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

DD got hers from a (now closed) shop in Glasgow called I think it was David's Bridal, wide range of prom/bridesmaid dresses in all colours you can imagine. Yes some were £400 plus, others much cheaper. DD got hers in the sale section and it was about £90.

Our school is now running a scheme to collect the worn-once prom dresses in teh recognition that it is very unsustainable to buy something with the aim of wearing it just once.

What’s the issue? Just spend what you can afford.

Buy secondhand which fits or alter one or make your own.

If I were looking now, I would definitely do second hand. There's so much choice. Dd1 got her 6th form ball dress from a charity shop for 17 quid. It was designer and immaculate, she still has it and it still fits.

I just bought one on vinted £80. I refuse to spend £300 on a dress that’s going to be worn for 4 hours! It’s ridiculous. You’d think with the way things are school would do stuff more accommodating, the pressure for nice cars is just a joke

That’s what my DD did! Dress from Top Shop - short not like a bridesmaids dress, so she was able to wear it many more times. Did her own hair and make up, borrowed her sister’s shoes and blagged a seat in a limo 😂.

My local fb is full of people selling on prom dresses - the My big fat gypsy type ones. It's all ridiculous. There is a charity initiative locally as well though for needy youngsters to go to. I'm not sure of the protocol.

Do you know anyone with a daughter in the year above? Here it's quite common for girls to pass their dresses on to younger friends, cousins etc. After all they've only been worn once, and it's less of a risk than vinted as you know what you're getting.

Ebay or charity shops. Try to steer her away from a preconceived idea of specific style and colour and go into the search open minded. It's much easier to stumble across a lovely second hand dress than try to find what you've decided would be lovely second hand.

Asos has beautiful bridesmaid dresses too - the super cheap ones look really badly made, but from £20 up there are some v pretty ones:

https://www.asos.com/women/wedding/bridesmaid-dresses/cat/?cid=15156&currentpricerange=5-150&refine=currentprice:5%3C50

My prom was way back in 2009. I wore a £25 dress from Matalan, and a £20 pair of shoes from New Look. We didn’t hire transport, just turned up in my parent’s car. Don’t bow to the peer pressure. It’s not worth it for one day. It’s literally just a glorified school disco. I didn’t understand the hype back then, and I certainly don’t understand it now! 🙄

Also lots more options for cheap clothing these days e.g. Vinted etc. you don’t have to spend a fortune to look good.

Find a style and/or brand she likes, and get onto Vinted. I got my DD's prom dress for £50 this week from a fancy brand that would have been over £500 new. It's very "romantic" and she is over the moon.

We're miles out, but it's nice to have it bought and sorted.

Coast and Monsoon sales online - ordered loads, returned the ones that didn’t work. Shoes were Boohoo. Nails, hair, makeup all done at home. I dropped off a load of girls in my Honda.

I know it’s easier if your school doesn’t have a culture of limos etc (ours doesn’t!) but you really don’t need to go to one of these shops which costs £100s and promises no one else at your school will be sold the same dress etc.

Local charity here collects them up and recycles them by having prom dress hire, it's free if you get a referral too, so caters for all even those that cannot afford it. They also sell off surplus for about £30.
If you're near Wokingham it's www.thecowshed.org/

what with the dress make up hair dresser spray tan shoes bag transport which seems to be a competition who can arrive in the most unusual mode of transport, my daughter tells me you can spend £1000 plus.
my daughter took her daughter to prom dress shops to try on dresses see which styles she liked and suited then looked online. there are a lot of discount places not just Shein also try Bridesmaids sites as they can often be quite fancy too and cheaper.
I am just glad I never went through this with my daughter or myself. to help I did buy the shoes and handbag she sent me the link and I just paid that was just over £50, unfortunately I realised I have another granddaughter this year having a prom so I shall have to pay the same for her.

Buy used or high street. There's really no need to spend hundreds. You could easily spend £50 all in from vinted, or even the sale section of somewhere like Quiz.

When DD went to hers we got her a lovely dress from Next that was definitely an "occasion" dress but not specifically "prom", if that makes sense. It cost about £60, mind you that was 2012. IIRC the shoes cost nearly the same.

A group of her friends all met up at one of their house (where they were having a sleepover after) and did their makeup together.

The posh car thing wasn't an issue as the venue had a turning circle that couldn't accommodate stretch limos or similar.

Vinted have some great dresses - we bought one off there for £50 and then spent another £60 on getting it altered to fit perfectly by a local dressmaker.

Another good website is Hebeos - my neice had a lovely dress from there for £120. Just check the measurements carefully for each size and allow about 6 weeks for them to make and deliver it.

Oh dear, did you not know before now that there would be a prom in year 11? (Not having a go, just if you did, you could have put some money aside).

I would suggest second hand, ive seen quite a few for sale, they look beautiful.

It has gone mad. No, they do not need a dress from a bridal shop. There are many stunning long dresses in the high street (or online, although many girls like to try on to see what they're getting) and get something they could wear again. They can do their own or each other's hair and make up, paint their own nails. You look at some pictures and drag queen springs to mind rather than prom queen!

They all buy from shein at dd's relatively posh school

The whole prom this is absurd, totally agree. I was determined not to get too sucked into it, though i did still get more sucked in than I'd hoped. The peer pressure amongst the girls can be insane. I took my daughter to two seperate prom dress shops and we tried on tons of dresses, she wanted that experience, but I was quite clear that the price tags of many of the dresses were not what I was prepared to pay. We did buy a dress in the from a prom shop, however we brought a sample dress off of the sale rail. Was still expensive I think around £150 (instead of £350 +) but more bareable. It was a a sutnning dress, but you also have to factor in alterations (wasn't cheap) plus a bag, shoes etc. My daughter wanted the whole experience of hair make up etc....she paid for some herself from her part time job. It was still all too much, she couldn't wait at the end of the night to leave the prom as it was lame, change into to different clothes to head off to an afterparty....
The shoes have been re worn, I doubt the dress will ever be worn again.

Honestly I think the whole prom thing is crap and way too mcuh pressure on families...
So so many once worn prom dresess for sale on facebook etc....

Look at different shops. Next Lipsy has lots of dresses for a lot less.

I'm now going to turn into my mother and blame the parents for allowing such nonsense!

No need to buy new though...I certainly wouldn't.