Students at Newton High School are spending large amounts of money on dresses for the 2024 prom. Many students bought their dresses at Occasions, a dress store in Wichita with many high-end prom dress options.
Junior Rileigh Hankins bought her dress at Occasions. She bought her dress on Saturday, March 9, and the dress ended up being $573. On top of the expensive dress, she bought $50 shoes to match.
“[The price of the dress didn’t matter], I had a [tough] time finding any other dress that I liked, so at that point, I was just ready to buy one,” Hankins said.
She said her limit was around $650 for her dress, and she would not go over that price. Hankins split the money with her mother for the dress.
“[After spending $573 on the dress], I didn’t like how much I spent on it, but at the same point I’m glad I didn’t have to pay the total price,” Hankins said.
Hankins’ plan after prom is to hopefully donate the dress or keep it and let people borrow it. However, the prom dress and shoes weren’t her only expense.
“[I will still have to buy] prom tickets, I [have] to buy two of those and I then I also need to make alterations to my dress,” Hankins said.
Senior Berkley Roberson also bought her dress at Occasions, on Feb. 24. Roberson spent $650 on this dress and will soon be getting shoes.
“[I didn’t have a reason for buying this dress]. A worker at the store picked it out and I immediately fell in love with it,” Roberson said.
She doesn’t feel that spending that amount of money was a waste, but she would have liked to spend less. After she bought it, she was happy with her decision.
“I figured since it is my senior prom, it was worth it,” Roberson said.
Her parents were able to pay for her dress and she is very grateful for that since she has other expenses to cover herself. After prom, she plans to put it on resale as there is no need to keep it hanging in her closet.
“[My before prom expenses] will mostly likely [be getting] my nails done, as [for] hair my best friend’s a hair stylist, so that will be free. Dinner will either be paid by me or my boyfriend,” Roberson said.
Roberson thinks the prom experience should be less expensive for her than most.
“I feel like some girls and guys don’t really get to enjoy it as much based on their situation,” Roberson said.
Junior Cadence Jolly bought her dress at Occasions as well, on March 22. She spent a total of $383 on the dress and will be borrowing shoes from her aunt.
“I love the dress and it [was] close to the ones I wanted,” Jolly said.
She believes the amount of money was worth it to spend on the dress because she had been saving up for prom expenses.
“[After prom] I am planning on putting it away to wear for another special event and saving it,” Jolly said.
Jolly is getting her hair, makeup and nails done for free. Even though prom is very expensive as a whole, she still thinks it is worth it for the memories.
“I think prom in general should be less expensive because everything for prom is expensive, the dress, suit, shoes, nails, hair, makeup and corsage,” Jolly said.
