Prom the bottom of my heart

MANILA, Philippines - There are certain things in life that only happen once. You only get to graduate high school once, you only turn 18 once and you will probably only go to prom once (at least in some schools). With all momentous events, you have to make it memorable. And it’s better if it’s for a good reason.

Making your prom date have a better time than Charlie and the gang from Perks of Being the Wallflower is one thing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Do you even have a prom date yet? If you plan on going stag, that’s cool. But if you want to snag that person you want to spend your prom with, you have to keep your game up. Chocolates, flowers and teddy bears can only go so far. You know deep down that it’s the personal touch and the DIY crafts that make the prom-posal magical.

There are two ways you can go about this. You can either a) buy overpriced craft materials; or b) upcycle things around your house. And because it’s February, we thought it’s good to show some love to Mother Nature and recycle old Young STAR issues.

This week, we asked production designer Nico Macabuhay to teach us how to make paper cranes. While Nico is taking a second course in UP Diliman for industrial design, he also does event styling with his company Maniego Design and Production and freelances as a production designer. One of his notable works was “Across the Universe,” a fashion editorial published in Preview magazine last year. And coincidentally, the set was also made of recycled issues of The Philippine STAR.

So bust out your old copies of Young STAR and start folding. An ancient Japanese legend says that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, a crane will grant your wish. We don’t know if it’s true but there’s nothing wrong with trying. Who knows, you might just make your (and your date’s) dream prom come true.