How much is your kid's Prom costing you?

<p>Now that I think of it, this was much better than last year when this same daughter bought a dress on clearance for $35 (originally $170) and decided she wanted it tea length. I hemmed it. Then she realized she felt more glammed up in a floor length dress. Opted to wear a dress older sister had worn. Of course it needed to be hemmed-all 3 layers. She bragged about how little she had spent on a dress. Uh, yes, since the alterations are free! Thinking back over all the formals my 3 D’s have attended throughout high school, I only remember 3 dresses that did not require any alterations. Twice, wait, no three times I had to redesign the backs of dresses. I’m glad that is done with!</p>

<p>How ridiculous @ all the $200+ shoes. This is prom night; your children aren’t winning an Oscar.</p>

<p>Almost $300:
Dress - $150
Hairdo - $55
Picture -$35
Shoes - $50 ( finally finished up with old ones realizing she will be taller her date :slight_smile:
Tickets ( $100 each) were on date.</p>

<p>it’s times like these when i’m glad my stepdads mom owns a limo company =)</p>

<p>bethie, S1 did not care to go to the prom, either. Went to a “bad movie night” at a friend’s house!</p>

<p>Shoes… the girls just kick them off the minute they start dancing anyway. D’s were $30 from DSW. Some girls here wear flip-flops. With those long dresses you can’t see them anyway.</p>

<p>I thought my D looked beautiful even though she didn’t get her hair and nails professionally done or buy an expensive dress. At their age, with their youth and beauty they don’t need couture dresses which actually make them look dowdy.</p>

<p>For some reason the girls in our town all still harbor Disney-Princess fantasies. Looking at prom photos from other towns (thank you Facebook, and D for showing her friends’ photos to me), most of the girls are wearing sleek/sexy gowns. But in our town, most girls are still going for the poofy Belle/Cinderella gowns. They ain’t cheap, but they are more “innocent” and younger looking than some of the slinky/sleek/sexy gowns with plunging necklines and/or LOW backs, that look like they came directly from the red carpet at the Oscars. </p>

<p>I told D she could do what she wanted, but she could wear a sleek dress any time in her 20’s and beyond, and the only other time in her life she could wear a poofy dress would be on her wedding day. D’s dress is a compromise. It’s fitted to the hip, and then has a small amount of poof (only one crinoline) at the bottom. She’s shown me photos of several other girls who are wearing similar dresses. (The Disney princess dresses start poofing out at the waist, with multiple layers of crinolines, and gathers).</p>

<p>There was an article in the LA Times this morning about schools, students and families opting for a cheaper prom. It mentioned that the proms of today were started in the era of the conspicuous consumption 1980s. I wonder if the bad economic times of Ought-Nine will change the prom culture going forward.</p>

<p>[Opting</a> for prom without all the frills - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prom25-2009apr25,0,1991197.story]Opting”>http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prom25-2009apr25,0,1991197.story)</p>

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<p>I never went, so i wouldn’t know. :)</p>

<p>Son didn’t go to junior prom, which was last night. Asked a girl, initially said yes, but she’d check her schedule, then said she wasn’t interested. Not a dancer.</p>

<p>He was fine with it, but I was crushed. </p>

<p>Last night, at a crawfish boil with other parents, talked about how they bought a tux, went to dinner, then a party afterwards.</p>

<p>Husband and I looked at each other and said, Boy, glad he didn’t go. </p>

<p>Forgot about that party stuff.</p>

<p>With jazz fest this weekend and tons of drunks on the road, don’t need that worry.</p>

<p>I’ll still be driving him when he’s a senior, I think.</p>

<p>i am the mother of a daughter who spent an obscene amount of money on a dress. she paid for it. to this day i think it was a colossal waste of money. but she doesn’t. she remembers the prom with pleasure and a smile. i’ll take that.</p>

