THE PRICE OF A PROM*

Prom is becoming a very big thing for all teen school leavers in the UK. Each year, the amount that people spend on prom in the UK is increasing significantly. You would be surprised to hear the price of prom for many young teens. As I am in year 11 and have finished my GCSEs, I have just had prom too. I have to admit that it was a lot more 'fancy' and extravagant than I had actually anticipated it being. Ours took place in a very posh hotel with a buffet which consisted of very delicate food. The tables were also decorated very elegantly with wine glasses, a white table cloth and tiny little stars scattered all over the table. It was more jazzy than anything I have ever been to. I felt like a princess for a few hours. We stood out on the balcony with the sun shining down on us all. It was truly beautiful.

I wore a quite plain outfit, not the typical prom dress, but I still felt prom-worthy. I chose not to wear a dress due to the fact that a dress isn't what I wanted. I wanted something pretty but not a dress. On that basis, I decided to get a jumpsuit. Obviously, it is not the traditional thing to do, but I did receive many complements with people saying that they loved it! I definitely felt much more confident in it then I would have in a dress. I guess it is all personal opinion. All that mattered to me was that I was comfortable and content with how I looked.

Prom took up a lot of time before the 'big day', although I didn't faff around with all of the spray tanning and getting my makeup done. On the Wednesday before prom I had my nails done. I had a pink neutral gel nail on my fingers and a similar normal colour on my toes. On Thursday afternoon I had my hair done. I had a little bow with some curls and it was very pretty; small but elegant. My outfit was from Quiz and only cost about £37, which is very cheap for a prom dress. My shoes were from New Look and were about £35, which is also not a bad price. In total I spent about £143 on prom, including the prom ticket. That does seem like an extortionate amount, but I know for a fact now that it is actually quite a small sum compared to others.

Although we all think of the US as the 'big prom leaders', I think that the UK are beginning to catch up. Prom prices are increasing fast and dresses are becoming more glitz and glam. I don't really know if there is a difference between the US and UK proms anymore. Some research from MyVoucherCodes that I came across shows that in the UK, the average price spent on a prom is between £50 and £100. Compared to the US, which is between $75 and $150, this shows that the UK are catching up with them in terms with how much we spend on prom outfits. Along with those statistics it shows that 15% of people in the UK and US spend over £300 and $300 on outfits.

It is just crazy to think how much people will fork out for a prom that lasts a night. This research also found out what prom dresses people planned to buy - 26% wanted designer, 18% wanted a custom outfit and 10% were looking for hand made dresses. I would guess that this is probably why so many girls spend such a large amount of money on prom outfits. Typically, girls tend to spend more on prom than boys. Fake tan, nails, hair and makeup claims half of the money for the girls, while the boys tend to just get a suit and sometimes get their hair done. If you want to read more about this topic, here is the article I used - click here

Although prom can be very expensive, it is definitely one of the most enjoyable and memorable moments to look back on! It is a time that you will never forget. How much would you spend on a prom? What do you think your budget would be?