Prom Dresses

[MKCP5]

Boy oh Boy. Prom. What a money pit!!! We have a VERY limited budget to give our daughter for her prom and it is becoming SO discouraging. There are ALOT of dresses online you can order from China at half the cost of the dresses in the store, but I am VERY skeptical about the quality and fit of these dresses. Anyone have experience with that? Anyone have any ideas where we can shop and pull it together without having the $500 it seems like we are going to need?

Let me just say we have looked at consignment, so far no luck, but will continue to check back and see what they have. Also, we just heard about a Beccas closet even not far from us this weekend. We have asked for an appointment but dont know if we will get one because we heard about it so late

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[englishteacha]

Can she borrow a dress from a friend or relative? What about stores like JC Penney or Deb?

 

[MKCP5]

Working on finding a dress from someone else. Hopefully we can find something. Unbelieveably JCPenney prom runs $225-$400 BEFORE alterations! Can check at Deb--maybe they are more reasonable.

 

[mjkacmom]

You can rent one online - runwayrentals, or something like that? Dd16 will wear the dress we got her to the junior formal last year to the junior formal this year (different boyfriend), but needs one for the new boyfriend's prom. I asked her if she could wear it to both, but she insists she is taking one for the team wearing it again this year. Unfortunately, I hate this dress. She found a dress online that she loves, but they don't take returns, even if it doesn't fit. There is a local place (that has an online site) with tons of dresses, but yes, they're expensive!

 

[Disneyaunt4]

The Debs around us just went out of business, if they are all going out of business you could find good buys.

 

[swkmom]

We found our daughter's prom dress at David's Bridal for $169 plus they were giving out scratch off coupons and we got $20 more off the price for a total of $149. They also had some pretty dresses for $99. We found jewelry for $24 and she had a pair of shoes she wore to a wedding once that actually match the dress. We did buy a pair of silver flip flops at Payless for her to wear after her pictures (she hates heels). We will have to pay for alterations but I think we've done pretty well price wise so far. One boutique we went to had prom dresses ranging from $400-$1600. I couldn't imagine paying that much for a prom dress.

 

[Earstou]

One year my dd found a wedding dress at Goodwill. She dyed it a mint green and took some of the layers of netting off of it (so it wasn't so pouffy).
It was gorgeous and cheaper than the prom dresses in the stores!

 

[Darcy03231]

Our JC Penney has the prom dresses right in the store. They run under $200 with the bulk of them being around $150.

Also, check eBay. DD bought a beautiful dress for junior prom for $50.

 

[MKCP5]

just checked out runwayrentals.com They are pretty, but more mature. Think 28 year old invited to a formal wedding.
Maybe we will hit davids bridal soon. I am just overwhelmed by what people spend for this night. Of course I want it to be special, and she is a good kid who is willing to bargain and thrift store shop and pay for part of it herself from babysitting $, but the pressure is rough!! Many of her friends have already bought $400 and $500 gowns! Then they post them on a special Prom 2013 Facebook page so that no one else will be wearing the same one!! This is all before you buy your tickets, shoes, get your hair or nails done (we will be doing those at home or with a friend!) It's very hard

 

[MrsPete]

The real key is NOT shopping right now, at the height of prom season. Great deals can be had in January (just after New Year's) and in June (just after prom season). That doesn't help you now, of course, but it's a hint for anyone who's thinking of the future.

If it helps at all, I'm seeing a small but growing number of girls who are wearing short dressy-dresses instead of true formals -- they call them semi-formals, but that's not really what they are. Those dresses can be had for MUCH less; my youngest recently picked up a great one (tan with black lace, so "her") from a clearance table for $20. Even when they're not on sale, they tend to be $50-75.

It's not necessary to think you must spend $500. I think that's really a top-range number. My oldest's first prom dress cost $200, her second came from a clearance rack for $50. Both times she wore old shoes that she already had and carried a purse of mine.

 

[nhmommy]

If you can sell her on a less expensive plain well fitting dress and dress it up with great accessories and shoes that would save some money and accessories and shoes are more likely to be worn again also try Facebook yard sale sites for second hand if you put out an ISO "in search of" for example a blue size 10 floor length gown for prom people usually will send you pics there are lots of people with bridesmaid and prom dresses in their closets they don't know what to do with.

