I was driving to San Diego on Friday and heard on the radio that the average American family is spending a whopping $1000 to send their daughter to prom this year.

A whopping $1000!

I mean between the dress, the shoes, the bag, the jewelry, the tickets, the limo, the hair, the makeup, the photographer…Let’s face it. All these things add up.

And how things change.

When I went to prom in the early ’80s, I used Maybelline and Cover Girl instead of a professional makeup artist. I was chauffeured by my boyfriend in his dad’s car. My mom and neighbors took pictures. I didn’t even buy my own gown. It was gifted to me as the winner of the Pennsylvania Junior Miss pageant which I had entered in the hopes of winning scholarship money for college.

You’ll be glad to know that I survived the night even though I didn’t get to buy the prom dress of my dreams.

I actually had a really nice time. And I ended up being married to my date for over a decade.

But $1000!

As reported by Visa, even parents earning less than $20k a year were still planning to fork over $1200 to their sons and daughters for prom night!

One woman interviewed for the radio story said she’d work a second job flipping burgers if she had to but she couldn’t say no to all her daughter’s wishes for the big day.

Tet her daughter didn’t think twice about spending more than her mom could comfortably afford.

She was just “doing her part to help stimulate the economy.”

It seems to me that our teenage prom-goers should be able to take a reasonable prom budget set by mom and dad and stick to it. And mom and dad should feel perfectly justified in setting a prom budget that is financially comfortable for them.

If everything in their teen’s prom dream doesn’t fit into the family prom budget, then it’s time for their teen to decide what’s most important and either eliminate or get creative with the other stuff.

Sort of like we adults have to do as we budget our lives and our businesses every day.

Because if our teens can’t do this for their senior prom, then what have we really taught them in the last 12 years?

Of course, one way to stretch a prom budget is to select a vintage prom gown like today’s VPOD. This beauty’s price tag could be further mitigated by selling it back to a local boutique or an online vintage lover at eBay after the big night is over. Or it could be shortened to become a dress that could be worn again and again to future events.

That makes it an even more beautiful find for a Vintage Crusader!

Available at closetcaseVNTG.

(To receive the VPOD via email along with detailed size, price and purchase information, sign up for my growing email mailing list