@readingclaygirl I have a friend whose daughter went to a fancy private prep school and she said that the girls had a FB page for that very reason.
Many of the dress shops here āregisterā
dresses to avoid duplication , but these are extremely expensive dresses that cost almost as much as my wedding dress.
@carolinamom2boys - perhaps if your sonās group had existed at my HS, I would have had more luck getting a date 
There may be hope for me yet . Heās been texting back and forth with a girl from academic team all weekend. Fingers crossed .
@petrichor11 - I think the whole price was something like $140 per ticket, and I think it did include dinner (though since we keep kosher, DS wouldnāt have eaten the dinner anyway and he would never have requested a special meal even at full price because heās too shy - at his senior formal this winter, I requested from the classās advisors that he just pay the cost minus the meal, and that worked out ok). Iām glad DS went with a platonic friend and did not feel responsible for her ticket as well. The suburb is quite well-to-do, median income well above $500,000/yr. Theyāve always done well for us and the small number of families who need some help.
@readingclaygirl - I totally agree that purposely reserving dresses that other girls then canāt choose, is beyond silly. I always thought it was cool to accidentally be twins with my friends at school. But I gather Iām not really up on what is ācoolā.
@carolinamom2boys - the dress prices here are somewhat insane. One girl got a dress that was over a thousand dollars, and then new shoes, etc. to match. Most of the girls also do various things like waxing, expensive hair-fixing, professional makeup, and so forth. Some do professional photography as well. I saw the pictures of the beautiful people crowd because I teach most of them - my DS was in a different, more moderately-spending and nerdly crowd.
ETA: my wedding dress was only about $500, but it was in the dark ages!
There are definitely girls here who spend way too much money on prom. But not in my friend group, we are pretty practical.
The coolest kids here thrift vintage dresses and suitsā¦(imho).
How cool @dyiu13 no one here does that. But having a homemade dress certainly is different.
Eldest stepdaughter wore a vintage dress to her prom. It was a beaded gold flapper dress and she wore her hair in very tightly marceled waves. She looked amazing. Dā¦might wear a dress some day, probably at gunpoint. If she did go to prom, it would be in a tux.
@readingclaygirl I think the homemade dress sounds awesome!
I think the fb page for prom dresses is a great idea.
Amazing how kids can leverage technology nowadays.
In the old days, the girls would just have to risk 4-5 other girls wearing the same dress.
Thank you @petrichor11 Iām not a big dress person. I wore pants to the two homecoming dances I attended. Last time I wore a dress was 8th grade moving up, before that 5th grade moving up, before that a family wedding. But Iāll wear one for prom and graduation (because I donāt want to wear pants in the middle of June-no shorts allowed) I think your D would look awesome in a tux if she decides to go to prom.
Iād be surprised if our son went to the prom, but not shocked. I hope my kids donāt have the paralyzing fear of rejection that I had. By the time prom rolled around I had been rejected enough times that I was afraid to ask anybody.
Good news for D, finally! She checked her CSULB portal today and she was admitted! As others have mentioned on here, itās a super safety for her, and not where she really wants to end up, but at least sheās in somewhere.
Also, I finally submitted both the FAFSA and CSS today (to meet a deadline tomorrow for one of Dās schools) with estimated tax numbers since we still donāt have all of our tax forms. The EFC on the FAFSA was not pretty, and certainly not affordable for us. I wish I understood how their formula worked!
As far as the prom, D has talked a lot about going since last year, but Iām not sure I see that happening. As some of you might remember, she has Aspergerās and therefore, very limited friends. She had a really good friend up until this year who is part of a larger circle of both boys and girls, but that girl has basically decided not to be friends with D anymore. So if D goes to prom, she really will be all alone. Iām kind of sad about the whole thing, but I donāt really know if sheās still planning on going.
Congrats to all the recent acceptances and scholarships! And welcome to all the new folks!
S16 has no plans to go to the prom. He asked a girl to the junior year dance, but she said no and I donāt think he wants to risk getting rejected again. I think he has given up on HS girls.
@readingclaygirl D18 took sewing/fashion lessons for a few years and used design and make her own special occasion dresses in class. I loved those dresses! She used to alter everything too. She lost interest when her teacher got too busy continue with the classes. Her teacher ended up designing a dress for Katie Holmes for a Bobbi Brown campaign. Happy for her, but sad that D18 would not continue without her mentor.
And thanks for all the hugs, chocolate, etc.
@Mom2jl congrats on CSULB. We are in the same boat. For DS it is his last place school. I am kind of erked that he had not recieved the invite to the honors program or presidential scholarship but I assume all those letters have not gone out yet. I will probably approach his counselor to see what is going on. He can give the school a call. My son should have given priority because of the Long Beach Promise. I am also wondering if there might be different levels of scholarships for locals vs non and maybe that is why we have not heard.
I am also wondering if the invites they sent out to the most recent group were meant for transfers rather than freshman since they were for two years not four. I think there may be some confusion in admissions.
As for prom. Another on the spectrum here so he wonāt be going, nor does he want to!
@mom2jl. To bad we couldnāt have introduced our kids to each other and set them up for prom since we are somewhat local. I am sorry to hear about the friend that did not last. My sister is also on the spectrum and when she hit college she made her friends then, including her wife. High school didnāt really work for her.
Thanks to @carolinamom2boys D has been looking at prom dresses all day. There are Etsy designers who make lovely dresses at very reasonable rates/ A custom dress for under $100 will be the way to go, when the stores charge more than that for mass-produced ones. Iāve heard of those FB pages and reserving dresses, but I donāt know of any around here-all of Dās friends get theirs online. One friend went to two proms and got one dress online and one from a thrift store, then tailored it. D told me this afternoon itās at the same place as last year-right on the beach in a little hall. The ASB got a screaming deal on it.
@mom2jl Congrats!!! Iām sorry your D doesnāt really have friends and she would be alone at prom. Hope college is better for her. @RyanG1207 I donāt sew. My mom does-her very talented mom taught her. <:-P
@carolinamom2boys - My D16ās prom group are gamer nerds. They spent New Years Eve in my media room with an x-box and Assassins Creed. D16 and the boy who asked to the military ball put a computer together this summer.