Stardew Valley Flower Dance Guide: Who You Takin’ To Prom?

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Callum Marshall

Callum is the gaming managing editor and a certified Stardew Valley aficionado, pouring hundreds if not thousands of hours into this relaxing indie title. While overseeing the day-to-day running of the site, you'll commonly see Callum carve out some time to produce some content on one of his favorite games of all time, and lead from the front. Callum has been around the block within the gaming industry, working as an Editor-in-chief for a number of well-respected gaming outlets, he has worked as a games tester, he has gaming podcast experience, has worked in gaming PR. Basically, you name it, and Callum was probably there or somewhere on the periphery.

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Are you going to the dance? This is a question that has been a staple of high school life for what seems like eons. Packed into that six-word question are feelings of anxiety and fear, the potential for feelings of rejection, or elation, and of course.

If you follow this up with, ‘Hey, want to go with me?’. Then comes the tradition of wearing an ill-fitting suit, or a dress with an unimaginable amount of tulle, and riding in a limo to your school’s auditorium for a drab affair, with tunes 20 years out of season serving as the backing track for the occasion.

Okay, maybe I’m letting Americanised movies from the 80’s formulate my viewpoint, but even still, it’s one of those things that inexplicably we accept is a milestone event we all must endure, and it seems this tradition is alive and well in Stardew Valley.

The Flower Dance in Stardew Valley is one of the major events on the calendar, and alongside offering an opportunity to ask your potential romantic interests to dance with you, it also offers the chance to get your hands on some interesting items for your farm too.

It’s an event that many will probably remember not too fondly, as it’s almost guaranteed that you will have to dance alone the first time around, unless you worked tirelessly in the initial period of the game to build your relationships. The pain, the rejection, the silly outfits. It still stings to this day.

However, through the pain of this experience and the power of hindsight, I am able to give you an extensive guide on this event, and help you avoid making the same mistakes.

You might not be able to become prom king or queen, but I can sure as hell make sure you have a Flower Dance to remember. That’s all anyone can really hope for, right? Okay, enough talk, let’s dance. Here is our Stardew Valley Flower Dance Guide. Enjoy!

When Is the Flower Dance?

As you might have guessed, this event happens in the Spring, as most proms tend to happen in reality. You can just picture a poorly made banner from the art department reading ‘Spring Fling’ can’t you?

This event takes place on the 24th day of Spring, and players will receive a letter from Major Lewis the day before to let them know. The event takes place from 9 am-2 pm, and when proceedings wrap up, you’ll return to your farm at 10 pm. I guess there was a strict curfew enforced or something.

As for where the event takes place, there is a little clearing south of the Wizard’s Tower where this event takes place. It’s actually the only time you’ll be able to access this area in the game, as it is otherwise inaccessible due to a broken bridge. Why this bridge is periodically repaired and then destroyed again is never referenced.

Breaking Down The Flower Dance

The Flower Dance is one of the more superficial events in Stardew Valley, much like The Dance of the Moonlight Jellies, where the player can attend to pay witness to a fun little tradition within the town.

However, if you have attended once, you’ll probably not be rushing to attend again, as there is no benefit in terms of gameplay aside from some items that can be purchased in the event-specific shop. Putting that to one side, though, let’s walk through what goes down at this event:

The Prelude

As you enter the clearing, you’ll find all the town’s residents, and a whole bunch of seasonal flowers decorating the small area/dancefloor. You’ll first encounter a merchant’s stall, which we will talk more about later, and further into the clearing, you’ll be able to talk to everyone.

The non-bachelors will have some unique event dialogue that’s worth checking out. However, the key attendees to pay attention to are the bachelors and bachelorettes. These characters are those who you can ask to be your dance partner, and you can do that by talking to them and asking for the privilege.

Here are the characters that you can ask to dance with you:

Bachelor’s

• Shane
• Sam
• Harvey
• Alex
• Sebastian
• Elliot

Bachelorettes

• Penny
• Emily
• Haley
• Maru
• Abigail
• Leah

Now, the potential trap that players fall into is that your relationship is not developed enough with a certain character, meaning that they will decline your offer to dance. Can anyone hear Simon and Garfunkel, just me? Okay, moving on.

To make sure you don’t end up dancing on your own, you will need to have built up a four-heart relationship with at least one of these characters, which is mathematically possible for all the romanceable characters within the game. This isn’t easy, but if you really want to make your first Flower Dance a magical one, then you better get gifting.

The Dance

The dance itself is, as mentioned above, all for show. It’s a fun little feature within the game where your character will line up alongside all the other romanceable characters and dance a strange little choreographed number. In truth, it doesn’t give me prom vibes but more upper-class debutante ball vibes, so if that’s what you are into, then all power to you.

I can hear you asking, is there any value in asking someone to dance at all, and realistically, no, there isn’t, as the reward is pretty minuscule, so I tend to skip the event altogether. However, for the sake of providing all the info, the player does receive a minor bump in friendship with their chosen partner.

You will gain 250 friendship points with your chosen dance partner, which equates to One-heart. So if you are really speedrunning your way towards marriage, then this can be beneficial, but equally, this can be earned in a normal week with two well-chosen gifts. So the time and effort saved are pretty minuscule.

