Prom costs

[TakeMeToLondonTown]

Hello,

Has anyone bought the prom dress yet? How much? And, what sort of figure am I looking at for hair and make up?

Daughter has chosen a £700 dress 👗 😱! I think this is way over the top but she said it's the going rate.

Insane .. but there will def be plenty that do pay that amount. I paid £350, plus about £30 on alterations. Shoes were from New Look and she already had them. Bag and jewellery borrowed for me. Did also pay £80 for hair & make up, but in retrospect DD said she would have preferred to have done her own

DD’s dress was £300 and even that was a bit steep! Hair and makeup around £100 all together. Shoes a further £50 and spray tan £30

My daughter chose a beautiful prom dress last year from a local prom shop off of the sample sale rail. It cost £150 full price was £450. I made it clear I wouldn’t be entertaining a dress of ridiculous £££s I could afford it but it was the principle

If you're anywhere near London then Fonthill road in Finsbury Park has wholesale dress shops where the identical dresses are less than half price of the local prom dress shops

DD was perfectly happy with a "bridesmaid" dress from ASOS (it did need some slight altering) No way would I be spending hundreds, it's just one night.

£700 😂

That's completely ludicrous.

I spent around £200 and even that I think is too much!

DD1 hired a dress and DD2 got exactly what she wanted in TKMaxx. I had to have it altered slightly but even with alterations it was under £100.

Do also be prepared for the ‘after party’ dress! Luckily that’s a lot cheaper .. in our case £15 from PLT, plus existing trainers ….

Well, the reason I asked was because I'd asked her dad to pay for her prom dress (we are separated and going through a divorce). I've paid for the prom ticket and will buy the shoes, hair/make up etc. Hoping we can use my car! She had picked a dress out online a while ago at £275 and I noticed it was on sale last week. I said to her to ask her dad to buy it for her as I was paying for everything else. I didn't think it was fair that I paid for everything. Note - stbx hasn't paid any child maintenance (a claim was put in but cancelled as he said he'd have nothing to live on - so I am paying everything). Daughter lives with me. Older child (boy) is at university although home for the holidays. His suit was from Next (work to his leavers party which was a lot cheaper!! My son was happy wearing a £1 T-shirt from Primark!!

Daughter had gone to a big shopping centre (notoriously expensive for things like prom/wedding dresses) with her dad. I didn't know they were going there and what they were doing. She sent me a message to say they were going to look at prom dresses. Few hours later she sends me a pic of the dress he has bought (presumably on credit card) and she said it was £700!!! He has asked me to pay towards it! This is not the dress she had picked out, initially.

I've thought about it overnight and I'm going to refuse to contribute as it'll end up putting my bill up once I've paid for the other bits and bobs. He is acting like a Disney Dad! Can't pay child maintenance (and doesn't contribute a penny towards school costs/clothes) but will pay £700
for a dress she will wear for 4 hours. I actually think the one she saw online was a nicer dress.

I'm a bit flabbergasted tbh. Not had a girl before so wasn't aware of going rate but £700 is excessive! I'm a bit furious he took her to that shop tbh!

Insane .. but there will def be plenty that do pay that amount. I paid £350

I think £350 is insane. Those in a dress costing £350 or more won't look better than the girls who paid less than £100.

Why don't they do their own hair/make up? They've got months to practise!

No one at DD's 6th form prom turned up in a limo - just parents' cars some posher than others but no one cared.

My DD and her friends had a great time but didn't break the bank- they're not daft.

I think I'll look at her doing her own hair and make up. Like you say, there will be plenty of time available to practice!

I'll use my car too. I'm starting to think she is just manipulating people to get what she wants. No way would my mother have ever done this for me at that age.

We all move in different circles.

Personally, I think that is absolutely ludicrous.
But then I think it is ridiculous when people on MN talk about spending £150 on a face cream or £200 on a pair of shoes or £180 on a haircut. or £25K on a car. Or £3.85 on a coffee.

We are all on different budgets and all our dc mix with people who are all on different budgets - and, I think crucially, have different priorities.

Exactly. I don’t disagree that £350 is also insane! But I’m saying that there def will be those paying £700. I’m in Essex, deep in TOWIE headlands. It’s an affluent area. The majority of girls at my DD prom shopped in the local prom shops and likely spent similar to me. I know they did. We didn’t pay for any transport though. Just in our car.

£700 is insane, I'd be so angry with your ex for paying for that and then expecting you to pay towards it, meanwhile paying no maintenance.

I believe there are places you can hire prom dresses from - that could have been an option.

Definitely don't put a penny towards it and tell ex it can go someway to covering his maintenance arrears.

We paid £400
There was a range of dresses and prices among the girls with £400 not being outrageous
Did her own make up and nails
DD looked lovely and was very happy

DD's was £30 off DPOP and she sold it for £30 a week later. One of her friends had a £450 dress and DD then accidentally found it for sale on Ali Express - a lot of what you pay is for the 'fitting experience' at the shops round here. How is she paying for it? DD always knew she was buying her own dress which helps avoid this nonsense. I paid for her flights to Greece instead.

Her dad has paid on credit card. She won't be contributing as she can't hang on to her pocket money for more than 5 minutes. He fuels her being a spoilt princess. Meanwhile, he doesn't pay child maintenance and hasn't contributed
a penny towards school uniform, shoes or school costs. He is an absolute arse!

It is making life difficult for me as he gives her what she wants!

I won't be contributing to the dress. He was asked to get the one a lot less (that she'd wanted originally) but went ahead and took her for a proper fitting etc. Yes, she looked lovely (I have seen the photos) but the cheaper dress would have had the same effect as that was a much nicer dress imo!

That's what I think too!

My last one had a £10 dress, £25 pumps, a new bra to fit under it at £28 and had a haircut that she’d have had anyway but had it on prom day so it was fresh at £40. She borrowed a bag. She doesn’t wear make up.

The prom ticket itself was £26 and the copy of the yearbook £15.

Drove her there myself and picked her up.

It’s outrageous that an event can cost this much for one night for teenagers. If you take out the yearbook and the haircut it was still £89 and that’s on a relative shoestring. She has however worn the dress, shoes and bra again since.

That's brilliant! That's exactly the sort of price range we should be looking at.

My kids dresses were £50 or so - quizz for one, chichi London for the other. Nobody wore custom gowns, many wore short cocktail dresses or mens suits in fact. The boys wore from jeans to full black tie.

This was in an affluent suburb not London.

For both of mine I booked a trip to boots on the day for make up, think it was £20 but that was a voucher off make up to buy. Did own hair and painted own nails

Dress £34.99 from asos. Shoes £35 from new look. Hair free, nails £24 and make up £30

affluent London suburb, private school. Not a chance on this planet I would have entertained even £100 for a dress

Oh and I drove mine each time - I had a people carrier seating 7 and worked pt so for each we held a getting ready party at ours for up to 6 of them with "punch" (aka I didn't put alcohol in it but I led them to believe I did!) and dropped off.

For DD's leavers ball (18) parents were invited but we already had black tie stuff and dd got a dress for £30 in the sale.