Black and white balloons float throughout the KU Ballroom, dancing silhouettes adorn the walls, seniors dance on the balcony that was once a stage. These elements will set the scene for this year’s prom.

Last month, Student Council decided upon four possible prom themes: Roaring 20’s, Narnia, Bollywood and Alice in Wonderland. Seniors voted for their favorite theme. The results came in, and the 2013 prom theme will be Roaring 20’s.

While the prom committee does help coordinate the decoration process, most of the responsibility falls upon decorator Debbie Payne’s shoulders. Payne decorated LHS proms for more than 30 years.

“I’ve been doing this since 1980,” Payne said. “My degree is in design from KU. I’m actually a designer — an architect. For Lawrence High, I believe it was one of the many phone calls I made when I first got involved [in design] and we’ve kind of been doing it ever since.”

The prom committee relies heavily on Payne when it comes to decorating.

“I would say we’re more like coordinators,” junior and prom committee member Abbey Berland said. “Because it’s not like Winter Formal where we have to decorate everything, we just kind of get everyone in place.”

Payne takes StuCo’s ideas and turns them into a reality.

“They generally give me a theme and then I try to put it all together for them,” Payne said.

However, decorations are not the only factor that goes into preparing for the event.

“It takes a lot,” junior and prom committee member Anna Meissbach said. “It’s organizing all the other StuCo members and their work schedules and pretty much just getting everything ironed out so it’ll run smoothly.”

While StuCo depends on Payne for the design, she depends on them when it comes to putting everything together.

“I meet with the students first, then we start ordering all of your products,” Payne said. “At that point, we start producing the most difficult things. There are times when I can actually reuse things, so get more for your prom actually. I don’t usually charge you for that.”

In terms of this year’s theme, students are excited to see how it will turn out.

“I just like that period,” Berland said, “but then my class doesn’t get it so that’s the disappointing part. I think we’re holding out for Chinese New Year, we’re saving it for [our prom].”

Payne is excited about this year’s theme.

“It’s fun, flashy. Roaring ’20s is kind of glittery,” Payne said. “It’s not just your standard black and white, you’ll have a lot of silver and gold. ‘The Great Gatsby’ right now is a great example of the ’20s. So we’re going to do something like that. It’s just a fun time. Everything was big, people just partied and played. It’s kind of a perfect theme for your event.”

While planning is still in its beginning stages, seniors are already starting to talk about what it will look like when it’s ready.

“I love the jazz and glam of that era,” senior Kathryn Noble said. “I’m excited to see the decorations, outfits and music.”