Also hair at the local beauty school is a big money saver

 

[MKCP5]

If you can sell her on a less expensive plain well fitting dress and dress it up with great accessories and shoes that would save some money and accessories and shoes are more likely to be worn again also try Facebook yard sale sites for second hand if you put out an ISO "in search of" for example a blue size 10 floor length gown for prom people usually will send you pics there are lots of people with bridesmaid and prom dresses in their closets they don't know what to do with.

fb yard sale sites? Not familiar with that. Do I search on FB?

 

[Denise W]

We always shopped Deb right after prom season and got several dresses for $10-$20. We saved them and she had dresses for several proms! Their website shows lots of dresses available.

Denise

 

[Jenny-momof3]

My oldest is a senior this year and has been to many formal dances. The most I've paid for one of her dresses is $180. The cheapestwas $79. All were bought at Macy's, Penney's, Deb and Dilliards.

No way am I shelling out $400-$500 for ONE dress!

 

[Kat77]

I can't tell where you are located so my idea may not work. I'm in Texas where larger flea markets have stalls selling cheap formal dresses for Quinceaneras. They are not made of quality material, but do hold up for one night.

 

[powellrj]

We just bought DDs prom dress on Saturday. I took her and a friend plus my DDIL with us.

We started at a prom shop where she fell in love with a $400 dress. That is not happening since I am no longer working. Since we were close to a mall, DDIL convinced the girls to try Macys, Pennys and Deb. I will say I was a Deb snob. I never look there for clothes for either of us because its just not our taste. DDs BFF found her dress at Macys. Her mom came and checked it out and paid for it. We stopped at several little shops in the mall and still didn't find anything so we went to Deb. I was shocked. It had a huge selection of prom dresses and more than half of what other stores wanted. She saw lots of people she knew in there also shopping for prom dresses. After trying on every dress in the store (not really, it just seemed like it) she found 2 she liked. One she loved but it was way too big in the bust and I wasn't sure it could be taken in and the one we decided on. http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aah...361648975378/images/prom2013_asseenin_one.jpg

Its the coral one in the ad.

Several of her friends bought China dresses last year only to get them and find they were too small.

I looked at used dresses, but to be honest, most weren't cheap enough for me to consider. I feel you need to mark it down at least 1/2 off and most were only $50 or so less than they paid.

A few friends also bought off season last year only to decide they didn't like the dress now and were shopping again.

We are now dealing with shoes. She wears a size 12 which really limits what you can find. She wants to wear glitter vans, which I may end up letting her do because she knows they fit. They are sized for men and she can wear the 11 1/2. She has her glittery shoes from last year she can wear for pictures so then she can just wear the vans for prom. They hurt her feet too much to wear all night.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Do you have a JCPenny outlet store near by? They have a lot of deeply discounted dresses. Even it you have to travel an hour or two it would be worth it. Plus you might get to pick up some other deals at the JCP outlet on summer clothes/ shoes ect that would make the trip worth it.

Also look at JCP.com the clearance section has some nice dresses

 

[cheer25mom]

You can do it for about $200 if you shop smart. David's usually has something on clearance, and if your store doesn't have your size in stock they will find a store that does and have it shipped, for free! We did it for my sister for a mardi gras ball a few years ago and got a dress for $49. Try some of the smaller bridal shops in the area. A lot of times they will sell off bridesmaids samples cheap and some of them will work for prom. Shoes can come fro payless. They are only gonig to be worn one night for a short time. Look at black or silver fancy shoes rather than dye to match. Rhinestone jewelery is much cheaper in the bridal sctions of craft stores like Michaels than at the shops. You can also try dancewear shops as it tends to be cheaper there.

 

[kim929]

I have 2 dd's so I feel your pain. What we did for my dd first prom we borrowed my nieces dress. We are lucky she has 3 older cousins that have gone to a lot of proms so she had a good variety to choose from.
We bought her Sr Prom gown at Deb. My ds gf bought hers at Burlington Coat Factory she only paid 60.00 for it.
My niece is a High School teacher. One girl couldn't afford a dress so she asked me if the girl could borrow my oldest dd prom gown.
If your dd's bff went to other proms, could she borrow the one she wore last year.
When my dd was in hairdresser school, a lot of girls made appointments with them for their updo's since it is so much cheaper then a regular hair salon. Before anyone can leave the school, the teachers have to inspect the stylest work.

 

[angierae]

We have bought 4 Homecoming dresses at Deb and never paid more than $125. (Including this year, when she was on Homecoming Court) We will go a little higher for prom but I am certainly not spending $500.

DD is 4'10" so if she wants a long formal, we'll also be paying for alterations.