Surviving Prom Night : Safety: Some students think it’s just a parents’ trap, but Camarillo High will offer a post-prom bash with a vintage T-bird as a door prize.

A group of parents is throwing an all-night party after the Camarillo High School prom to keep seniors out of hotels and away from alcohol and drugs.

But the plan has drawn mixed reactions from the students themselves.

Scheduled to run from midnight to dawn after the prom May 28, the party will feature a disc jockey, performances by a hypnotist and an Elvis impersonator, a raffle for a mint-condition 1966 Ford Thunderbird coupe and dozens of lesser prizes.

Parents said they hope the prizes, entertainment and $5 admission price will encourage students to choose the event as a cheap and safe alternative to traditionally popular after-prom activities that often involve alcohol--such as partying in a hotel room, cruising in a rented limousine or building a bonfire at the beach.

“We are trying to give them a choice,” said Linda Stephens, a board member of the school’s Parent-Teacher-Student Assn., which is sponsoring the party.

While other high schools around Ventura County hold chaperoned parties on graduation night, Camarillo High may be the first locally to sponsor a party following the senior prom.

And some seniors at the school question the need for such a party.

“It’s a nice idea, but I think it’s more for parents than for students,” Ona Rieder, 19, said. “It’s more to set the parents’ minds at ease.”

Curran Wilt, 17, said she has strong objections that chaperones at the all-night party will call students’ parents before allowing the young people to leave the community center where the event will be held.

“I’d feel like I’m trapped,” Curran said. “The point of a prom is to get away from the traps and the rules.”

Brande Belinger, 18, agreed that “it’s the one night that it’s actually kind of allowed to get crazy.”

Brande and other students said, however, that not all after-prom parties at private homes and in hotel rooms include alcohol.

But for those students who will get drunk, it is safer to do so in hotel rooms where they can sleep it off than to drive home intoxicated, some seniors said.

“It’s just a place to kick back and celebrate and not have to worry about going anywhere,” Colby Keener, 17, said. “You’re already there.”

Unlike other schools, Camarillo High does not have a history of car crashes or other problems on the nights following prom and commencement.

“We have no tragedy to report,” said Linda Stephens, a board member of the school’s Parent-Teacher-Student Assn. “We decided to take a real pro-active stance to get this thing going and on board before we had a tragedy to report.”

But Stephens said: “It’s not just an issue of drinking and driving. These are minors who really shouldn’t be drinking” at all.

Stephens said parents want to give seniors a sober alternative to the usual after-prom revelry.

“It’s real easy for us to say to kids about alcohol and drugs, ‘Just say no,’ ” she said. “But we don’t give them another choice and we have a responsibility to do that. It’s possible to have a good time, to have a memorable evening, to enjoy your friends’ company and not get yourself stinking drunk.”

Stephens and other organizers said they hope to attract about 200 of the school’s 440 seniors to the party, but they will not be discouraged if attendance is lower the first year.

While many students were at best noncommittal about attending the chaperoned party, some who are planning to go said they are hoping for a low turnout.

“To be honest with you, it’s the car,” Raj Patel, 18, said about the sleek sand-colored Thunderbird that was donated by a local auto dealer. “There’s a pretty good chance of winning it.”