<p>woah i do not understand how some people are finding <$200 dresses. all the ones I’ve seen at a decent price are like tacky, taffeta, typical prom dresses :confused:
plus most girls here wear long dresses, which are usually more expensive and less versatile
mine is nicole miller, which i got ON SALE for $395 (plus $20 shipping)</p>

<p>mother’s jewelry
not sure about the shoes yet, hopefully not more than $60
tickets are around $70 i think, including dinner
limo will probably be around $80
nails around $30
i’ve never gotten my makeup done, i’ll probably do it myself
i’ve never gotten my hair either, but i’m considering it, i’m not sure how much it usually goes for, probably $60ish
and i’m not sure how much after prom will be</p>

<p>so total will probably be around $6-700 i’m guessing
fabulous, what a waste of money
i’ll probably pay for half so that my parents don’t have a heart attack</p>

<p>I haven’t bought my dress yet, but probably ~$300-$400 for that
plus ~$60 for the shoes
$8 for the manicure (yay for wee asian salon)
Doing my own pedicure
Date pays the bid (hopefully; don’t know who I’m going with yet)
No limo; we’re in the suburbs and prom is on a boat in SF bay, and to avoid drinking&driving/crazy SF hotel parties, we are required to take these lovely buses out to SF, whose cost is included in bid.
Dinner also included in bid.
Worst case scenario I get a date who wants to split, bids are like 60 a person.</p>

<p>So probably 500 bucks, although it’s totally up in the air as I don’t have a DRESS/DATE yet. (this is what happens when it takes you 3 months to get out of an emotional trainwreck of a breakup)</p>

<p>My DD went to two proms. Each dress cost under $25, bought on clearance months beforehand, one of them was borrowed. She bought her senior prom dress in the fall of junior year while at an out of state wedding. </p>

<p>She went to 6 high school formals and spent $225 on dresses for all of them. She wore one twice because we moved, borrowed dresses for a couple and wore the $25 dresses. The senior year homecoming dress was the most expensive at $150. </p>

<p>Shoes were $10 silver flats or whatever she already had that matched. No one sees them anyway. She never got her hair or nails done.</p>

<p>It can be done.</p>

<p>Twins
Daughter
dress = $350
shoes = $50
hair = $50
ticket - $125
limo = $150</p>

<p>Son
Tux = $80
Limo $230
Ticket = $125
Already has shoes
Hair = $20</p>

<p>At my kids school, the custom is to go to someone’s house for “pre-prom.” Parents are invited to take pictures. The host will serve appetizers. Then all the kids get into their hired limo to go to the dance. After the dance, the kids go to “after prom” which runs the gambit from going to a comedy club to renting a beach house for the weekend. I did not include the prices of the “pre-prom” and “after prom” as my kids have to foot that bill.</p>

<p>My son’s prom was last night. He invited a girl-friend, but since she’s a former, not current, student at his school, we paid for both tickets @ $45 each including dinner. He bought her a corsage $10 at the florist in the supermarket, sweet white roses, and his tux rental was $90. IIRC his brother’s tux rentals were substantially more – this was a different place we rented from and I was afraid it would be a <em>lot</em> of money, and it was much less. Rented from a local upscale menswear shop, not a tuxedo mill, FWIW.</p>

<p>Oh yes, drove himself. Limo couldn’t be coordinated with all the kids from all the different towns and different schedules. He attends a small private school. Gas cost approximately $5 according to Mapquest!</p>

<p>Total – $200</p>

<p>I am happy to be free from proms this year , after having three years and two daughters going…and spending. Last year was the year that my then senior decided to wear her sister’s dress. Her date paid for the tickets. Someone’s uncle owned a party bus that was a freebie. My hairdresser did a business trade that got her hair done and makeup.
She bought her own shoes…I didn’t pay a dime last year, but paid a lot in previous years :wink:
It was the best prom she ever went to and she even got onto the prom court</p>

<p>I miss those days! No more prom dresses for us. My daughter and I had a great time shopping for all of the things she needed. Yes, it was expensive, but I wouldn’t change a thing! Memories . . .</p>