<p>Up til now my I have brought home every dress for every dance at school. My d is not a big shopper but enjoys new things and knows I know what will look good on her better than she does. However, prom is a different story. We will hit the Betsy Johnson outlet store during spring break and she’ll bring along a friend as well. How the heck do they keep those dresses up??? (btw…we had a talk last night about gratitude and graciousness, money, honor etc and she became sweet and redeemed herself a bit)</p>
<p>D has a dress picked out online and it somehow “magically” became the backdrop on my computer screen 
I guess that’s so I don’t forget to order it!</p>
<p>missypie and PRJ: Thansk!!! We’ll try that. I’m at my wits end with shoes. She has a juvenile bunion on one foot that makes it very hard to fit shoes (hereditary) and she has in her mind that she wants silver flats so that she can keep her shoes on when she is dancing. Most of them kick off their shoes for dancing and my D has indicated that that is just GROSS. Her word not mine. </p>
<p>D is tres picky so the dress shopping could not wait. We went to about 20 stores before she even found something that she would try on. She did step out of her comfort zone. It is a true ball dress very full. As I said it probably the last time that you can wear something like it. She’s small so she can get away with it. Last year for jr. prom we ended up ordering a maid of honors dress – very plain and it took 3.5 months for it to come in. I was worried that we would be in the same bucket this time so that is why the early start.</p>
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<p>D was very disappointed when everyone kicked off their shoes last year at drill team banquet because she loved her shoes and they felt fine, thank you very much!</p>
<p>Oh my, am I suffering with D envy right now! I asked S about the prom this morning after reading some of the posts, and he looked at me like I was crazy…“why do you care?” I mentioned the limo, the clothes, etc., and I got his usual grunt in response. Oh, to have a child who WANTED to shop or CARED about what they wore! </p>
<p>BTW, he’s had long hair for years too, and while I prefer it shorter, I must admit it does suit him. After I reminded him (no, this time I didn’t nag) that a clean shaven face might come off better in a college interview, he did shave which was nice, but that was weeks ago. I noted this morning that the moustache is gone, so now he has something of an Amish beard look. Kids!</p>
<p>D is planning on going with a group of girlfiends after prom for a long weekend in Wildwood. This will be her first time away without the comfort of mom and dad. The following month, she leaves for UCF Summer Session.</p>
<p>Things are moving quickly, maybe too quickly for me!! End of Senior year events keep popping up and filling up weekends!!! Before you know it, I’ll be waving goodbye to her in Florida!!</p>
<p>love the shoe tips…
my d and I were just doing regular shopping at Marshalls…poof she found two absolutely adorable dresses for prom…tried them on and perfect and beautiful (she’s a size 0–what is that?) they were so inexpensive we bought both so she can wear one for her prom and the other for her boyfriend’s. while my d loves dressing up she is pretty laid back about shopping and spending…she now is asking if her boyfriend can stay here (he lives up North) for prom. opinions, experiences please…</p>
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<p>If you are able to be *in control *when he is at your house, go for it. Last year Son was sort of a last minute prom goer, so he was part of a big group of kids, many of whom I did not know. After prom, the group went back to the house of a girl I’ll call “Joy” … Son and his date didn’t stay long, but Joy’s baby was due just about 9 months after prom.</p>
<p>For those of you who still have to think about college visits (and not just end of year events), according to today’s Wall Street Journal, the airlines just instituted some really low domestic fares. Assuming the Wall Street Journal is correct, but now might be a good time to make some reservations.</p>
<p>I may be in the minority here on CC and may feel really differently when my daughter is two days away from graduating, but with respect to people staying over, I suspect a good long talk about a) responsibility; b) not having sex prematurely (don’t know if that bird has already flown the coop) and not outside the context of a deeply committed relationship; and most importantly, c) the importance of using birth control is likely to be more effective than preventing the guy from staying over or pretending that having them sleep in separate rooms is going to keep them apart. I’m not advocating sex between graduating seniors but I think at this point, our ability to control behaviors we don’t like is more limited than we would like to think. So my instinct would be to say yes and focus on what you think will reduce the probability of bad outcomes.</p>
