it will make it more fun,” sophomore Sydney Drees said. 

The main complaints from students regarding this dance involve the location, dinner, and atmosphere. While the location of the dance cannot be changed, the dinner and atmosphere are very flexible. Senior student council members will be meeting with the caterers to choose new food options for dinner this year. “I didn’t really like the food at the dance, and the DJ wasn’t the best,” senior William Thompson said. 

Members also decided to spice the dance up this year, changing it to formal attire like dresses and suits to costume dress-ups. Many other schools in the Twin Cities do this at their winter dances to make it more of a fun atmosphere on a drowsy winter night. “I’m ready to go off this year. I feel like it’s actually going to be fun, and a lot of people are going to pop out in the costumes,” senior William Thompson said. 

This year the sophomore class will be ditching their gowns and ties and trading them in for flannels and cowboy boots. Similar to Edina High School, the sophomores’ dress-up theme is the wild west. Some inspiration for this dress-up includes cowboy boots, denim, flannels, cowboy hats, and overalls. This will be an easy theme for the tenth graders to execute, and hopefully won’t be too overwhelming as they attend their first BSM winter dance. “I think wild west is a good theme for sophomores because it is pretty easy, and most people will do it,” sophomore Max Benning said. 

The junior class will be throwing on the neon and tie-dye as their dress-up theme is clothing from the ’70s and ’80s. Both these eras include many easy styles and outfits that students could easily replicate and get inspiration from. “I think this will be a fun theme because everyone will do it,  and there is a lot of people can do with this theme,” said junior Alli Voss. 

The senior class will need to take a creative approach to their costumes because their theme is dynamic duos. From Batman and batgirl to Ken and Barbie, the options for this dress up are endless. “I think this theme is good for the seniors because it will create more hype around the dance. Hopefully, this will make people more excited to attend,” senior Joe Marinaro said.