To say the price of prom dresses is absolutely ridiculous?!!

[BLUEcups]

So DD is in year 11 and the school prom is coming up and so the pressure is on to buy a dress….. so I start having a look on line and the price of them is astronomical! WTF!

I see all over SM photos posted by bridal shops saying “She said yes to the dress” and giving you options to book your time slot to find it 😳

Then there is the links to hairdressers, make up artists and limousines! 😭 I mean it’s clearly a money making scheme but Jesus wept, in the current climate, it must be so difficult for some parents to be able to afford it.

The dress’s I seen either didn’t have prices on and the ones that did, were between £220-£500 and I was gobsmacked.

What a joke, especially considering the dress is unlikely to ever be worn again.

So my question is, what are your tips for finding a cheaper one? I can’t afford £250 plus the rest and I can’t be the only one.

Asos has beautiful bridesmaid dresses too - the super cheap ones look really badly made, but from £20 up there are some v pretty ones:

https://www.asos.com/women/wedding/bridesmaid-dresses/cat/?cid=15156&currentpricerange=5-150&refine=currentprice:5%3C50

Ebay or charity shops. Try to steer her away from a preconceived idea of specific style and colour and go into the search open minded. It's much easier to stumble across a lovely second hand dress than try to find what you've decided would be lovely second hand.

Do you know anyone with a daughter in the year above? Here it's quite common for girls to pass their dresses on to younger friends, cousins etc. After all they've only been worn once, and it's less of a risk than vinted as you know what you're getting.

My local fb is full of people selling on prom dresses - the My big fat gypsy type ones. It's all ridiculous. There is a charity initiative locally as well though for needy youngsters to go to. I'm not sure of the protocol.

That’s what my DD did! Dress from Top Shop - short not like a bridesmaids dress, so she was able to wear it many more times. Did her own hair and make up, borrowed her sister’s shoes and blagged a seat in a limo 😂.

I just bought one on vinted £80. I refuse to spend £300 on a dress that’s going to be worn for 4 hours! It’s ridiculous. You’d think with the way things are school would do stuff more accommodating, the pressure for nice cars is just a joke

If I were looking now, I would definitely do second hand. There's so much choice. Dd1 got her 6th form ball dress from a charity shop for 17 quid. It was designer and immaculate, she still has it and it still fits.

Buy secondhand which fits or alter one or make your own.

What’s the issue? Just spend what you can afford.

DD got hers from a (now closed) shop in Glasgow called I think it was David's Bridal, wide range of prom/bridesmaid dresses in all colours you can imagine. Yes some were £400 plus, others much cheaper. DD got hers in the sale section and it was about £90.

Our school is now running a scheme to collect the worn-once prom dresses in teh recognition that it is very unsustainable to buy something with the aim of wearing it just once.

Opt out of this nonsense is my suggestion. Not the first time I have said this. Encourage your DD and her friends to have an alternative evening somewhere else.

We are not the 51st state.

Oxfam used to do prom sales, they’ve got an occasion wear section on their website now. And most dry cleaners will alter for a small cost.

surely you don’t actually need a limo?

Our local charity shop has a whole section of only worn once Prom dresses, some absolutely stunning.

Prom dresses seen as very naff here - all the cool kids wear vintage/charity shop finds.

We got one second-hand from eBay for £50, perfect condition, looked great. There were loads on there, all sorts of styles. Dd wanted blue, so we just searched by colour and size, and were spoilt for choice. I didn’t even need to have it altered.

Dd’s friend got one from Shein for £40, and looked lovely too, you would have no way of knowing it wasn’t more expensive.

Dd raided my jewellery box for accessories - I actually would have bought her a necklace to celebrate the end of GCSEs, but she loved a old silver necklace of mine, so I gave that to her instead.

Shoes were new, £50, but at least she can wear them again.

My sister did her hair and make up, and she just got dropped off by a standard Toyota along with a couple of friends.

Also, just remembered Club L London do beautiful dresses.

Just mind their bra’s because they come in boxes and you can’t return them if opened, so you’ve no idea what you’re actually getting.

Their dresses are lovely though.

It is exquisitely ironic, given all the slamming of American anything on Mumsnet, that the UK has so slavishly adopted the prom consumer horror. Anybody know WHEN this American invasion took place? Proms certainly weren't happening in the late 70's, so far as I'm aware.

Vinted or Depop all the way…..

I just had a look on ebay. There are more than 600 secondhand size 8 prom dresses that have a buy it now price of £30 or less - a lot are decent brands like Monsoon and Coast.

Hire one. Suggest your school do an event. A local one where I live does.
You can hire prom wear.

Vinted. I had to go to a cocktail party recently and managed to find a dress on Vinted for £9! Yes I know that’s incredibly rare! But there are amazing bargains to be had if you take your time looking. Honestly I’ve never worn anything where I’ve had more compliments than that £9 dress!

Definitely Vinted or eBay as everyone else has said. My daughter did go to a specialist prom shop and tried a few on which gave her some ideas but decided herself they were silly prices despite me saying it was a one off and it was fine! Plus they were all miles too long for her so would have had to pay extra to get one shortened whatever. So we looked on Vinted and found a brand new one still with the tag on, think it was £45. It was gorgeous and there were absolutely loads on there. I did treat her to her nails done but she did hair and make up with her friends.

If you live in/around London, it is well worth a visit to Fonthill Road if you are wanting to get a "proper prom" dress but for much less. It is a street of wholesalers so you won't get the fluffy experience but will save a lot of money

DD and pretty much all the girls wore dresses from Shein / ASOS / chi chi london or similar. I think hers was about £30, make up £30, hair done by a hair dresser friend. Dropped off my mum and uber home (£9)

private school if it makes a difference so cheap dresses not for budget reasons

Don’t get it from a prom dress shop. Just look on ASOS etc.