Prom budget for a boy

[GoodyGoodyGumdrops]

First timer, here!

What sort of costs should we be expecting?

Any pros/cons re buying V hiring a suit? Any recommendations where to look?

What extras do I need to be aware of? Ds doesn't have a girlfriend, and I don't think his friendship group are bothered about having 'dates' for the prom.

What about getting there? How do these things get organised?

What don't I know, and need to know?

And do you expect them to contribute?

Suit was £90 ish from top man. Borrowed shirt brother, tie from dad, New shoes £20 in sale. He and his friends got an Uber!

Argh - shoes! I hadn't thought of them. Well, he'd need new school shoes by September, anyway.

So probably about £150? Unless we get lucky with a sale. I was thinking of trawling H&M, Primark, Burtons, Topshop. Where else might be worth looking?

Is it worth hiring, I wonder?

Tk max, moss, John Lewis sale,
You can get very cheap suits in Tesco but ds wasn't having that!

Ds prom suit was a black one from Topman which he has worn again , about £100. Black school shoes and a new white shirt. Next also do slim fit and different length trousers.

All from eBay, tux jacket £22, shirt £8, bow tie & pocket square £6, dress shoes £20, cufflinks £8 train fare £4.20, so all in for less than £70

Matalan have fab trendy suits, start at about £65.

Ticket: about £30.
Haircut: £12.
Suit, shirt & tie: came to under £100
Shoes: he borrowed from his dad.
Transport: he asked me to give him and his friend a lift, but I got a puncture, so they got a minicab, which they paid for themselves.
Photos: digital access included in ticket price.
Refreshments & decorations for after-party: I contributed £10 towards this.

So in total about £150. He was able to use the suit for sixth form.

Charity shop - no suits ever got worn out.

What sort of costs should we be expecting? Up to you - it's a long piece of string!

Any pros/cons re buying V hiring a suit? Any recommendations where to look? Much cheaper to buy. Loads in charity shops as lads just shoot up at that age. In theory they could wear the same suit to any formal occasions for months to come (unlike most of the girls' prom dresses) - if he's going to a 6th form with 'business dress' even more so, however, he'll likely have it about a month and then grow another 3". Matalan are good. Slaters are good if you have one near (will do alterations too in the price) and I think they might have a website.

What extras do I need to be aware of? Ds doesn't have a girlfriend, and I don't think his friendship group are bothered about having 'dates' for the prom. IME, proms in UK are not about 'dates'. They go as groups of friends. At both ds and dd's schools only pupils from the school could go, so even if you did have a girlfriend/ boyfriend they weren't allowed to go anyway unless they were at same school. It's more about celebrating with the friends you've been at school with for 5 years. Only other expenses are things like the tie, shirt, shoes - will depend what he already has or hasn't got.

What about getting there? How do these things get organised? Mostly you drop them off or they go on bus or taxi. As it happens, someone in ds's friendship group 's parents mate owned a lime and they chose to all put in a tenner and got taken in style. It was nice as one set of parents invited us all there (lads + parents) for a drink first and we all took photos of them looking smart for once, out in their garden. Majority arrived just in parents cars though, or a taxi between them.

What don't I know, and need to know? I picked up 6 lads (has a 7 seater then) and had to go home via chip shop as were all "starving" as said the meal wasn't filling enough and the hadn't eaten at all in the last 2 hours before I picked them up
The other thing was they had a photographer on site who produced photos by the end of the night. In ds's case one was included in price of the ticket, but they were able to buy others (eg a group of friends , or, I suppose a couple) on the night so might want cash for that and will need cash for drinks - some of the places they use can be fancy hotel prices.

And do you expect them to contribute? No. Well, I didn't. Oh, except they did for the limo as they decided to do that together.