Families Spending an Average of $1,078 on Prom: Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?
SodaHead Living
2012/04/15 19:58:27
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Schools may be cracking down on sexy dresses, but prom spending is on the rise. According to a recent Visa survey, this year families are spending an average of $1,078 on the springtime rite of passage. That is an increase from the $807 average last year.
Where is all this money going you may be wondering? The most costly item is usually the tux or the dress, and these days, families are willing to spend more for one-of-a-kind outfits.
"There's a general sense of people wanting to be differentiated," said Jatlow Levy, a retail strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon. "Going to a national chain and getting the same dress that 18 other girls have is not a chance for me to differentiate myself or express my individuality, which is such an important part of my social experience today."
But let’s not forget all the other prom expenses: dance tickets, corsages and boutonnieres, rides in limos or party buses, professional hair and makeup services, visits to the nail salon, new shoes and jewelry.
And this kind of “social-arms-race spending,” as Jason Alderman (director of Visa’s financial education programs) describes it, is not limited to the extremely wealthy. According to the survey, parents in one of the lowest income brackets reported planning to spend the most on prom. Those in the $20,000 to $29,999 salary range will spend more than $2,600—that’s twice the national average—while families in high income brackets plan to spend between $700 and $1,000.
So what do you think SodaHeads? Is $1,078 too much (or too little) to spend on prom? Or is it just the right amount to make it a special night to remember forever?
Where is all this money going you may be wondering? The most costly item is usually the tux or the dress, and these days, families are willing to spend more for one-of-a-kind outfits.
"There's a general sense of people wanting to be differentiated," said Jatlow Levy, a retail strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon. "Going to a national chain and getting the same dress that 18 other girls have is not a chance for me to differentiate myself or express my individuality, which is such an important part of my social experience today."
But let’s not forget all the other prom expenses: dance tickets, corsages and boutonnieres, rides in limos or party buses, professional hair and makeup services, visits to the nail salon, new shoes and jewelry.
And this kind of “social-arms-race spending,” as Jason Alderman (director of Visa’s financial education programs) describes it, is not limited to the extremely wealthy. According to the survey, parents in one of the lowest income brackets reported planning to spend the most on prom. Those in the $20,000 to $29,999 salary range will spend more than $2,600—that’s twice the national average—while families in high income brackets plan to spend between $700 and $1,000.
So what do you think SodaHeads? Is $1,078 too much (or too little) to spend on prom? Or is it just the right amount to make it a special night to remember forever?
Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/st...
Top Opinion
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Too much
+19You kidding me? And they wonder why they're in the low-income brackets? No sense of budgeting or thrift.
Budgeting denotes planning ahead, if you plan ahead you are more likely to be in serious job or have invested in an education. If you budget your resources you can invest in other people's businesses or save up to start up your own small business. All this is made even more possible now because we are in the days of the internet. You don't have to be in a super lucrative job to make money.
There are plenty of exceptions to the rule of course, and they tend to dominate the media. Rich celebs namely. However, there are plenty examples of super rich people who had humble beginnings and with thrift as well as business sense (they usually go hand-in-hand) they built up empires.
JC Penny, Sears, Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Rockefeller all started out relatively modestly. True they had skills that a lot of people don't possess or aren't willing to possess, but along with that they had smart financial sense. Rockefeller's mother taught him at a young age that "willful waste makes woeful want." If you want to join the ranks of the middle class these days it IS pretty much completely in your hands.