Would you/have you spent hundreds on a prom dress?

Oh God - this is so depressing.

I agree about loans and debt

But there's nothing wrong with loving beautiful dresses or dramatic dresses, it's no different to choosing a suit. Each to their own.

No no you really don’t have to factor £500 for a dress, shoes, bag, makeup… just say no. It’s madness.

In Ireland we dont have any prom but 17/18 year old have a debs ball. People would easily spend €500 on a dress. Then theres makeup, lashes,nails, fake tan, hairdresser. Also relatives and neighbours are invited to the girls house for food and drinks before the girl leaves ( usually in a limo). I have been at houses where they got catering companies to bring the food. People are decorating for it too

No, 3 daughters cost me less than £100 for prom. Actually 1 didn’t go… I cannot stress enough the waste of money and hype akin to a pretend wedding type event that has become school prom. So many people are dizzy eyed about it.

No I brought a nice dress for my University 3rd year ball, few hundred for that, but that to me was a big event, the end of uni

I spent £500 on DDs - the last couple of years of school were tough due to Covid and they deserved a treat. I hadn’t planned to spend that much but it was far and away the most stunning on her and I could afford it so why not?

My DD’s wore second hand dresses and looked absolutely amazing.

DD hated the whole over the top dressing. She bought a naval dress suit - lots of gold braid and gold buttons - from a charity shop. Decided it would be too hot with the full white shirt and cummerbund etc so she found a plain black sleeveless jump suit to wear underneath the jacket.
She looked great and it saved me a fortune.

Taking out loans and payment plans is just plain ridiculous.

It’s weird to present this as non-negotiable and just what has to be done.

My daughter’s dress was £30. She borrowed smart heels and a bag from her Nanna (I don’t have those things for her to borrow). She wore the necklace that she always wears. Her fingernails were short and clean with clear polish on and she pulled a brush through her own hair and put a bit of mascara on and she was good to go. And she looked beautiful because she was 16 and it’s easy to look great when you’re 16.

We probably "don't appear to have money" because we don't drive fancy cars etc . But we have a mortgage free house and big salaries and very healthy pensions and savings.

I dont know how people assume they can judge wealth

Wow! That feels mad.

I remember my prom dress, it was in Debenhams and cost me the equivalent of 3 months wages from my saturday job. I kept visiting it hoping it would be still in stock. I wore it SOOOOO many times, was my prom dress, freshers ball, weddings and eventually when it was ragged and old I chopped and sliced it up to go to a 'posh zombies ball' at Halloween. Money well spent!!

I like doing nice things, but not in school 😂
I hated school. I am probably the odd one out.

I think it's because a lot (not all of course) of the people who do spend a ton of money, don't appear to have it, and many that could tend to tell their kids to go look on vinted..

Mine can spend whatever she wants within reason. We can afford it, why have money if she can't pick a dress she likes.

I didn't spend that much on my own wedding dress, but so what if I had?

You can buy a suitable dress for £50 or less from places like Zara or H&M
if you buy one just for the sake of it and don't like it, it's a complete waste of money.

Better buying something she truly likes, and sell it on. Again, as long as you can afford it, who cares.

We went to the prom shop and DH tagged along too. I had full intentions of only looking at the cheaper rail of dresses but once in there it was like a bloody competition of who's DD could look the best. The girls would come out of their changing rooms and twirl on a podium with all the other parents oohing and arring. Some of those dresses were over £1000!

DH who is usually as tight as a ducks arse fell for it hook line and sinker and paid £470 for a dress DD had fallen in love with. Admittedly she looked lovely in it and it is a fabulous dress but she wore it for all of 4 hours on prom night and it now sits in my wardrobe gathering dust.

Over a year on and I still can't believe my usually miserly DH went so crazy that day!

Our school definitely had 5th form and 6th form balls by then (state grammar)

Yeh we actually shopped early for and paid £420. Then Covid hit and she never got to even wear it. It’s still hanging up in my wardrobe. I’ve tried to sell it a couple of times but no joy.

You are right, it is insane.

My own dds didnt go to prom but my sd did

£650 for the dress and about that again for shoes,make up and hair (it was over a grand in total)

I insisted her dad drive her-we where not spending another grand to drive her a mile down the road

Utter waste of money-she was in it for 3 hours and we couldn't sell it on as she cut it up with a pair of nail scissors and dumped it on the floor when she got in (and snapped a heel on her shoe)

We would have spent a lot less but she refused a second hand dress ('ewwww,that's dirty!') she 'needed' the posh hairdresser (my friend would have done it at home for a fraction of the cost),her make up done professionally and her father (my dp) was way too soft on her and felt he couldn't say 'no' (she'd never heard the word in her life)

I would have spent £50 maximum and sold it on afterwards

Some people like doing nice things 😉

Ds1 just wore one of his dad's suits. Ds2 didn't go to his prom. I'm embarrassed to admit my prom dress cost just over £100 but i did wear it twice as i wore it to the university ball as well. It doesn't fit me now but I've still got it. My inlaws have a photo of me wearing it on top of their tv.

Noo. Definitely not. Got both of my dds quite late on , and from department stores. They were under £100 including alteration costs.

I think the prom dress store ones are over blingy myself.