To say the price of prom dresses is absolutely ridiculous?!!

Buy one second hand?

Definitely avoid bridal shops.

I'm in the US and my DDs bought their own dresses off the clearance rack at our local Macy's or from Asos. The most expensive was $50. They and their friends did their own hair and makeup. One after the other they wore the same gold sandals and used the same evening bag DD1 had used.

Please consider being more ethical than flying dresses across the world from Chinese sweatshops.

I'm sure your daughter doesn't want a dress made by children!

Having worked in secondary schools, there will be a mixture of £300 + dresses, £40-50 dresses from ASOS, £20 dresses from Shien and pre-loved dresses from Vinted or Ebay. The thing is on the day you genuinely can't tell the difference! They all just look stunning because they're young and lovely. No one is going to be inspecting the quality of the stitching on their dresses. Teenagers are so good at doing their hair and make-up now what with all the YouTube tutorials and products available, there are always girls who look like they've had a professional makeover but have actually done it themselves or a friend has done it for them.

I feel your pain! My daughter went to prom 10 years ago - we went to the prom dress shop with a maximum budget of £200 because of course she would use it again and of course it would be easy to sell online. Ended up spending £350 (shouldn't have taken my mother!) - she wore the dress for a total of 3 hours before changing into trackies and sweatshirt at her friends for a pizza as the prom was too boring. No of course she didn't wear it again and trying to sell it online has been a massive fail. It is a beautiful dress on and very unusual but SUCH a waste of money.

I'm quite relieved my daughter will want to wear a suit when her time comes.

Same here - I think it was about £50 and it was stunning!

This whole thing has got completely out of hand! Limousines? Lord aboard.

DS is getting a suit - will be an initial outlay but can be worn again for job interviews etc. A different shirt and tie can change the whole look.
It's a lot more pressure for girls definitely, but agree that there are cheaper ways (good suggestions already).

My daughter had a post GCSE prom for her year group and she got a dress from Vinted for about £10 and some shoes for about the same price.

Other girls were spending loads, but there is no need to.

Don’t get it from a prom dress shop. Just look on ASOS etc.

DD and pretty much all the girls wore dresses from Shein / ASOS / chi chi london or similar. I think hers was about £30, make up £30, hair done by a hair dresser friend. Dropped off my mum and uber home (£9)

private school if it makes a difference so cheap dresses not for budget reasons

If you live in/around London, it is well worth a visit to Fonthill Road if you are wanting to get a "proper prom" dress but for much less. It is a street of wholesalers so you won't get the fluffy experience but will save a lot of money

Definitely Vinted or eBay as everyone else has said. My daughter did go to a specialist prom shop and tried a few on which gave her some ideas but decided herself they were silly prices despite me saying it was a one off and it was fine! Plus they were all miles too long for her so would have had to pay extra to get one shortened whatever. So we looked on Vinted and found a brand new one still with the tag on, think it was £45. It was gorgeous and there were absolutely loads on there. I did treat her to her nails done but she did hair and make up with her friends.

Vinted. I had to go to a cocktail party recently and managed to find a dress on Vinted for £9! Yes I know that’s incredibly rare! But there are amazing bargains to be had if you take your time looking. Honestly I’ve never worn anything where I’ve had more compliments than that £9 dress!

Hire one. Suggest your school do an event. A local one where I live does.
You can hire prom wear.

I just had a look on ebay. There are more than 600 secondhand size 8 prom dresses that have a buy it now price of £30 or less - a lot are decent brands like Monsoon and Coast.

Vinted or Depop all the way…..

It is exquisitely ironic, given all the slamming of American anything on Mumsnet, that the UK has so slavishly adopted the prom consumer horror. Anybody know WHEN this American invasion took place? Proms certainly weren't happening in the late 70's, so far as I'm aware.

Also, just remembered Club L London do beautiful dresses.

Just mind their bra’s because they come in boxes and you can’t return them if opened, so you’ve no idea what you’re actually getting.

Their dresses are lovely though.

We got one second-hand from eBay for £50, perfect condition, looked great. There were loads on there, all sorts of styles. Dd wanted blue, so we just searched by colour and size, and were spoilt for choice. I didn’t even need to have it altered.

Dd’s friend got one from Shein for £40, and looked lovely too, you would have no way of knowing it wasn’t more expensive.

Dd raided my jewellery box for accessories - I actually would have bought her a necklace to celebrate the end of GCSEs, but she loved a old silver necklace of mine, so I gave that to her instead.

Shoes were new, £50, but at least she can wear them again.

My sister did her hair and make up, and she just got dropped off by a standard Toyota along with a couple of friends.

Prom dresses seen as very naff here - all the cool kids wear vintage/charity shop finds.

Our local charity shop has a whole section of only worn once Prom dresses, some absolutely stunning.

Oxfam used to do prom sales, they’ve got an occasion wear section on their website now. And most dry cleaners will alter for a small cost.

surely you don’t actually need a limo?

Opt out of this nonsense is my suggestion. Not the first time I have said this. Encourage your DD and her friends to have an alternative evening somewhere else.

We are not the 51st state.