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.

My DD had a lovely dress from Quiz, I think it was £40 in the sale. I paid for her to have her hair and makeup done as neither she nor I own any makeup.

If I'm honest, of the girls whose dresses I know about, the families who could least afford it were the ones spending £100s, while the girls from financially comfortable families had upcycled dresses they bought on vinted etc.

So people can see what others are like I guess. Must admit I thought the same and didn’t report. Sometimes it’s good to see who the argumentative idiots are.

Yes, her dad and I would pay up to £200 each, if that’s what she wanted (including hair/make up shoes etc) She’s a good kid and our only child.
I would encourage 2nd hand dress for a better deal and then pass it/sell it on.

It wasn't funny.

Well the jump from 0 to "fucking scrubber cunt" was funny 🤣

Our year 6s have a prom too, luckily it hasn't descended in to dresses worth hundreds just yet 🙈

Ours wasn't called a prom (late 90s) but was effectively a prom. Everyone got absolutely hammered, someone puked across the entire kitchen of the hired local hall, there were several fights, lots of snogging and the teachers "supervising" didn't care at all. It was a classy affair 😂. This is a posh school in the Cotswolds as well.

A lot (most?) of private schools had leavers balls in the 80s, and they weren't new then. It's the same thing really, what's unfortunate is it's turned into into a bit of a consumer fest as so many things have

It's a very expensive event if you choose to make it so. What about parents who dont have money to burn on nonsense like this?

For most at our school it was treated like s school disco. No alcohol, all the teachers there, paying £30 for poor buffet food at a cheap hotel. The only ones who had their hair and nails done and bought £400 dresses were the ones not going to uni. For everyone else it was just get an ok dress and turn up to a bit of a shit night. If that's the best night of anyone's life i feel very sad for them. Definitely not worth spending hundreds of pounds on. Maybe other schools go to town more, i don't know.

Yeah, that was the funny bit ✨

I spent loads and then when I asked how it was I got pretty much a grunt and it was alright and she just went on about the after party which she didn't even wear her dress for all the girls got changed. I got some nice photos but half of them are with a boyfriend who she is no longer with. I won't be spending that amount on my other daughters

I really, really hate this prom situation.
Just leave school and get on with your life. Earn money, take yourself to fancy events.
Why oh why, do we need a prom.
I didn't go to my leavers disco as it was called back then. Or my gcse presentation.
I couldnt stand another minute in school than I had to. I jist wanted to leave and get on with my life.
I did leave and got a job where I got to to go to events and parties. I am not a social recluse. I just absolutely hated the fakeness of school cliques.
I think proms are just awful.

Yeah paid about £300, was happy to and could afford it. She's worn it a handful of times. No other big expenses like hair/nails/makeup etc

Not everyone would want to spend £500 on a dress, for sure, but surely the idea that (many) people might have a spare £500 isn’t that mind blowing?

Why would you assume people would need to take out loans or credit cards? People meet one off costs like that all the time, car repairs etc…. It’s bonkers to me that you’d even give the source of money any thought.

Noo. Definitely not. Got both of my dds quite late on , and from department stores. They were under £100 including alteration costs.

I think the prom dress store ones are over blingy myself.

Ds1 just wore one of his dad's suits. Ds2 didn't go to his prom. I'm embarrassed to admit my prom dress cost just over £100 but i did wear it twice as i wore it to the university ball as well. It doesn't fit me now but I've still got it. My inlaws have a photo of me wearing it on top of their tv.

Some people like doing nice things 😉

My own dds didnt go to prom but my sd did

£650 for the dress and about that again for shoes,make up and hair (it was over a grand in total)

I insisted her dad drive her-we where not spending another grand to drive her a mile down the road

Utter waste of money-she was in it for 3 hours and we couldn't sell it on as she cut it up with a pair of nail scissors and dumped it on the floor when she got in (and snapped a heel on her shoe)

We would have spent a lot less but she refused a second hand dress ('ewwww,that's dirty!') she 'needed' the posh hairdresser (my friend would have done it at home for a fraction of the cost),her make up done professionally and her father (my dp) was way too soft on her and felt he couldn't say 'no' (she'd never heard the word in her life)

I would have spent £50 maximum and sold it on afterwards

You are right, it is insane.

Yeh we actually shopped early for and paid £420. Then Covid hit and she never got to even wear it. It’s still hanging up in my wardrobe. I’ve tried to sell it a couple of times but no joy.

Our school definitely had 5th form and 6th form balls by then (state grammar)

We went to the prom shop and DH tagged along too. I had full intentions of only looking at the cheaper rail of dresses but once in there it was like a bloody competition of who's DD could look the best. The girls would come out of their changing rooms and twirl on a podium with all the other parents oohing and arring. Some of those dresses were over £1000!

DH who is usually as tight as a ducks arse fell for it hook line and sinker and paid £470 for a dress DD had fallen in love with. Admittedly she looked lovely in it and it is a fabulous dress but she wore it for all of 4 hours on prom night and it now sits in my wardrobe gathering dust.

Over a year on and I still can't believe my usually miserly DH went so crazy that day!

Mine can spend whatever she wants within reason. We can afford it, why have money if she can't pick a dress she likes.

I didn't spend that much on my own wedding dress, but so what if I had?

You can buy a suitable dress for £50 or less from places like Zara or H&M
if you buy one just for the sake of it and don't like it, it's a complete waste of money.

Better buying something she truly likes, and sell it on. Again, as long as you can afford it, who cares.

I think it's because a lot (not all of course) of the people who do spend a ton of money, don't appear to have it, and many that could tend to tell their kids to go look on vinted..

I'm not assuming, people have told me.