Having a few drinks after a school ball is as Kiwi as tomato sauce or the silver fern.
However, it is fast becoming a forgotten tradition as schools look to tighten the noose on students throwing "after parties".
Havelock North High School assistant principal Jaime Kitchin said it was the students as much as the staff who wanted to move away from the heavily supervised after function.
"The students saw the after-ball as another ball with too much parental supervision," Mr Kitchin said.
Havelock High will have their annual school ball this weekend at the Hastings racecourse.
He said the battle to contain the ball was a difficult and ongoing one. "If we hear about an after-party being planned there isn't a lot we can do about it other than discuss with that student what is appropriate. We will tell that student they are putting the ball in jeopardy," he said.
Mr Kitchin said the school did not have to put on a ball so it told students that having no after function was part of the deal.
"You wouldn't turn up drunk to a regular school day so why would you do it at the ball?
"We make sure our students take responsibility for themselves and their partners.
"Ninety-five per cent of students will have an awesome night out."
The few bad eggs will have to deal with the embarrassment of being picked up by their parents.
Lindisfarne College will also have its ball this weekend and staff have made it clear to parents there will be absolutely no after-parties.
"In the past, we have had parents arrange an after-party but it was becoming more important to the boys than the actual ball," Lindisfarne deputy rector Campbell Howlett said.
The decision to eliminate after-balls was primarily driven by the tragedies in Auckland, Mr Howlett said.
In 2011, King's College student David Gaynor, 17, died after leaving the south Auckland school's annual ball.
This came just a year after a 16-year-old King's College student, James Webster, took a bottle of vodka with him to a birthday party and never woke up.
"We believe that alcohol is not needed for young people to have a good time.
"We want to revert back to the ball being the whole point of the evening.
"We spend significant money on quality bands and DJs from out of town to make the ball more of an event for the boys," Mr Howlett said.