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?

What the hell is an after party? Is that normal? My daughter is in Y9 so not dealing with it yet but sounds ridiculous. We didn't even have a prom when I was at school.

I [reluctantly - why can't everyone be like me??] get that different people like different things, but I seriously detest & look down on excessive consumption for the sake of it. Seriously, anyone who'd spend much more than say £100 on their daughter's 'prom dress' has some serious cognitive issues.

An after party is usually what the kids arrange themselves at someone's house. The actual prom usually finishes at about 11pm because the teachers who go, want to go home, plus they are all too young to drink, so the venue doesnt make much money out of them. So they all arrange an after party where they can drink. Often they are in tents in someone's garden.

@Rosebel I'd forgotten about the after party!

That's where they take off the £x00 dress you've bought, change back in to their normal teenager clobber and go to a house party until the early hours where they can then be free to really party away from their teachers 😆

I paid £80 not because of lack of funds , DD picked it . After going through prom last year ,I do think anything over £150 is a total waste of money

Teachers go? Really?
None of that at my children's school. The kids organise it themselves. The only concession school has made is that in the last 2 or 3 years they have allowed tickets to be sold openly at school. Before that it was strictly forbidden and the arrangements all had to be made outside school.

Dress was £45. I also paid for her nails. DD is switched on enough to recognise that she could buy some nice make up which would last ages for less than the cost of getting it done. She also did her own hair. Friend's mum drove them there, I drove them home.

I am incredibly biased but she looked amazing.

Hi op, also from Yorkshire and in a few years I will be in exactly the same position as you. I know my daughter will be itching to go to all the bridal shops, but I've said for a while now (she's 11) that she will be having a second hand dress, unless she buys it herself. There are so many beautiful dresses on Facebook market space and it's such a shame that they're only used once, so I'll be looking at places such as that. My daughter models and has her own bank balance, but I've tried to educate her that this money is to help her in the future, not to splash on one evening.

rattusrattus20 I hope you are getting some professional help with your own serious cognitive issues. People are free to spend their disposable income in any way they please.

My little sis paid for everything herself and spent just over £120. She got her dress from Light In the Box for £40ish. Shoes off Ebay. Borrowed Lulu Guinness bag. Shared limo £40. She did her own makeup and I did her hair.

Ds has his prom this year.

I was already feeling grateful boys seem cheaper than girls but still dreading cost.

Then came letter with strict rules and costing £60.

Then ds announced he didn't want to go and him and a few mates wanted to airsoft instead.

Brilliant - that costs £30! I may even stretch to a Pizza Hut afterwards 😂

Teachers go as I'm sure the venue needs responsible adults there. At our school the prefects do the arranging, but the teachers help. A lot of people spend as much on the transport as they do on the dress as they all arrive in limos, humvees, tanks etc and get their picture taken. After that it's pretty boring at they all sit and look at each other for a few hours.

I'm not sure some people on here understand the word cognitive.

My eldest went last year, her dress was £18 in the M&S post Christmas sale and looked amazing. Grammar school in a wealthy area but wouldn't dream of spending hundreds, doubt any of her friends did either, although they don't tend to discuss that type of thing.

£60 dress from asos. Shoes were £35 in the sale from Office. No transport costs because the school laid on double decker buses to take the kids to and from the venue. Dd did her own make up, and I did her hair. Believe me when I say she looked stunning.

We had a prom at my school in 1992. There was nothing American about it, it was basically a disco in smarter clothes.

The prom ticket was £55.

Proms have gone stupid. I'm lucky in that my DDs are weirdos and did their own thing - DD1 went full Victorian dance hall girl, Goth style - including hair, makeup, shoes and dress the whole thing came to £150, prom tickets were £15. DD2 wore a cocktail style dress, very slim fit, black lace roses over red, £28 in the sale in our local glam shop specialising in suitable outfits for the races. Already had shoes and makeup, got prom ticket free because she was a prefect.

Then DD2 found the perfect dress for her 6th form ball - £17 in a charity shop, barely worn, designer number. Really don't discount charity shops in upmarket towns.

DDs dress last month, £400.
Her dad has been putting a fiver a way a week for the last couple of years for it. She’s paying for her own hair and make up. She looks absolutely stunning in it, but I’d never spend that kind of money on myself

Forgot to say, this was last year. I actually spent more on DS's prom 3 years earlier. Suit hire from Moss Bros was about £70, and his shoes were about £45.

Thanks for starting this thread OP.
I’m not into fashion at all but have had a most enjoyable hours down a rabbit hole of looking at prom dresses. I spent a while just on google images of real teenagers in their frocks. Really cheered up my winter blues all those beautiful smiling girls in the summer sun.
Can’t say I can tell a £40 dress from a £400 if I’m honest although a lot of them seem to be wearing lots of beading on the bodice which looks quite intricate (and expensive).

Thanks to the poster for the heads up on TKMaxx, some great bargains on there. Will let dd know to have a look there.

My siblings ticket is £70 due to the type of meal and entertainment they've chosen. It's a very posh hotel

Forgot to add the car. But I belive my brother knows someone with a super car and he's gonna drive her there in it.

So rwlieved we were in SW London with dd at a school regularly mentioned on MNet threads. Prom started with a reception for the girls, a few plus 1's, parents and teachers. The fees were about £16k pa plus on-costs. They wore mainly Ebay and Asos - not much cost more than £50. Shoes came from New Look or charity shops replaced later with flip flops.

They all, with youth on their side looked utterly beautiful and not a false talon in sight. They had a lovely time and followed up with a bash at a local pub/club. The photo's were full of camaraderie. Certainly no limos.

It's utterly bizarre and grossly unhealthy.

My DD had her prom last year. She had a lovely dress from the Monsoon sale, shoes from Debenhams sale and bag from TK Max. I think we spent a total of £150. DD did her own make up, I did her hair and they went in a friends mums convertible.

My DD was at a performing arts school. There was some who had spent ridiculous amounts of money on dresses, but also lots who spent similar to us.

My DD said all those that spent hundreds didn't really dance because they were scared of ripping their dresses. My DD danced all night and had an amazing night.

They wear the dress a few hours. My DD also had an after prom outfit for the party she went to after!!

@OhTheRoses - is it just me who'd find it tragic if there was an inverse relationship between a family's means & the amount they spent on their daughter's wedding dress?