With prom comes serious add-ons in addition to just the ticket and the clothes. Do we want a party bus? What about a nice dinner? Maybe a fancy corsage and boutonniere? As these questions swirl the price of prom increases and increases. Just how much are BVN students spending on prom, and what all goes into the pricing of the dance itself?

For school dances, the bare minimum is often a fancy outfit. For some this may be a dress and for others maybe a suit. This is the beginning of the prom spending. According to Junior Abby Jehlik, prom dresses can get very expensive.

“My dress was 89 dollars, [and] 89 dollars is definitely the lower end because prom dresses are so expensive,” Jehlik said. “My mom made me get a cheap one but there definitely are a lot more expensive options… My dream prom dress is like 500 dollars.”

When it comes to the fashion of prom, girls usually end up spending more money than boys after purchasing the dress, accessories, and shoes. Jehlik believes this is partly due to boys wearing suits that are “timeless.”

‘The cost for girls is probably higher because of all the accessories and dresses,” Jehlik said. “Guys can re-wear their suits and other stuff, but a girl can’t really re-wear a dress.”

For many senior prom groups, there are different traditions such as wearing wild or spunky suits for the boys. Senior Cameron King will be participating in the fun suit trend at prom and is eager to show off his Amazon suit find.

“It’s a Mario suit, so it’s just a suit with a bunch of Mario characters on it, [and] it’s sick,” King said. “It came with a suit jacket, pants, and a tie, and it was around 150 dollars.”

One way that the price of prom is different between girls and boys is that oftentimes the boys will end up paying for themselves and their date (if applicable). This usually involves the cost of dinner and the dance.

“I am paying for everything else [besides the suit],” King said. “The tickets are about 70 dollars total [per couple], and dinner is going to be 55 dollars for both of us and then whatever else comes with that I’m not sure of.”

With all of the extra add-ons that come with prom the price per couple can get pretty high. The price per couple for prom is higher than it has been for other dances. Because of this, some girls may chip in on the bill to ease the expenses for their date.

“The total price per couple is 230 dollars,” Jehlik said. “Typically the guys pay but I didn’t expect prom to be this expensive so I offered to pay.”

A large part of this price includes the expense of buying tickets for the dance itself. This year the price per ticket at prom is 35 dollars. According to junior class sponsor and prom planner for 2023 Mrs. Yonke, a lot goes into determining the ticket price each year. 

“First off is that we do prom at Hilltop, so we do have to rent out Hilltop and that goes into part of the price,” Yonke said. “Because we want to make it seem like it’s not just a school dance, we get a DJ and the DJ brings a really cool floor in, a bunch of fun lights, and a lot of extra things they add on.” The price of dance tickets is a commonly controversial topic. Some feel as though the 35-dollar ticket is fair, while many others don’t agree. Jehlik believes that the price of tickets is on the higher end.

“I think [the tickets] are expensive just because I’m not staying for the whole time that the dance is going on. I’ll probably only stay for 30 minutes at most,” Jehlik said.  “If I were to be staying the whole time I think it would be fair, and I know it’s been a lot more expensive in past years.”

This remark about tickets in the past being more specific is true. According to Yonke, prices have been higher in recent years whether people realize it or not.

“In years past tickets have been upwards of 45-50 dollars and in the past couple of years it’s actually come down,” Yonke said. “With COVID-19 we didn’t have a prom for a couple of years so I think people are just getting back into it so it’s actually a lot cheaper than it has been in years past.”

With all that goes into the expenses of prom night, only one question remains: Is it worth the price?