Inside: Everything you need to know about the sadie hawkins dance.
Have you ever heard of the Sadie Hawkins dance? Chances are pretty high that you have because she is pretty popular; some might even call her the first feminist.
I am totally kidding, and if you knew the history of the day(which you will soon find out), you would know why.
All jokes aside, you probably clicked on this article because you have your own Sadie Hawkins dance coming up, and you were curious about its origins.
Well, you are in the right place, my friend, because although this flannel loving couple is so cute & optimizes the dance perfectly… Here is the ultimate guide to the Sadie Hawkins dance.
This is such a fun celebration, and it can become even more fun when you know where it came from. So put on your party dresses; we are going back in time!
What is the history of Sadie Hawkins Day?
Okay, so this is going to be a fun one. You probably won’t expect where this day comes from; a comic! Back in the day, 1937 to be exact, a comic strip was created by Al Capp. In this comic strip, a girl named Sadie Hawkins is considered to be so ugly that she is in her 30s and still unmarried.
Her father was scared that she would never be wed, so he gathered up the town’s most eligible bachelors and set up a race. The catch? Well, the catch would be that whichever one Sadie Hawkins would get to first would be her husband. So they would quite literally be her catch.
They all lined up ahead of her and took off. Yeah, when I found out about this, I wasn’t really thrilled. It’s interesting how many of our common-day traditions are rooted in such negative things.
But hey, you are here to learn about this dance, and I think you may be a bit confused about how this all ties together so far.
So there was a comic, how does this lead into a dance? Other than inspiring cute outfits like this Spider Man one tribute below.
What is a Sadies Hawkins Dance?
So how was the Sadie Hawkins Dance born? I think this article on National Today described it best,
The original Sadie Hawkins “Li’l Abner” comic strips were printed in 1937 in many American and foreign newspapers. The readership was wide and varied in demographics. Al Capp did not intend for his plot device to gain so much social momentum, but after he revisited the storyline in November of 1938, American college students started to honor the idea of gender role reversal by holding Sadie Hawkins dances and other events. By the winter of 1939, “Life” magazine had published a two-page spread with the headline, ‘On Sadie Hawkins Day Girls Chase Boys in 201 Colleges.’ Thus, the tradition was born.
Now all around the united states, the Sadie Hawkins dance is a well-placed tradition where the girl asks the guy to be their date rather than the other way around. Is this offensive?
And they often wear matching or coordinating outfits – which is so cute!
Well, the history of it is. I feel like Sadie Hawkins is kind of an outdated tradition, considering that many women ask their partner to be their date regardless of what dance it is. Plus, this does not include anyone on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. But hey, it’s a dance, right? I guess so.
What Are The Rules?
So what are the rules? Well, you may be able to guess them at this point, but the Sadie Hawkins dance allows women to go and ask for their dates to join them at the dance rather than the other way around.
The rules state that no boy is allowed to ask a girl to the dance; the girl must be the one to ask the guy. I think the one saving grace here (and I am stretching for this) is that the women in society get control over this one. If you don’t like a guy… you don’t have to say yes to him and go to the dance!
There have been so many times in my life when I have said yes to someone solely because I did not know how to tell them no. This dance takes away that pressure and allows the people who identify as women to choose who they want to be as their suitors.
Sadie Hawkins proposal ideas
Asking your boy to the dance can be as simple as just saying, “hey do you want to go with me?”. Although, honestly what fun is that!??
Instead, take some inspiration from our other proposal posts and ask in a fun creative way:
- Promposals
- HOCO proposals
Here are a few other specific to Sadies ideas you can get inspired by.
I think this post by Audrey is the cutest way to ask a boy to a dance for sure.
Take a clue from his favorite sport and ask away for a date to this fun dance like Morgan did.
What Do You Wear to Sadie Hawkins Dance?
If you have been invited to a Sadies dance, or you are about to invite your date to the Sadies, then you may be wondering what kinds of things people wear to such an occasion.
You get to wear whatever the heck you want! That is the beauty of this dance. The only dress code is that you have to have fun! So take a look at the list below or steal Wendy’s fun style idea above to get some ideas on what kinds of things you can wear to a Sadie Hawkins dance.
- Matching sports jerseys is an easy win!
- A cute fall flannel look
- Big sweaters are great for dancing fun & bonus points if you put each of your pets on one!
- Perhaps both going in colorblock pink would be the best.
- Or get your cowboy gear on and be the cutest double dates like these friends did below.
And there you have it. Not only do you now know what a Sadie Hawkins Dance is, but you know how it got started, when it was started and what the rules are behind it. Plus, I sprinkled in some outfit ideas just for fun.
I hope you enjoyed this article! If you loved these dance outfit ideas, you are going to need to check out some of the other ideas that I have found. The internet is full of wonderful dance ideas if you just know where to look.
When I was a teen, I went to a Sadie Hawkins dance, and I actually had the time of my life. I may not agree with the idea behind it, but I did have a lot of fun. So if you are planning on attending, go and have fun. What else are you going to do?
