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?

Dd2 is due to have her prom this year and I’m not spending a penny until the lifting of restrictions on June 21st is confirmed.
I spent £120 on dd1s dress last year from ASOS and that’s been sat on the back of her door taunting her as never used. Not making that mistake again.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been ordering and then returning various online dresses. Webpage know which one to get, and a spare if it’s out of stock. Her favourite is £80 from SilkFred.
We bought her shoes last week from new look for £6 in the sale.
She’ll do her own hair, makeup and nails.
If it goes ahead it’s happening in the school sports hall as the school very wisely decided not to risk booking something in a hotel only for it to be cancelled and deposits lost.

The thought of spending £500 for a couple of hours wear is so ridiculous it’s laughable, particularly as it’s so uncertain that the event will even go ahead.

dd2s prom dress was under £100
dd1 had a Nadine Merabi dress for her wedding which was £395

@ShouldIbeEmbarrassed

£360 - Dress £80 - Hair & make up £35 - Nails

This was 2 years ago now and just the bits I can remember, there was also spray tan, shoes, matching bag, fancy car to take her to the prom.

Yes, yes, you should be embarrassed. Well your DD should be at any rate. Sounds really tacky tbh.

Sounds like everyone needs to talk to each other more.

If the dress is bought now though and you're not going to get into debt, just let DH cover it. What's the alternative? Tell his dd that she can't have it? Get into a row with her mum about prom? She'll remember him doing something nice for her this way, and they've had a rough old year this lot of kids.

After it's all over, you can chat about how you want to approach big events and expenses in the future.

In addition to prom I went to quite a few balls when I was at university and none of my ball dresses cost more than £100. I’m planning to re-wear one of them (from asos) as my wedding dress, others came from quiz and tk Maxx quite cheaply.

80sMom just had to make a jab at us Americans. Don't like a prom, fine no need to make rude statements about us.

Dds dress was £270 (just picked it up today). Shoes £25. No jewellery needed. I'll pay nails, her Df is paying for her haircut beforehand. She's doing her own hair and makeup on the day.

DD1 didn’t have a prom - they didn’t exist in 2003!
Dd2 bought her dress from Topshop in the sale - cost £30, wasn’t a ‘bridesmaid’ prom dress, just a lovely mini dress that she wore loads afterwards. Didn’t have fake tan, fake nails, MUA or hairdresser. IMO she stood out as being the most beautiful one at the prom, and I was so proud of her.

£0 as the plan was to get one of my old dresses altered. Turned out to be a great decision as the prom never happened (postponed twice, then cancelled due to Covid).

£40 and another £50 on shoes, bag etc. This was 8 years ago

Yes, yes, you should be embarrassed. Well your DD should be at any rate. Sounds really tacky tbh.

Oh please- they are kids- my DD had a great last year at school, became head girl and dance captain at her dance school, and was offered 4 places at Uni. She had to make a speech at the prom because she was head girl, so wanted to look her best.
She has worked her socks off in the past few years.
Fake tan and false nails are not my thing, but what she wanted- and I could afford it- so why not!

@SpongebobNoPants

I really don’t mind the cost, we can afford it and she’s had a crappy year with her MH and wasn’t sure she even wanted to go That’s lovely but you can afford it and were happy to, we weren’t consulted at all and really don’t have £500 spare!

We’ve agreed £200 towards it

Yes, totally agree. If you can’t afford it and weren’t consulted you shouldn’t just have over £500 and I wasn’t suggesting you should

Dd1 80 dress
Dd2 63 dress

Shoes and bag approx 40

Did own hair and make up
Shared mini bus with friends

Friends spent between 20 and 200 on dresses

£500 is a stupid amount to spend! DDs dress was in the sale from Quiz and about £40. Lots of nice ones for not too bad a price www.quizclothing.co.uk/clothes/dresses/prom-dresses/

I'd probably spend £150. She's pushing her luck! Tell her how much you will pay and then she can pay you back for the rest if she really wants it.

She was 18. It was £75 and needed a £20 alteration.

@speakout

Yes, yes, you should be embarrassed. Well your DD should be at any rate. Sounds really tacky tbh.

Oh please- they are kids- my DD had a great last year at school, became head girl and dance captain at her dance school, and was offered 4 places at Uni. She had to make a speech at the prom because she was head girl, so wanted to look her best.
She has worked her socks off in the past few years.
Fake tan and false nails are not my thing, but what she wanted- and I could afford it- so why not!

You shouldn’t be embarrassed at all. The person who is calling it tacky should be though

My parents spent £50 on mine!

£500 is not a rare/unusual amount to spend but it doesn't matter what anyone else spends. What matters is your SD's relationship with her dad - especially in this pandemic year when her dad is getting remarried.

When I left sixth form in 1978 we said goodbye to our teachers and went to the pub. Didn't cost my parents a penny as I had my own earnings by then.

Mine was £27 in the Debenhams sale, picked up three days before as I decided to go last minute.

It was absolutely perfect.

I think you are being very fair to pay £200. You were not told about the cost in advance and it isn’t an essential expense. Your SD’s mental health will not be damaged by having a limited dress budget!

This thread makes me sad as I always think of the Class of 2020 kids - a whole year group who missed out on their prom and still have unworn dresses knocking around. A lot of parents would have scrimped and saved to give their daughter the dress of their dreams. I might be over invested in this.

If weddings can't go ahead, are we sure that proms will actually happen?

I’m not annoyed with SD at all by the way, she’s been told she can have whatever she wants by DM so she’s picked whatever she wanted.

It’s just frustrating because if we’d known she was going dress shopping we could have said “we can only afford to contribute £xx” and then SD’s expectations could have been managed within an agreed budget

MIL made DD's 7 years ago. I'm not sure how much it cost in bits and pieces but they faffed about with it for ages. This was after I'd categorically told her she could not have my wedding dress (which is too small for her anyway). DD enjoyed the planning for prom but found the event itself a bit disappointing.

She bought her own shoes with saved money for about £25, I think. I chipped in for a couple of new makeup items for her as I was feeling guilty at finding the whole thing annoying. Can't remember how much they cost, but they were things she used again.