Some of these amounts are insane. My wedding dress was a little under $500. My wedding shoes were about $15.

For a prom dress these days, I’d give my kid a budget of around $100, maybe slightly more.

I’d probably be willing to go up to $350.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

+1 Mine was $400 in 1995 and we were solidly middle class, so a lot of money. I still remember how much it meant to me that my parents got it. Prom was a no curfew, no budget night, which was completely out of character for them.

This could have been me. $400 in 1998. All of my other dance dresses had been between $100 and $150. Obviously, OP needs to stay within the family budget, but I can’t imagine that $100 buys a nice dress these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

How much was your wedding dress and how much will you budget for DD’s, say in 10 years but today’s prices?

Not OP, but my prom dress cost around the same and my wedding dress was around $8000 in 2002. It was Vera Wang.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

Are you insane?

i

WOW. That is a rude comment. If a person makes $100 a day/hour and wants to spend that on their child, fine. if someone else want to spend their $1000 daily/hourly wage on their kid that is fine too. we all have different budgets, priorities, values, expenses, salaries, etc. it’s all relative.

No it’s not all relative. It’s gluttonous. A normal family doesn’t spend $1,000 on a prom dress for a high school kid. Ridiculous.

It is all relative. We aren’t a normal family. DH makes around 800k and we live in a house that cost under a million. It’s a normal house and we drive normal cars and hardly ever vacation or eat out. If I spend 1k on a dress it doesn’t matter.

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

Same but in 1993. I remember being very excited my mom let me buy it. It was beautiful and classic. If it still fit, I wouldn’t hesitate to wear it today as it would still be stylish.

I’m not sure I’d be as willing to splurge if my daughter wanted a dress that barely covered her bum like the dresses these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

Are you insane?

I did this and there are plenty of other people that do this because the shop we were in was packed. It was 1k and then another 200 for alterations. There was a dress at bloomingdales that was a fraction of this that she loved but her size was sold out. She’s a 0 or a 2, and there wasn’t much on the floor at regular department stores in her size. It was either get something from MacDougal or go to this shop in Georgetown that had tons of dresses she could try on. I’m glad she was happy but I wish department stores still carried more for prom and homecoming.

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

+1 Mine was $400 in 1995 and we were solidly middle class, so a lot of money. I still remember how much it meant to me that my parents got it. Prom was a no curfew, no budget night, which was completely out of character for them.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think people here realize how much DC metro students spend on prom dresses. It’s a lot

yep. My daughter and I were recently looking at clearance dresses (like 20 pages worth) on the Anthropologie site. She noticed the prom dresses of a few friends who graduated last year and their dresses had been $700-800 full price. I was surprised.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just spent a bit over $500 for the dress. Shoes were cheap at only $30!

We went to a popular boutique and I don't think there was anything for less than $200.

What was the boutique? Would love to go dress shopping with mine! We’ve never done that. She buys all her clothes at target so I feel like I have a big excess in my clothing budget for her. 4 years of HS and she’s never had a dress that cost more than $60 so if she wants to splash out on this, I’m okay with it. She’s so frugal she’ll probably just pick the cheapest.

Deja Vu in Mt. Airy, MD.

It's a big destination shop for these dresses, just be prepared for it to be very busy on weekends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow!! What to do with this expensive dress after prom?!

Sell it or rent it for $50 a time. Lots of girls do this.

Literally no girl does this. Rent the Runway does this but their business model is failing. Girls definitely let others borrow dresses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter’s was $800 because we never go to stores specializing in teens, it has to be altered and we got it on sale which helped with the $250 alterations.

Not a brag we are into clothes shopping. I get why other people wouldn’t want to spend so much or even think to spend hours looking

It was a brag. A non brag would be: we don’t really set a budget.

I don’t think people here realize how much DC metro students spend on prom dresses. It’s a lot

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dress was $375 in 1992. I think it really depends. I am not looking at name brands for show but if it’s the perfect dress and it’s her only dance, I would pay close to $1000.

Are you insane?

i

WOW. That is a rude comment. If a person makes $100 a day/hour and wants to spend that on their child, fine. if someone else want to spend their $1000 daily/hourly wage on their kid that is fine too. we all have different budgets, priorities, values, expenses, salaries, etc. it’s all relative.

No it’s not all relative. It’s gluttonous. A normal family doesn’t spend $1,000 on a prom dress for a high school kid. Ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:Wow!! What to do with this expensive dress after prom?!

Wear it to a formal your freshman year of college when you join a sorority