FFS prom dresses. How much are you paying?

JJs house afaik is a Chinese company and returns can be tricky. There's a few other similar online companies, check online reviews before buying.

Yep. Had no idea but followed suit. Just glad I've only one daughter to go through this

Another JJ’s house here - we bought 3 and returned 2, it wasn’t a massive deal. All in all it cost £90, she borrowed shoes, got her nails done but did hair and makeup herself and declared fake tan as “too basic” (thank god).

About £80 from ChiChi London. Absolutely no problem with either delivery or returns (ordered 2 sizes to try). Previously tried to buy a dress from high-street shops, no luck,but on that trip we got a good idea of which styles suited.

There are far fewer options on the high-street than there used to be. House of Fraser had a handful of styles, TK Maxx just a couple of oddments in either tiny or large sizes. John Lewis had only two dresses. Monsoon had the most, but they're really a bridesmaid range, so not all styles/colours suited prom. We found £80 to £130 would have bought a lovely high-street dress.

If you want a high-street dress, start looking early though. Online, there are so many more options, we ordered about a month before the prom.

I wouldn't splurge on the dress though as there are other costs. We bought make-up items (£45 as DD didn't own any!), silver sandals ( Next £35) and a bag (£20), On the day had pedicure (£35) and hair waved and dressed (£25 plus £10 for vintage style hair clip.). No fancy transport craze at her school, thank goodness.

Be very cautious when having a custom dress made on eBay. Many of these places have dresses made in Chinese sweatshops. They can arrive late, not fit, or be nothing like the picture.

My daughter had her prom last year. We got it in a shop selling prom and bridesmaid dresses. I went there as she's an unusual size so I couldn't buy "off the peg"!

I spent more than I'd intended but I could tell she just felt so much more confident in the more expensive one (we didn't know the price when she tried it on and she then said she'd happily go for the cheaper one).

However, I'd suggest you go to a department store. They have some really nice dresses at more affordable prices.

Mine got theirs from Next for £40-50

@moonbows My DS has prom this year , nice suit and shoes , navy slim fit 3 piece is popular with the boys at the minute with pink or floral ties .

Look on Next clearance - search bridesmaid dress or prom dress for starters.

I spent about 300 altogether on DDs dress and outfit last year. I had had an inheritance from my parents, and wanted to treat her, after several really tough years. I had to drip feed the cost to DH or he would have had a heart attack

Also look in the bridesmaid and evening dress sections.

If you and she are happy to buy it now Debenhams has a good selection of prom dresses in the sale at very reasonable prices. There’s free postage until midnight today, but that might be extended?

It's all spiralled in last 15 years. I'll be heading to TK Max with DD several times to look

Dd got a £45 dress from ASOS for her sixth form prom. She looked lovely and had a great time. This was four years ago.

DD got hers for £14 in the next sale before she knew whether there would actually be a prom. She looked fab. It's one night!

I spent £180 in the end, dd tried on loads of cheaper dresses but none felt right.

We went to a prom boutique and got one in the sale, originally the dress had been over £300 😳

I only have one dd and she looked beautiful so it was worth it imo.

We rented a dress, included all alterations. Much more environmentally friendly too

£5. from the local charity shop - although she didn't tell any of her friends that!!

I spent about £80 on a dress. It wasn’t the most ‘fashionable’ but she liked it well enough. It was actually quite hard to find something to suit her figure so in the end she was just grateful to find anything (she’s quite busty so needed to be able to wear a bra, with a tiny waist and bigger hips - hour glass I suppose but not particularly tall).

I certainly wouldn’t have paid more than £300. She didn’t bother with make up and wore trainers (wanted to be comfy!) so the only extra I paid was for her to have her big, long hair washed and blow-dried nicely at the hairdressers.

However, I know my other fashion conscious DD14 won’t be so easily pleased when it’s her turn!

My DD dress is £400, but my cousin owns the shop and we got a generous discount. I gave her a £300 budget and she chose the first dress she tried on. We've got hair, make up and shoes yet! 😲 Thankfully her dad has said he'll pay for everything.

I am completely with you, it is so excessive.

Dd borrowed an old dress from her stepmother. Dress probably from 80s/early 90s. She looked lovely. New shoes, and didn’t bother with professional hair/makeup nails.

Thank goodness my older three were still having discos, next chose not to go and youngest went quirky: black cocktail dress from ASOS with chunky black boots and mad hair. She dId her own make up but some of her friends had MUA which seemed ott. However she did spend (what I consider to be) a fortune on having her nails done.

The girls in beautiful chiffon or satin long simple dresses looked just as glam and fabulous as the ones in structured prom dresses.

One of the charity shops in our village organises a Prom Dress evening, the manageress is great and very community minded. Racks of dresses plus shoes, bags and accessories are put out for the Prom attendees to look through, try on and buy. Beauticians and hairdressers are on hand to give advice and they are always a great success. The village is in an affluent area, so the customers get really beautiful dresses at a bargain price.

Dd had a jersey maxi from Oasis, flat sandals she already had and that was it. £30 in total about 10 years ago.