Oh, and a little bonus bit of trivia for those that attend the Flower Dance later in their run. If you divorce a romanceable character, don’t expect them to dance with you. Instead, they will not only reject you, but do so in a very hostile manner. You have been warned.

The Flower Dance Shop

Aside from all the pageantry and silly outfits, the Flower Dance shop might be the reason that you attend this event more than once, as this stall will offer seasonal goodies that can only be purchased at this event.

Now, unlike the Egg Festival that happens prior to this event, there aren’t any game-changing items like Strawberry Seeds on offer here, but there are some cool cosmetic items that might tickle your fancy. Here is a rundown of all the items available at the Flower Dance:

Of all the items included, the main items you should prioritize are the Rarecrow and the Tub O’Flowers Recipe. The Rarecrow is great as it serves a purpose, protecting a large surface area of your farm from pesky crows, far exceeding that of a standard Scarecrow.

Then as for the Tub O’Flowers recipe, it may seem like a pointless purchase, but there is actually an achievement linked to crafting one of every item in the game. So completionists will need to grab this one at some point.

Aside from that, there are some nice little cosmetic items on sale here. My personal favorite is the Wall Flower, which is a big beautiful Sunflower that you can pin up against your farmhouse.

Getting A Partner First Time Around

So you know how the Flower Dance works, and you know what’s in store for you should you choose to attend. However, the question remains, how the hell do you get someone to agree to dance with you? The fact of the matter is that it’s rather hard to get any character’s relationship up to four hearts within just in-game days.

It’s hard, but it’s far from impossible. Many players might have written off the first dance as an event that guaranteed disappointment and rejection, but with some careful planning, you can boogie with the best of them.

Technically, you can dance with any of the characters at the dance, provided you max out their gifts every day, leading up to the event, talk to them every day, and get lucky with notice board requests. However, some are easier to nail down than others. Here are the easiest options listed below:

Shane

Shane is a very easy option for beginner players because he is very easy to find every day, and his loved item is so readily available. You’ll be able to talk with Shane on his way to work at Joja Co in the mornings, or at night when he’s in the Stardrop Saloon.

The Stardrop Saloon is the more convenient option as this is where you can purchase his most loved gift, Beer. The only drawback is that Beer costs 400g a pop, so it’ll be a financial strain for you in those early weeks. So if you want to dance with Shane, it’s your round.

Leah

Yeah, is another pretty easy four-heart path for the player, as she can be found relatively easily throughout the week, and you can obtain one of her loved gifts from Gus at the Stardrop Saloon. The good news is that Salad is much cheaper than Beer, only costing 220g a pop.

However, the downside to this option is that Leah wanders around quite a lot, meaning you’ll need to learn her schedule if you want to talk to her daily. This may involve a trip to the Beach, to Harvey’s Clinic on the 16th, or popping into Pierre’s General Store. Overall though, a good, cost-effective choice.

Haley

Haley might not be the warmest and most affectionate character in Stardew Valley. In fact, she will literally say ‘Eugh’ if you dare talk to her sometimes.

This might mean she’s the last person you want to take to the dance, but ironically she’s the easiest person to build a relationship with fast. Why? Well, because she has a birthday on the 14th of Spring, meaning you can get double relationship points on that day.

The issue with Haley is that her loved gifts are pretty hard to procure in those early days within the game. However, you may get lucky and be able to buy Pink Cake, Fruit Salad, Coconut, or a Sunflower from the Travelling Cart. That being said, even liked items like Daffodils will do the trick.

Sam

Then lastly, we have Sam, who is by far the least cost-effective option on offer, but logistically, it’s relatively easy to build a rapport with him.

You see, one of his most loved gifts is Pizza, and Gus at the Stardrop Saloon always has Pizza on the menu. The reason why this option might not be for you is that Pizza costs a whopping 600g, which is pretty hard to make in the first few weeks while still keeping your farm operational. That being said, if you can’t resist falling in love with this skater boy, then I won’t stand in your way.

What About Co-Op?

For all those day-one players like myself, multiplayer within Stardew Valley was nothing more than a pipe dream. However, at the time of writing, I would wager that more players play this game in  co-op than don’t. So what happens if you attend the dance with one of your co-op compadres? Well, that’s really down to you.

You can still go about the event in the usual way, picking one of the standard romanceable options to be your dance partner. However, if you choose to do so, you can pair up with one of your multiplayer pals. The only drawback is that you won’t receive a heart bonus with anyone, but equally, it means that you are guaranteed a dance partner.

FAQs

Stardew Valley Flower Dance: I’ll Be Dancing With Myself

As you might have gathered from the information above, I’m not someone that puts a lot of stock into the Flower Dance in Stardew Valley. I tend to get in there, grab my Rarecrow, and then get out of there before someone spikes the punch. However, for first-time players, I can see why this is a fun and engaging experience.

It’s your first real chance to consider who you want to pursue a romantic relationship with. It’s a chance to get some cute seasonal decorations, and for many, it’s a rite of passage to dance on your own and make a pact with yourself to never let that happen ever again.

I hope that this guide ensures that you don’t have to go through that heartache, unless you prefer to go solo, that is, and as always, thanks for reading SdewHQ!