To ask how much you have/will spend on a prom dress?

[Frouby]

Dds prom is this year. Shes a good kid, works hard and I want to reward her for the effort she will no doubt put in for GCSEs.

Her prom is in July and she has started talking about her prom this summer. Says girls are spending between £300-£500 on dresses, plus hair, make up, nails, shoes, limo etc etc etc.

I didn't spend that much on my fucking wedding dress.

She has also said that they are all shopping for and buying them now ready for July.

I was thinking April/May, mooch round the shopping centre, party frock from Topshop or New Look, some shoes and some new make up,hair put up by normal hair dresser. Drop her off and pick her up myself.

When did it turn into a big £1000 do for 16 year olds? She won't even actually even be quite 16! What if you can't afford it? We live in Yorkshire, in a town massively struggling as it is. How can working class people already struggling afford this? Especially if they have more than 1 dc? In particular dds?

Is dd having my pants down on this or do people really spend 1k on prom night?

I think we spent $110 on DD's prom dress for senior prom last year. From Modcloth www.modcloth.com/shop/special-occasion-dresses (not much help to the non-US MNers, sorry).

I think she ordered some shoes for $20 online.

She did her own make up and hair, and they rode a school bus to the prom and back.

As someone who did spend silly money on a prom, they never wear them again!
They hang up in a bag until they try to sell them.
We donated ours to a school so the head could give them to girls who needed a dress for prom

@ParkheadParadise that is really sad. I'm the oldest out of 6, 5 girls and it would have killed my mum. She was a single parent from me being 17 and killed herself working just to keep us fed.

I only really know 1 mum from her school. Shes onto the last of 4 girls and seems pretty sensible, might text her and ask if she has set a budget.

Mum spent £250 on mine in 2011

Plus £90 shoes and £50 on hair - we were in Yorkshire but a wealthy area

Am glad to see the majority feel the same as me, am going to show this thread to dd!

I spent 900 American dollars on the dress plus alterations. 65 dollars on flowers. 450 on tan,hair and nails and 200 dollars on shoes and bags. After party outfit and hotel was on them For transportation I loaned them my Hummer

We got DD's dress from David's Bridal last year. It was just under £100. We booked an appointment for DD and her friend; they had their own changing cubicles and an assistant helped them and made a fuss of them. It made it a lovely experience and didn't cost anything extra.

Nothing on dress - reused evening dress she had worn as bridesmaid. £7 or so on bag, £12 ish on shoes, £15 I think on ticket, £25 on hairdresser but combined that with a needed haircut so nothing really, she did her own nails and makeup.

Dress and shoes were then lent to a friend the following year. Most of her friends spent between £30 and maybe £100 on dresses. Y13 prom this year, she hopes to buy something second hand as it is more ethical, and cheaper. Probably from a charity shop, if not then eBay, or Facebook selling site.

We’ve just had all of this palaver yesterday too.

I too thought it was just going to be a dress from top shop sort of affair...but apparently not.

The thing I don’t get is that these dresses from ‘proper’ shops are absolutely hideous bejewelled monstrosities. They aren’t fashionable or young.

I actually thought my usually stylish 16 year old was joking when she showed me a photo of a dress she liked.

My DD is in Yr11 and I've just ordered her dress. It was £92 on sale online. She's asked a girl in the year above to do her makeup and I will do her hair.

She has agreed she will buy her own shoes and bag (she works on a Saturday) or borrow from friends and has already rummaged through my handbag collection for "possibles".

No spray tan - she's proud of her pale Celtic colouring.

Transport - her "gang" have already organised this: they're going in a white transit van, owned by one of the parents. They thought it would be funny and be an alternative to the usual limo! I have to admire them for this, it is pretty funny. Not sure they'll still be up for it when they're dressed to the nines on the night, but we will see!

We are in a "nice" West Yorkshire town, where I have no doubt some parents (of girls) will end up spending £££ so I'm quite proud of my thrifty girl grabbing a bargain and being realistic about it all. I'm more worried about the after party!!

My prom was 15 years ago but I got my dress from tk Maxx they had lots of ball gown/prom/bridesmaid type dresses it was £45

How the hell did the end of term disco turn into this?! Makes me feel about 100 years old...

Crazy!!! DD's leavers ball dress was £45 from Quiz (inside Debenhams) beautiful dress. She did her own makeup and wasn't interested in nails, we took an Uber (private school, parents go too) my dress was £85 because I had to have something to fit me

Ridiculous. When I had my senior prom my mum bought my dress from an outlet shop no more than £50. I paid for my own hair and make up from my job. There were girls there that had obviously spent ££££££ But they were in the minority. My children when the time comes will need to be realistic

£180 from a prom dress boutique but it was massively reduced, end of line. £40 on hair and she did her own makeup.

Some of the dresses at the prom shop were 1k! It’s one of the major shops in the U.K.. you need an appt and people travel 6 hours to come to it!

I would say most of DD’s friends had £90 dresses from Quiz or Debut.

We went prom dress shopping in October. Last fitting in a couple of weeks. The dress cost £420. Like you, more than my bloody wedding dress!
Dd is doing her own hair and makeup. I’ve just bought her shoes. They were £15.

I think I was spoilt with dd1. Her prom dress was £70.

£20 for a 50s style dress (covered in batman logos) from sports direct
£10 for net underskirts
about £8 for some chunky black trainers from primark (I lucked out there as she wanted some doc marten boots first which would have cost a lot more but decided they'd be too hard to dance in)
She's really not a girly girl

My friend’s daughter got a beautiful dress from Oxfam. She looked fabulous!

Where in Yorkshire are you OP? I know an incredible dress maker in Sherburn in Elmet. You could have something made and it wouldn't be hundreds!

Well this marvel is on sale for the most bargainous price of £35 from www.sexyher.co.uk/product-sexy-strapless-animal-print-long-train-cocktail-dress-with-beads-630.html

My god, dd hasn’t mentioned after party yet. She can get stuffed if she thinks I’m forking our any more money for that.

@beautifulxdisasters thanks for the heads up on that ghastly sounding site. There are some really nice dresses on there. Have bookmarked it.

Spend as much or as little as you want. It’s a glorified leaving party spending like it’s a mock wedding is plain stupid. Hair and make up, nails, car, oh no, silly me.... limousine! Before a dress has even been put on.

Am so glad I started this thread! Said to dd I would ask on mn what the average spend was, and she reckoned that it would be silly money. Sorry love!

There are a couple of prom dress shops local enough for a visit, she can wait until February then we will go for a look. If we can't find anything in budget then at least I know sending her in a Topshop/Debenhams type dress isn't actually child abuse.