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That's great, but how many HS students already own a tux or know how to make their own dress? Nothing wrong with it, I'm just saying it's not the norm.
Maybe--but who buys a $300.00 gown for a teenager?? My dress for my son's wedding was only $98.00 on sale. Renting a tux can be 60 plus. Driving a parent's car --free. Flowers 45-- Even if tickets add up to $200, how does it get to $1000.00, if you are not being excessive??
Does no one learn to sew any more?? I like to design and embellish my own clothes.
Just another thought--there are Rosses, Marshall's, TJ Max, Nordstrum Rax Last call, --lots of designer gowns cheap. Why waste money ?? I guess the way I was raised, the way we live and the way my son and daughter in law live,it is waste not want not. I have seen the show say yes to the dress and just shake my head. so much needless waste.
Maybe--but who buys a $300.00 gown for a teenager?? My dress for my son's wedding was only $98.00 on sale. Renting a tux can be 60 plus. Driving a parent's car --free. Flowers 45-- Even if tickets add up to $200, how does it get to $1000.00, if you are not being excessive??
Does no one learn to sew any more?? I like to design and embellish my own clothes.
My sister's dress cost about $400 last year. The one she wants for this year is even more.
It's not common around these parts, but I've heard many times in several regions of the country, students will rent hotels or beach-side cabins, etc., for prom night. Add this into the extended Hummer limos, the shoes, the meal, etc., and you have one expensive night.
Luckily, I did not go to prom in high school, so I spared my parents that expense. It very well could have been why they were so willing to drop $1500 for my trip to Costa Rica with my Spanish class. My brother dropped out of high school before he could be concerned about prom, but my sister went last year, as well as the year before (her sophomore year). I don't know if my mother / sister spent $1,000, but it's certainly an expensive proposition.
This is especially evident in the Northeast and South, which have a tradition of formal coming-of-age parties. Average spending by families with teens attending prom is considerably higher than in other parts of the country, with families in the South expected to spend about $1,047, while Northeastern families will spend an average of almost $2,000, according to the Visa survey. In the West and Midwest, families will spend an average of $744 and $696, respectively, the survey found.
I spent about $250. And it was my own money. What are they buying with this $1000? My dress was $150 at the local mall shoes about $30 accesories about $50 and about $20 on makeup.
You put $20. worth of makeup on your face for one night and didn't have any left over??? Do you still own the accessories?? did you use them again?? Oh then if you still used the stuff It really didn't cost the whole amount for one night.
I didnt attend prom, as I attended from a remote college location. But kids that went to the high school that I was friends with did. A guy spends 75 on a suit/tux. Girl spends 100-200 on a nice, moderately priced dress. Hair/nails- 50-75. Flowers 40. Dinner 60. Limo/party bus- 100-200 per couple, usually a couple of them. Tickets 75 each, 150 a couple. And we lived at the beach and there was an afterparty, booze free on the beach with bonfires and food, 20 per person. Then sex-seperated hotel rooms on the beach (school sponsored event) that was another 50 per person. Its easy to spend 1000 on prom when all the expenses come into play.
As far as people saying kids can pay for it themselves. I wouldnt do an all out for 3 or 4 years of high school, as some kids attend all 4 years but if its his big hoorah at the end of senior year, last big thing before college or the real world. Yeah I wouldnt make him pay for it himself. I sort of consider it a high school related cost, a rite of passage.
I didnt attend prom, as I attended from a remote college location. But kids that went to the high school that I was friends with did. A guy spends 75 on a suit/tux. Girl spends 100-200 on a nice, moderately priced dress. Hair/nails- 50-75. Flowers 40. Dinner 60. Limo/party bus- 100-200 per couple, usually a couple of them. Tickets 75 each, 150 a couple. And we lived at the beach and there was an afterparty, booze free on the beach with bonfires and food, 20 per person. Then sex-seperated hotel rooms on the beach (school sponsored event) that was another 50 per person. Its easy to spend 1000 on prom when all the expenses come into play.
As far as people saying kids can pay for it themselves. I wouldnt do an all out for 3 or 4 years of high school, as some kids attend all 4 years but if its his big hoorah at the end of senior year, last big thing before college or the real world. Yeah I wouldnt make him pay for it himself. I sort of consider it a high school related cost, a rite of passage.
OK for those of us more than a few years out of high school---don't you think prom is one of those things that are blown way out of proportion? I mean at the time it seems to be the be all and end all of a high schoolers life but with a bit of distance it really was not as important as we thought it would be and the expectation is way more than the value of the experience. Heck, for both my kids the night after prom they both said "Is that all there is?" Both went when they were juniors but ran as far away from it as they could their senior years. I did the same thing.
I think peer pressure pushes a lot of kids to go into debt for prom and most are disappointed in it.
Back in the dark ages some of us could make our own dresses. A good friend made a beautiful dress out of her father's silk WWII parachute! It was featured in the newspaper and she submitted it for competition in a national sewing competition. She eventually became an editor at a well know national fashion magazine and went on to a national shelter magazine. She even altered it for her daughter to wear to her prom. And I'll bet her granddaughter will wear it some day. Those parachutes had to be quite sturdy.
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