How much did your 16yo spend on their prom dress?

[SpongebobNoPants]

I have no idea how much these dresses cost but we’ve been asked to pay £500 towards SD’s prom outfit which seems really excessive?
Her dress alone is £500

When DP expressed some surprise (and announce to be honest) at the cost he was told everyone spends that much?
Are we just old and out of the loop or is this excessive?

Updo £40, Nails £50-60. Shoes £40-100? I've seen girls talking about buying dresses with large price tags. I've been showing them sites where dresses are far cheaper. It will depend on accessories but £500 excluding dress seems very excessive. I would expect it to be that including dress.

£60 shes good at hair and make up so did her own.

I made my daughter’s. She designed it and I bought the fabric and made it or her...cost about £15 I think and no-one had the same dress as her!
I did her hair. We both did her makeup. She paid for her nails to be done £20 (cost more than the dress).

Your dsd could get a one-off made up for less than that by a dressmaker!
£500 is absolutely ridiculous for a 16 year olds prom... and you say it costs even more than that? It’s obscene. She’ll want another when she leaves sixth form college too!

@ThrobbingToothacheOfTheMind

Are you American, op? Or is the pointless garbage in the uk now?

Where do you live @ThrobbingToothacheOfTheMind - proms have been in the UK for quite a while!

I don't think they're pointless. The point is to celebrate leaving school.

£395 and it got cancelled so it’s never been worn.

@pollymere
Updo £40, Nails £50-60.
Really??

Mine was £150 and my shoes about £25... but it was 1998 🤣

The cheek of the woman, she sounds utterly awful! I presume your DP pays maintenance yet she expects him to fork out a ridiculous sum without any consultation, for a frock for a teenage dance. By the sound of things she bringing up her daughter to be ridiculous entitled without the wherewithal to afford it. My girls went to lots of balls in their late teens & early 20s; they had dresses from TKMaxx, dress agencies, department stores and sales, no way would they have expected a £500 (equivalent) frock even if I could have afforded it. I made my first formal dress myself as I couldn't find anything that suited or fitted me for my budget, I also made my little sister's outfit for her boarding school summer ball.

I really can't get my head round this ridiculous consumerism.

£15 from EBay. It was beautiful

£160 in 2010 and it's been hanging up on the back of a door ever since. I did try to sell it on ebay once but there was no interest and I wasn't willing to let it go for less than half what I paid. Might try again next year!

She will want dress, hair, nails, make up and a share of cost of stretch limo or similar between 6. You could let her Mum buy her dress and offer to pay for hair, nails and make up. £120 ISH.

My nieces prom dress was £160 about three years ago. It was a Ted Baker cocktail dress.

To wear to he dress once what is wrong with renting a dress? Carrie rented her wedding dress for £45 and is apparently renting clothes to wear to the G8 summit.

My daughters dress was £400 , then there is hair , nails , tan , makeup , shoes , bag , jewellery as well as the prom ticket , and that was a few years ago so 1k prob right

All so she can tell her mates how much it cost and make them jealous I suspect. My ex SD did the same and her dad coughed up the lot. I was livid and this happened all the time AND she was a twin. Had a lot to do with the end of my relationship how both of them bled their father. They still do it at 23 apparently.

@Spied I've been looking into getting mine done for a Ball. Hair is £40 excluding trim and nails are hugely expensive (including toes). I've decided to do my own for both.

@hulahooper2

£1k!!!!

That's insane!!

It's one night!!!

Even if I was totally minted I wouldn't waste money like that I'd rather bank it for my kids future

£50.00 sale dress from Quiz in Debenhams, Glitzy shoes and matching bag from New Look, about £50.00 , Hair up by a hairdresser friend £20.00, nails and makeup by a professional, £50.00 tops I think, transport free as her dad borrowed a posh cabriolet from where he worked... this was 7 years ago and it's long since been forgotten about bar photos that pop up on FB . If you can easily afford £500 then it's not an issue, it's all relative to affordability. I could have paid much more but DD didn't want it .

I spent £550 on the prom dress for my daughter. It was in sale from £950. Money well spent imo.
Two years ago.

They were all in those kind of prom dresses and I can imagine in Liverpool they will be even more so. Most had long trains on their dresses and limos too.

£80 in Coast in the sale 9 years ago. She desperately wanted one for £220 but I refused to pay that much. She wore it for a few hours then I donated it to a charity which supplies dresses to girls who can’t afford to buy their own.

2 years ago bought prom dress from eBay for £60 and had alterations done for £20 everyone commented on the dress as was really original but didn't break the bank.

Hair £90 plus £40 on day
Makeup £50
Shoes £50
Other £50
Hair accessories £30
Photography £150
Dress £550 as I said
Total 1k

I'm not rich but it was well worth it. It's a rite of passage and I dont want her to miss out. I never bothered with Michael Kors handbags for school or latest iPhones for school, which is part of same topic really, but I did do this and I'm glad of it.

Nothing as her prom was cancelled last year due to Covid

My daughters dress was £400 , then there is hair , nails , tan , makeup , shoes , bag , jewellery as well as the prom ticket , and that was a few years ago so 1k prob right

£1k WTAF! You must be loaded!

My DDs dress was £250 which was more than I really wanted to spend but the dress looked amazing and was cheaper than the other 3 she tried! Shoes £22, nails £20, hair £30, earrings £10, bag £30, Prom ticket £60 - so best part of £500 all on the credit card!! 😬