Posted on: Tuesday, March 15, 2005
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ABOUT WOMEN
A prom really IS a big deal
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By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Forget the cost of college tuition; have you talked to your financial adviser about setting up a prom fund?
This is sage advice for anyone with a daughter, although I'm sure tux rentals aren't cheap either.
Our daughter had been talking about the junior prom for months, but I was still wholly unprepared for the financial carnage that lay ahead.
She was infatuated with the idea of wearing a Cinderella-style gown with a poofy floor-length skirt. I figured we'd just go to Macy's or some other store and grab one off the rack. Wrong.
"This could be my only chance to wear a dress like this," she said. "What if I don't get married?"
On this point I was a little vulnerable. I didn't go to either my junior or senior prom, and yes, Mother, you were right again — I do regret not going.
It was 1972, and my boyfriend and I thought we were too cool for the prom. So, in the photo album of my life, there is a gaping hole where my prom picture should be.
Therefore, I was primed to indulge our only daughter, especially since there is only one prom at her high school (the seniors long ago wisely opted for a lu'au).
She informed me that the way it is done — at least on Maui — is that you visit the two or three bridal shops on the island and order your dress from a catalog. Since there are few options for prom-dress shopping on Maui, this did not seem all that unreasonable.
At Shop No. 1, she picked out a very elegant strapless number in tangerine, one of the hot colors of the 2005 season. I agreed it would look very becoming with her dark coloring. Then I saw the price tag: $345.
I panicked but instead of just saying no, I tried a different attack.
"Don't you think that style will make your hips look big?"
OK, that was kind of mean, but it worked.
At Shop No. 2, after trying on some samples, she zeroed in on another strapless gown, this time in lime green with a trace of delicate beading on the bodice.
The price tag was still an eye-popping $225, but I was so relieved it was under $300 that I quickly slapped my credit card on the counter and told the shop owner to ring us up. (Later, I wondered who had been playing whom, and if it hadn't been a setup all along.)
Next, we bought shoes and purse to match. Ka-ching. And the up-do/makeup/pedi-mani/brow-wax salon package. Ka-ching. Prom tickets, flowers, limo, photos. Ka-ching, ka-ching.
Baby Girl does look like a princess in her strapless, lime-green gown, and it doesn't even matter that she doesn't have a date. In modern times, dates for the prom are optional and you can go with a bunch of friends, making the event more of a coming-out party than a traditional sweethearts ball.
Let's just hope the photos turn out.
Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.
