The Student Room Group
I spent less than £60 for my year 11 prom (which was 6 years ago though), lipsy dress off of ebay and shoes in the debenhams sale. Reasonable is whatever you can afford really.

Original post by lanababe78
hiya,

i was just wondering, how much money is reasonable to spend on a prom dress? also, if you've been to prom, how much did you spend?

thank you!
Original post by lanababe78
hiya,

i was just wondering, how much money is reasonable to spend on a prom dress? also, if you've been to prom, how much did you spend?

thank you!


So I think it depends if it's the y11 prom or y13 prom...
I bought a dress from depop for £20 for my year eleven prom, borrowed heels from a friend, and got my makeup done for free at a Bobbi Brown counter

For my y13 prom I spent about £50 on a dress from Asos and bought some heels to go with it

It's so so not worth spending loads of money when you can get something equally as nice for half the price. Girls at my school were buying £400 dresses from bridal shops and looked no better than the girls buying them second hand, it's one night so I don't see the point
Reply 3
Original post by lanababe78
hiya,

i was just wondering, how much money is reasonable to spend on a prom dress? also, if you've been to prom, how much did you spend?

thank you!


Mostly depends on how much you can afford. I spent about £50 for my yr11 ball, plus a little extra for the finishing touches. Probably about £80 in total.
Imo anything between £30 and £100 for the whole shebang (what a word!) is reasonable. Anything over £100 is just pointless for one night.
I would say a £30 to £60 for dress plus maybe £20 to £40 for shoes, handbag etc.

That said, time has passed since mine and I'm not too sure what the average dress, heels etc cost. Probably around that though. Dress should be the most expensive thing so get one you like and see where you're at. Anything like shoes is just a side. :smile:
Reply 4
I didn’t go to yr 11

Sixth form I was meant to but was too ill, but £6 dress at ASDA, £4 cardigan from new look, so £10...

I think it’s pointless spending so much on one dress for one day!
In my year 11 prom in June, I spent £160 on a dress, £50 on my hair, did my own makeup as I hate how others do my really hooded eyes haha and £25 on shoes from newlook.

My dress was from jjshouse.com and I got MANY compliments despite paying almost half of most of the other girls dresses. I chose my dress because I loved the colour and style, the price was a bonus!! I recommend looking on jjshouse as you can get dresses for £50 (this isn't a plug lmao I just really like the website)

Don't got spending £300 on a dress for one night as some of my friends done, some of their dresses got ripped and they were devastated.
Reply 6
Original post by Kindred
Mostly depends on how much you can afford. I spent about £50 for my yr11 ball, plus a little extra for the finishing touches. Probably about £80 in total.
Imo anything between £30 and £100 for the whole shebang (what a word!) is reasonable. Anything over £100 is just pointless for one night.
I would say a £30 to £60 for dress plus maybe £20 to £40 for shoes, handbag etc.

That said, time has passed since mine and I'm not too sure what the average dress, heels etc cost. Probably around that though. Dress should be the most expensive thing so get one you like and see where you're at. Anything like shoes is just a side. :smile:


thank you so much! i will definitely take this in to consideration!
p.s. 'shebang' is a great word :wink:
Reply 7
Original post by Kindred
Mostly depends on how much you can afford. I spent about £50 for my yr11 ball, plus a little extra for the finishing touches. Probably about £80 in total.
Imo anything between £30 and £100 for the whole shebang (what a word!) is reasonable. Anything over £100 is just pointless for one night.
I would say a £30 to £60 for dress plus maybe £20 to £40 for shoes, handbag etc.

That said, time has passed since mine and I'm not too sure what the average dress, heels etc cost. Probably around that though. Dress should be the most expensive thing so get one you like and see where you're at. Anything like shoes is just a side. :smile:


i totally get what you mean; £100+ is an awful lot to spend on one night. but thank you so much for the reply!