Planning guide
The Prom & Graduation Rental Guide
Proms, graduation parties, and sports banquets have their own rental math — and their own color requirements. Here is how to turn a gym or fellowship hall into the good kind of memorable.
A gym is a gym right up until the moment the lights drop, the linens go on, and a red carpet appears at the door. Party Connection has been setting the scene for Memphis celebrations since 1987, and school events are a staple of our calendar — proms, graduation parties, athletic banquets, teacher appreciation dinners, all of it.
Your school colors, in real fabric
We stock nearly 200 linen colors across five fabric lines, and between them your colors are almost certainly on the shelf — by name, not just close enough:
- Polyester (55 colors) — the workhorse line, and the one with published prices: Royal, Navy, Kelly, Hunter, Forest, Gold, Goldenrod, Maize, Orange, Burnt Orange, Red, Cherry, Burgundy, Purple, Grey, Black, and White among them
- Satin (44 colors) — shine for prom night: Scarlet, Electric Blue, Antique Gold, Canary, Evergreen, Kelly, Royal
- Majestic (48 colors) — a dressier drape: Cobalt, Deep Royal, Navy, Emerald, Holiday Red, Cherry Red, Goldenrod, Silver, Charcoal
- Iridescent Crush (31 colors) — texture that catches every light in the room: Royal, Red, Purple, Teal, Fuchsia, Silver, Black
- Krinkle (21 colors) — modern crinkle texture: Royal, Red, Apple, Violet, Sage, Silver, Black
Polyester prices are on our 2026 price list — a 20×20″ napkin is $0.65 and a floor-length 120″ round is $13.50. For the four specialty lines, ask us for pricing. Better yet, come touch them: the showroom at 174 Collins Street is open Monday through Friday 9am to 4pm, walk-ins welcome. Bring a swatch of the dress that started the theme.
Table math for a gym
Say prom is 250 students. Divide by 8: you need roughly 30 tables if everyone sits at once. Our 60″ round tables ($10 each) seat 8 to 10; 8′ banquets ($10) do the same in less floor space. Folding chairs are $1.95 — and chair covers with sash ($2.90 each) are the cheapest transformation in this whole guide, because a covered folding chair reads formal from ten feet away. For a floor-length look on a 60″ round, that is a 120″ linen; our linen size chart matches every table to every drop length.
Many proms seat only half the crowd at a time. If yours runs that way, seat 60% and add bistro tables ($12) with floor-length 120″ linens tied off with a sash ($2) for the standing crowd.
What the whole prom costs — a worked example
Committees budget better with real numbers, so here is that 250-student prom priced from the 2026 list:
| Item | Qty | Each | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60″ round tables | 30 | $10.00 | $300.00 |
| White folding chairs | 250 | $1.95 | $487.50 |
| Chair covers with sash | 250 | $2.90 | $725.00 |
| 120″ round linens, floor length | 30 | $13.50 | $405.00 |
| 20×20″ napkins | 250 | $0.65 | $162.50 |
| Red carpet, 30 feet | 30 | $6.00/ft | $180.00 |
Total: $2,260 before delivery — a full floor-length formal for the entire class, which works out to $9.04 of rentals per ticket. Working with less? Drop the chair covers and go lap-length with 90″ round linens at $8.50, and the same room is $1,385: tables $300, chairs $487.50, linens $255, napkins $162.50, carpet $180 — and the photos still work. Every price is from the 2026 price list and confirmed on your quote; uplights and the dance floor are call-for-pricing on top.
Table math for a fellowship hall
A 100-person sports banquet or graduation dinner in a church fellowship hall: a dozen 60″ rounds, or ten 8′ banquets if the room is long and narrow. Add a skirted head table — an 8′ banquet takes a 21′ skirt ($30) — plus two more banquets for the buffet line with chafers ($25 to $30 each) to keep the food hot through the awards speeches.
For the meal itself, china beats cafeteria trays for less than you would guess: china plates are $0.70, needlepoint flatware is $0.65 a piece, and water goblets are $0.65 — $2.65 per seat with a knife and a fork. And no Mid-South banquet is complete without punch: the glass punch bowl is $20, the silver punch set is $30, and glass punch cups are $0.65 each.
The entrance is the photo
Every prom photo for the next decade gets taken in the first thirty feet. Spend there:
- Red carpet at $6 per foot
- Stanchions with red rope (ask us for pricing)
- LED uplights to wash the walls in your colors (ask us)
The graduation open house, at home
Prom gets the budget meetings, but May's other big event is the graduation open house — and it is a much smaller order than people expect. Forty guests drifting through a backyard over an afternoon: five 60″ rounds ($50), 40 white folding chairs ($78), five floor-length 120″ linens in the school color ($67.50), one 8′ banquet for the food ($10) with a 21′ skirt ($30), and a red carpet at the door so nobody misses the house (the carpet is $6 per foot). That is $235.50 in tables, chairs, and linens — 2026 price list, confirmed on your quote. One table and eight chairs is a real order here too, if that is all the porch needs. Our backyard party guide walks through the pickup-versus-delivery decision for home events.
Ask Tipton County about us
Schools north of Memphis sometimes assume they are too far out for a Memphis party rental company. Not so. We deliver to Brighton High School every year, and Munford and Covington are regular runs for our trucks. If your school is anywhere from Midtown to the Tipton County line, you are inside our normal territory — delivery is simply quoted by distance and order size.
Gym logistics nobody warns you about
Two notes from years of school runs. First, coordinate the delivery window with your custodial staff before you book: trucks run between 9am and 4pm, school days are class days, and the best drop spot is usually a gym-level outside door. Tell us which door when you book, and the crew lands the order exactly where the decorating starts. Second, if your school has rules about what touches the gym floor, settle them with the athletic director before delivery day — that conversation is free on Tuesday and stressful on Friday.
The season, honestly
Prom season is short and it is shared. Every school in the Mid-South holds prom inside the same handful of April and May weekends, and linens in one specific color are a finite stack — when the Royal satin is out, it is out. Book when your date is set, not when the theme is. The reservation holds the big items while the details settle; you finalize the numbers one week out.
The fine print your committee needs
A 50% non-refundable deposit books the order. Changes or cancellations must happen at least one week before delivery or pickup — after that, the full order is charged. Ticket sales rarely settle early, so build your table count with a little cushion, then finalize exactly one week out. We have got you covered.
Colors picked? Start your school event quote and we will check your date and confirm every price from the 2026 list.
