Would you/have you spent hundreds on a prom dress?

[Dramatic]

My daughter is in year 11 and a lot of her friends have already started shopping or already bought their prom dresses. Some have spent hundreds (£350-£500) and their parents have actually taken out payment plans or loans to get them....this seems insane to me? Are shops just ripping people off? Just seems like a ridiculous amount of money for a dress to be worn for a couple of hours.

When I got my 18yo her prom dress we went to an ex display shop and paid around £50 for a gorgeous dress.

Wow 😲

It is a little bit sad that the enjoyment of a party can be so reduced for some people if they don't have a limo or acrylic nails on.

I go to a party for the company and the food and the dancing myself.

Yep.

A £450 Vs £45 dress is definitely what makes the difference between having fun with your friends at a party and... "Having a shit night and being fucking miserable.... "

... fucking scrubber cunt....😂😂😂😂😂

Dress was £45 in sale section of prom shop. She'll wear it again for playing in concerts. Bought silver shoes which will go with any future dresses. She curled her hair. I adjusted her dress myself. It's not an ' event of a lifetime ' it's just a party at a hotel with over priced food, for many a farewell to school friends. They'll go to much better evenings out. All the personalised stuff for one night only is just wasteful but there's lots of things I don't agree with that bring people joy so just do it your own way and don't be pressured. All the girls looked amazing, you couldn't tell who had a charity shop dress or an £800 one ( which sort of defeats the purpose in spending £800 I think!!)

The username really does check out...

No my dc had a bridesmaid dress that was cheaper than one marketed as a prom dress. My niece had a stunning dress an older friend was selling. One of DD’s friends had beautiful a 50s style dress from John Lewis. Another sewed her own. A big hospice charity shop does a special prom shop, worth seeing if anything similar.

😬😂

Aren't you a charmer. Let's hope your dd carries your elegance and grace to all the balls she'll attend at uni.

Given the personalised champagne glasses, dress hangers, and "silk" polyester pyjamas, I'm going to guess elegance and grace don't feature largely.

No no...the dinner dance at 16 in the school hall was a ONCE IN A LIFETIME thing. Never again will she be at a school and leave it and have a party...

It's crazy vinted is full of them, or you can rent them.

No. I bought both DDs a prom dress for about £50 or so in TKMaxx. I have neither the budget nor the inclination to spend hundreds of pounds on a teenage prom. We drove them their in our car - no hired limousine or any other nonsense.

No! Dd one chose a £30 dress from a gothy type shop (10 years ago) dd2 had a dress from chichi London which was £60 (6 years ago)

i hired a full kilt outfit for my son (am in Scotland) for £110ish, my daughter is in her last year of secondary school an was diagnosed autistic when she was almost 13 and had a really tough time going into the school building, she transitioned during covid and I couldn’t walk into the building with her so anyway she has missed at least 50% of secondary so if she wanted an expensive outfit I would absolutely let her buy her it, but I suspect the prom will prove too much for her 🥲

Aged cultural historian here who hasn't lived in the UK for a very long time. WHEN DID THE PROMS INVADE? They weren't around in the late mid 70's when I was wrestling with O levels and A levels. Did somebody flying into Heathrow from JFK airport in 1980 carry the virus? Who was patient zero?

It’s weird to think I left school in early 90s without any fanfare of any sort. Just left final class, went in for exams and then back in for the results, hugged a few teachers and then just waited around until uni term started. And that was it!

I sometimes think wouldn’t it be great if someone organised a retro prom night for us kids of the 70s and beyond who never got to experience one - with the caveat you had to dress like your 16 year old self probably would have 😅

My year was only the second year our school had a prom and that was in 2005, I think it's a nice idea but it would be better if it was just a disco type thing imo without all this pressure

That's a post that should have been allowed to stand.

Why?

£100 all in, dress, shoes, bag and car hire, nails and they did their hair themselves. They enjoyed their prom, and deserved to.

@SanityLeftTheChat

I'm not sure you can be a scrubber cunt and a snobby (it's snobbish FYI) cunt at the same time - gotta pick a lane

My daughters was £495 and altercations about £120.

The bloody thing ripped at the bust before she even entered the venue.

I think our DDs dresses were £400, but didn't mind they worked hard and paid for accessories, make up and hair.

It was funny

Late 90s I think.

We had a levers disco, but it was organised by the students. We had pizza and a disco.

But the. Also Year 6 leavers have loads on now days too. Local primary does hoodies, leavers assembly, leaver's presentation evening, evening party etc!

We got given a dictionary in our final assembly and sent on our way!