<p>I just wrote the AP check last night - they were $86 each. </p>
<p>Such a difference between girls and boys for the prom! I love reading about all the dress and shoe shopping, though. </p>
<p>S’s hair is short, but I’m hoping he will shave the mess on his face before the spring festivities!</p>
<p>lindz, I take my daughter shopping. My wife doesn’t have patience and I can use my Blackberry, find stuff that might work when she is trying stuff on, and guide choices against the way-too- revealing and toward the barely-acceptably-revealing in process. Last spring, we found a prom dress for my daughter who is also a size 0 (she’s probably 5’8" or a little more and maybe 110 lbs) for under $60 that was sexy but not revealing or inappropriate in any way and just the right color. A major coup. We found it at TJ Maxx, which is a sister store of Marshall’s. </p>
<p>This year, she decided that her (private) school’s formals are “lame” but decided that she wants to get invited to the prom at the public high school, where her brother went. If there were time for her to apply the looks and feminine charm (both of which she seems to have), she’d be going but the workload at her HS is so intense she doesn’t have time. She also doesn’t have time to go out on dates and spends social time with a couple of girlfriends who are terrific kids. We think this is really good relative to the alternatives. We’ve seen a couple of girls die in our area at all-night parties in the last few months.</p>
<p>If you have a Windsor store near you, check them out for prom/banquet dresses. Most of the banquet (tea length or short) formals are $59.99.
[Windsor:</a> Stores](<a href=“http://www.windsorstore.com/stores.aspx]Windsor:”>http://www.windsorstore.com/stores.aspx)</p>
<p>They don’t look cheap and they have a huge selection. D’s friend’s mom told me they had been looking at Neiman Marcus and I counted my blessings that D was perfectly thrilled to shop at Windsor.</p>
<p>HMW – hair down to the elbows!!! Yikes! Can hardly wait to see what S1 looks like in two weeks… I may be chasing him around the kitchen with a pair of scissors trying to trim the ends!</p>
<p>Does LLBean or Lands’ End have white chinos? I always have to hunt down for odd sizes, too. S1’s a 29/34, but that’s only because I can’t find a 27-28 waist with the length he needs.</p>
<p>We paid the AP fees last week – $85 times five, plus $5 handling fee. This is on top of the $350 in IB fees. 
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<p>I’ll add another vote for zappo’s – they carry men’s size 15 shoes, also known as aircraft carriers, for S2.</p>
<p>S2 has said nothing about prom yet. Hmmm.</p>
<p>Racha cha - My D has 2 adorable Betsy Johnson dresses from last year’s prom. Lord, were they expensive! I never thought of selling them on eBay. Great idea!</p>
<p>My sister said to check David’s Bridal for prom dresses. Anyone?</p>
<p>Son’s hair grows out - not down. Not really a 'fro, just a wild red mess. He grew his hair freshman year and it was a sight to behold. If it grew down instead, I’m sure his would be long.</p>
<p>missypie–love your prom story. I know this overnight stuff will be coming up soon. I am pretty sure S’s GF’s dad will not let her (she is only a Junior) stay at a coed one. I would be willing to host as I would stay up all night and I would be very present all over the place but the kids always choose girls houses. But I do have a question and this is how much $$$ are you giving towards the prom?
When I add the tux, flowers, dinner, etc and then look at the price of a limo (his part for a couple)…is is around $300-$400. This at a time when we keep getting on him to save for spending money in college.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is waiting patiently for the mail. Somehow March is already feeling slow.</p>
<p>D just texted me, she was invited to the junior prom, one week BEFORE her senior prom.</p>
<p>Oy!</p>
<p>How much am I giving S for the prom? That’s on his dime. Suspect he will have a bunch of folks over and cook a gourmet dinner rather than go out, though. I don’t think he cares about a limo.</p>
<p>I just scheduled an appointment to have D’s wisdom teeth pulled. Dentist has been telling us for a year to have it done and they are starting to bother her. Set up appointment in April!! Another line item to get done before going off to college OOS.</p>