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

I find the whole concept very Americanised and utterly nuts- just another big money making racket that parents are expected to buy into -no doubt if I had a daughter I would go along with it- but reluctantly I admit

Dd1 we left it a bit late and Vinted wasn't a thing so had a dress made but it wasn't great and cost £130. Dd2 we went to a prom out let store the autumn before prom and got an amazing princess style dress for £200 reduced from £800. Shoes £20/30 from new look or similar. They both went in on limos /carriages with friends so paid about £30 for dd2 and £50 for dd1 . Hair had a regular cut and got hairdresser to curl it. They paid for their own /make up/ nails. So around £200-250 each

I keep seeing second hand prom dresses come up on FB marketplace and was in absolute shock at how much they were selling for because it indicates the original price must have been £hundreds!
My prom dress was in the sale from monsoon back in the day, was like £50. We couldn't have afforded more than that. A family friend lent me a nice hairpiece and I did my own hair and makeup.
Its an absurd amount of money for one day and it seems to like everything else become very commercialised. The expectations in this generation are wildly different to what everyone had when I was growing up.

You can rent a dress, you can buy from EBAY Vinted, Depop, Facebook marketplace on on sale from any shop or website( without having to buy cheap shite from Shein) or charity shops. there are loads of second websites specialising in those types of dresses. Its no longer a specific type f dress either you can wear anything you want

I would recommend looking on places like vinted or even Facebook marketplace. Lots of people sell their dresses after prom. My daughter friends all did. Whilst I did spend £600 on a dress, it can be altered into a stunning evening gown that she will get multiple wears out of as she didn't go for the blingy or tackier ott dresses.

If you want new, places like Quiz, Chi Chi London, Monsoon, Coast and Club London. You will find there's such a big selection on prom night from the extravagant to the simple, expensive to cheap.

The prom shops market it as being the absolute worst thing in the world if you turn up at prom in the same dress as someone else. They keep lists of schools and refuse to sell more than one of the same dress to someone from the same school.

It's hysteria.

OP is talking about Y11 - end of GCSEs, not primary school!

Just the word Prom annoys the hell out of me. I’m old and nothing like that when I was young thank goodness. It’s just another American idea imported to make money.For goodness sake have a leaving party and everyone puts on what they wish and gets there by car, taxi or whatever is needed. Have fun, dance and eat. Enjoy what an 11 year old should be enjoying. If they want make up then let them put it on themselves if they think it adds to the fun. As for a limousine - well that is ridiculous. As for cash strapped parents having to fork out that money in case their children feel left out - well the answer to that is more should make a stand and children can be allowed to be children for longer. I’m awaiting the outcry!!!

My daughter bought hers from Quiz. It should have been £80 but she got it in the sale for £40. It didn't look out of place amongst all the designer dresses others wore.

The quality of stitching probably wasn't as good and it wouldn't have stood up to repeated wears but you could not tell.

What exactly do prom dresses entail in this day and age? We definitely all went a little crazy back in my day but I just don't think I can get my head around that, not least because certainly it seems to me that lots of stores do dresses that are pretty formal at not-insane prices.

I think I'm going to have to take a look on instagram or something.

I’m giving mine a £500 budget but that has to include hair, make up, nails, shoes too.

It was a few years ago but I got one for Dd from Ebay. It was £15 and it was beautiful. She did her own hair and makeup. It really isn't necessary to spend a fortune.

Another vote for having a look in Fonthill Road at Finsbury Park if you are anywhere near London. Also, this JJ's House sounds good - I am off to have a look at that.

There are two secondary schools in our town-and the charity shops always have loads of prom dresses. Dd bought a glorious Frank Usher dress-then sold it for more than she I paid for it. Certainly worth a look.

What about hiring a dress? That's what I did for my prom...although it was about 20 years ago! You are able to wear a lovely dress for a fraction of the price.

I paid £550 for my DD's prom dress from Red Carpet Ready and in all honesty the experience wasn't this great day out they advertise! It's more like warehouses where you get to pick about 5 dresses to try on and they'll be probably half a dozen other girls next to you doing the same.

Since then she's had some absolutely beautiful dresses from Shein for young farmer balls for about £30. I know some people won't buy from their so it may not be an option for you but if it is I'd seriously consider it. The dresses are stunning and I've offered them to our local secondary schools for proms after she's worn them.

Her prom cost me about £1000 all in which looking back is absolute madness. I can't say I regret it as in Year 11 her dad had a heart attack, her nan died during her GCSE's and she had a serious accident meaning she was in hospital for part of her GCSE's. Prom was a celebration of thank god we made it as much as anything else for us!

DD and her friends shopped around - lots of dresses from Vinted, charity shops, etc. Hers came from Apricot because she didn't want anything fitted. They did their own hair and makeup and looked lovely. One parent did rent a limo for them all though, which was fun but they found a bit embarrassing!

Don’t use anything advertised as for prom. Stuffy and overpriced.

It really helped DD and myself to look at local prom pictures from the past few years. You’ll see that they don’t have to look like A-list celebrities, just girls in fairly nice dresses going to a hired hall for 3 hours.

I don’t say that to poo on it. The lead up - shopping and hair / makeup practice- was a lot of fun for us 😄

You raised a daughter that's frugal. Some daughters will absolutely kick up a storm if their dress is costing £20.

Meshki also do lovely dresses for less - this was my daughter's (now on sale): meshki.co.uk/products/nadia-maxi-satin-dress-with-back-cowl-lemon?variant=43499160371442&currency=GBP&tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=19693152691&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2KeBuPu9iwMVvaRQBh3jFToyEAQYCCABEgK2H_D_BwE

This is what used to be called the school ball. Even in the 2000s at university it was still called a ball e.g. freshers ball or graduation ball. By all means dress up smartly for both sexes and book a hair appointment. £500 dress and limo though is a bit OTT.

"Prom" seems to be a recent vocabulary change.

It’s nice to dress up and have a party at special moments in life. What is life if you don’t live it?

Re. Chinese dresses being cheap and nasty - I honestly thought we would received some horror in the post that was nothing like the pictures and made from cheap thin fabric etc.

I couldn't have been more amazed with JJs House, the dress was literally as good as my wedding dress I paid an embarrassing amount of money on, heavyweight satin, sewn perfectly. I would expect to pay well into 4 figures in the UK for what arrived.

I can vouch for that particular company but not any other ones!

If you live near London, it’s worth a trip to Font Hill. Fabulous dresses, lots of colours and they’ll alter it for you too.

They aren't dressing up for the boys.