I went to the prom, and I also went to an all-night graduating class party.
The prom was lousy - the DJ's played NSYNC and Britney Spears music among others. That was just poor planning on their part. The food was...well, there wasn't much there, and what was there was not good at all. The place we had the prom at wasn't too large either; it was crowded. Plus, it is expensive. I had a tough time justifiying spending the money to just 
rent a tux; I can't understand how girls can want to go and 
buy their own dresses. Some people where I work at K-mart are talking about buying some $500 dresses...:Q
I actually left the prom about 1.5hrs before it ended; it was just dull and not fun.
So that was the prom for me. Now the party:
There was about 3x more food there and it was good stuff. More games, much more space - we rented an entire tennis building; something like that; it had at least 6 tennis courts, and a large gym area. Prizes, games, just fun stuff to do. And the music was much better than the prom. No formal dress required either, so that's a plus. The cost was good too - $10 per person for the whole night.
 
But hey, your experience may vary. At least you have people who want to go with you; not much luck like that here.