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.

Agree with previous posters that just how just how much they cost now

DD1 bought from stacees online £120 made to measure. DD2 just bought hers from vinted £75 (looks like a £500 dress) I gave mine a £150 limit. I know some of their school friends paid a fortune for theirs.

'I didnt like that dress,you made me choose it' (we didnt and had trawled around endless shops to find the perfect dress for her,she chose it herself)

This was the final straw for me with her spoilt brat attitude and wet parents that couldn't pull her up on her behaviour,so I did and she didn't like it

It was an expensive lesson for dp to learn

It's disgusting. I can't believe we've imported this prom crap from America. There'll be lots of kids who don't go because they don't have expensive clothes.

In my experience, the girls that have the biggest, most expensive, blingiest dresses are those for whom education finishes at the age of 16. So it is a big deal for them because they won't be doing it again.

The girls going into 6th form and on to uni don't overdo Y11 prom, because it's just the first step, and not the end of school for them. They'll have their Y13 prom. And then uni balls. And uni graduation.

My daughter went to a local wedding/prom dress shop that makes sure no two girls who buy from them wears the same dress at the prom. They also have a dressmaker to alter them. You make appointments with them, and can have photos taken in your dress, and they provide coffee for the parents. And it was still less than £120. I know that is still a lot of money, but I can't imagine that the £500 dress experience is vastly better.

No. My dd chose a dress from asos and i was pleased because it was cheap but also because I think that some of the expensive dresses look like older ladies on a cruise outfits. Bejewelled.

£60 for DD’s - looked so good (& was so reasonable) we bought another in a different colour to have for other events. You don’t need to spend the money unless you have it to spare.

We paid £550 for DD’s. And then £40 for it to be taken in. We had put money aside for it. Then we donated it to a place that collects them for people who are on low incomes.

My DD is not a dress girl. We got her trousers, a jacket, shirt and amazing fully fitted waistcoat. Has to pay for adjusting to her figure. Was worth the fee. She wasn't bothered about new shoes and got a lift to the venue. Got some new accessories. Maybe £150 all in, but she can wear it again. The trousers and jacket can be restyled for interviews no problem.

Bought the dress, didn't begrudge a penny.

Bloody Nora, neither of my wedding dresses cost that much 😮

DD's about £75, I haven't been able to tell who's dresses were hundreds of pounds or just a tener

Going into debt over a prom sounds actually bonkers and just… overall a bad example?? Grim.

My DD was gutted they didn’t have one due to Covid. I skipped mine, went to my older brother’s and hated it.

Thats insane there is literally loads on vinted!

my dds was @£300 but I saved a few pound weekly since she started high school so cost of dress/ hair/ tan/ makeup was easily covered after 6 years

I was prepared to spend a fair bit but all the expensive ones that she tried, she hated. She ended up getting one for £30 and looked stunning

She sold it on afterwards as well 😂

I have a long way to go before worrying about this for my 2 DDs but when I do, I think I'll set them a budget of X (probably a few £100s? Idk, a modest but not insane amount) and they can spend it as they wish for prom. If they want to blow it all on a dress, fine, but then they'll have to figure out hair/shoes/makeup themselves!

I know this will make me sound old but I think being a teenager in the 90s was a lot more fun than this. Going to Monsoon with your mum to look for a dress, then to New Look with your friends to get some shoes and jewellery, doing each other’s nails and make up while eating pizza at whoever’s house was nearest the prom venue, parents dropping you off after picking up your boyfriend on the way. It all sound so soulless now, trying to recreate some kind of social media dominated adult experience.

I did and trust me there was a queue of mums doing the same and the appointments were booked in advance for months. It was a waste of money in some ways for example the time worn etc, but I don’t regret it, my daughter was having awful time at school and it gave her a real boost.

Wow I'm glad I've got boys

"need" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here

They didn’t. For a ‘proper’ prom dress - not a nice going out dress, or something you might wear to the Christmas do - from a prom/bridal retailer, you’ve done very well to get change from £500. The hair, makeup, nails etc - it’s an experience you can buy into or not. Vinted is not as cheap as you might think, and you need to consider alterations having been done. I think it’s a ridiculous concept, but I didn’t get any change from £500 and stopped counting after the dress. But nice dresses, serviceable dresses and prom dresses all come with different price tags. And the ridiculous thing is they’ll all look lovely in a bin bag with the glow of youth and enthusiasm!

All on Vinted, £70 all in and she looked and felt marvellous. But each to their own/ their own budget.

Bollox is it, thats a choice