Is Consumer Culture Becoming the Focal Point of Prom?

Is it worth it?// Approaching prom night raises excitement for many, but not without controversy. Since the last decade, people have gone out of their way to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars for prom night, which raises the question: is materialism taking over this one-night experience? (Photo by Jenai Atherall)

As prom night quickly approaches, many people are getting excited about the event—but the prices on the other hand? Not so much. While prom is an exciting time to make memories, it can be a moment that your wallet dreads. Ranging from $40-$60, the tickets are already pretty costly on the front end, without taking into consideration all the other things that come with going to prom, such as dresses and suits, food, hair, makeup, etc. This begs the question, is a one-night experience worth all of that money?

“With elaborately staged “promposals,” lavish before-and-after parties, Say Yes to the Dress-esque expensive gowns, the prom can resemble red carpet events,” The Washington Post explained. “One Philadelphia mother spent $27,000 on a pre-prom send-off party that included a Cinderella-themed castle. It’s easy to roll our eyes at one-upmanship spending sprees for proms, but there is a lot of peer pressure to upscale many of life’s special occasions.”

First off, let’s break down the costs. As mentioned, the tickets to go to prom for just one person begin at $40, and on the night of, it will cost up to $60. Though these aren’t the worst prices for tickets, $60 doesn’t account for all the other factors that come with prom. Oftentimes, prom dresses and suits can cost anywhere from $100 on the cheaper end, to over $1,000 for designer brands. Cheap? Not by a long shot. Unlike a lot of girls, however, boys tend to rent suits out for the night, which in this case, can cost between $80-$250, slightly cutting down the cost. Additional costs, however, for other things like shoes or bags can add another $20-$150 to the mix. Already, this brings the average costs to around $145-$190 at the very cheapest, and if jewelry is accounted for, that base cost could be even higher. 

Along with getting all the pieces of the outfit for the night, oftentimes, the night comes with getting hair and makeup professionally done. Many opt to do it at home, but many others also desire to get it done for the photos, which are also an additional cost. While oftentimes boys don’t opt to get their hair done and don’t get makeup done, for girls, this part can get pretty pricey. From simple to complex hairstyles, this can cost between $70-$200 for most girls. Meanwhile, to get a full face of makeup done can cost anywhere from $30 to $150. Along with hair and makeup, to capture the memories, most people also opt for photos. Although shorter sessions cost about $50-$100, longer ones can last between 1-2 hours and can cost anywhere from $250-$600. 

While these tend to be the more common things people get, for people opting for a fancier night, costs may also include getting food afterward, potentially getting an Uber or even limos for transportation, and even bouquets or corsages for prom dates. Assuming you opt for a dinner for two somewhere in the District, dinner can cost anywhere from $100-$150. Not to mention, $20 can be the normal cost for an Uber, meanwhile, renting a limo can cost between $85-$250 per hour. Lastly, flowers can cost anywhere from $50-$250 depending on the size and quality of your flowers. 

Given this additional information regarding costs and prom, when taking into account all of these costs and the cheapest ends of them, it can bring the cost to around $490 dollars for a full night, and given the most expensive options, this can cost up to $3,210 for just one night. To put that into perspective, with $3,210, you could buy 4 iPhone 16 models. While it’s true that most people don’t tend to spend that much on prom night, even the average between both ends of the spectrum would bring you to $1,850, and the amount of these costs truly begs the question of what prom has become in America?

“According to a 2015 survey from Visa, Northeastern U.S. families will spend an average of $738 on prom night,” Inkling News explained. “Adding on this additional fee to be let inside an outdoor tent after all that spending will obviously initiate complaints.”

Having been so expensive even then, there is no doubt that in the last decade, due to things like inflation, that cost has skyrocketed even further. Yet, money isn’t the only valuable thing lost with prom. Another thing is time. Most people spend weeks, if not months, searching for the “perfect” prom dress, and spend even longer practicing the hair and makeup they want to do for the night. So much so that rather than becoming a fun and enjoyable experience that prom should be, it becomes a stressful and expensive one. People end up spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, to look perfect for an event that only lasts a few hours. While trying to make the night special by looking nice is not the problem, making how you look and how much you spend the focal point of the event is. 

In reality, prom is meant to be a special night, and it is absolutely not wrong to want to spend a little bit more than you normally would on your everyday outfit for a special occasion; however, if the only reason why you find prom special is because of your dress or because of the materials in it, that is when it becomes toxic. At its root, prom is about the people you are spending it with, whether that be a date, friends, or whether that be just with yourself. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, and by making prom an out-of-reach, expensive event, we make it more about what people look like and what they can afford, versus who they are and the fun memories that can be made with them.

“Restraint when it comes to prom spending, even if you can afford to go all out, keeps the focus on the reason for this rite of passage — having fun with friends rather than trying to show off,” The Washington Post added. 

At the end of the day, there is absolutely nothing wrong or distasteful about prom, and that is exactly the point. Prom is meant to be a wholesome night full of fun and experiences, but prom is also truly what you make of it. While people can make it this beautiful experience, they can also turn it into a toxic one. The point in saying all of this is to shed light on the fact that many people, especially in the last decade, have made prom more about the price tag and the aesthetics, rather than the night of fun and socializing that it was intended to be. Materialism and consumer culture, particularly in the U.S., have been the catalyst for a lot of this, but it doesn’t have to continue to be. By being less nitpicky on the specific store your dress comes from, maybe choosing to carpool with your friends rather than getting a limo, or even making less costly plans post-prom, little by little, your focus becomes more on the things that actually matter. By restraining that need to perform or appear a certain way and ultimately by making your prom night within your budget rather than trying to stretch it super thin, it not only stresses you out less, but also the people you are surrounded by. As tempting and easy as it is to make prom a toxic event about appearance, it is equally easy and healthier for society as a whole to redirect their attention to spending once-in-a-lifetime moments with the people they care about the most.