When you leave secondary school, you are more than likely to have a prom. Prom is a night where the year group leaving come together for one last night in fancy dresses and suits to celebrate the time they've had together at school. (Some primary schools do a prom now which I totally disagree with. I just had a leavers party when leaving primary school but hey ho). It started in America, but us Brits stole it!
When people think of prom, they think a big fancy night with a big fancy dress/suit and amazing transport to get there and all of this stuff that, at the end of the day, costs them hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds!
However, I really don't agree with that. It's one night! You can find a lush dress and transport and everything else VERY cheap, and that's what I did. So I thought I'd share with you my 'budget prom outfit' for under £100!
Dress
I always wanted a straight down flowy dress. Nothing too fancy, nothing too big and nothing too 'gypsy wedding style'. So I went on a hunt and I found my first dress. I wasn't sure if it was 'the one', but I couldn't bare to leave it in the shop (TK Max) in case I couldn't find anything else and it got sold, so I bought it for a very cheap £36!
I always wanted a straight down flowy dress. Nothing too fancy, nothing too big and nothing too 'gypsy wedding style'. So I went on a hunt and I found my first dress. I wasn't sure if it was 'the one', but I couldn't bare to leave it in the shop (TK Max) in case I couldn't find anything else and it got sold, so I bought it for a very cheap £36!
Then a few weeks later, I went shopping in West Quay in Southampton with my family to look for more dresses and we wondered into a shop, Jane Norman, that was shutting down so they had 70% off everything. In there, I picked up a few dresses and went to try them on. As soon as I put on the second dress, I knew it was the one! Even my dad was speechless. I bought it straight away for an extremely cheap £25! Bargain!
So even if you do want a big gypsy wedding style dress, you don't have to spend a massive amount. Just look in the right shops and you are bound to find something you love for a bargain price!
Accessories
I knew the kind of jewellery I wanted because I loved what my sister had for her prom six years before, a pretty necklace and earrings. I also knew where my sister had got hers from so I went there too, Debenhams. There, I found a beautiful necklace and earring set for just £6!
Unfortunately, one of the earrings fell out of my ear on the night so I only have one left..
Unfortunately, one of the earrings fell out of my ear on the night so I only have one left..
Then on the shelf above, I found a matching bracelet also for £6, so I picked that up too.
So I got the jewellery I wanted and extra for just £12! Pretty chuffed with that!
On the back of my dress was a big pink bow made of ribbon, so I decided instead of having a tiara like everyone else, I would just have a little pink ribbon in the back of my hair. To get the ribbon, I just went to my local cake decoration shop and got a metre of ribbon from them. I took my dress along to find the right match of ribbon and I actually got the exact match of colour, bonus! A metre only cost me around 75p so I couldn't complain about that!
Shoes
I didn't really know what sort of shoes I wanted, so I just had a look around. However, I didn't necessarily need to purchase any shoes because my sisters prom shoes worked perfectly with my dress, but I still had a quick look around. I found some pretty silver sandals with a sparkly bow on and a small heel, but in the end I decided to play it safe and stick with my sister flat shoes. That meant no cost in shoes at all. (Apart from purchasing a pair of heel grips because they were a size too big, but they were only 99p).
Bag
Everyone needs a bag! My sister, again, had a bag from her prom that matched the shoes perfectly, but I decided I couldn't deal with her bag because it was a clutch bag and clutch bags are not my closest if friends in the bag community. So I went searching for a bag with a shoulder strap. I found one in the shop I found the silver sandals in. It was the same colour as my dress and it had a long shoulder strap, what more could I ask for?! So I got it. Bag sorted! (I don't know how much that was, my mum bought that for me.. under £10 I think!) It wasn't the roomiest of bags, but it just about fitted in what I needed, my phone, a camera and a pack of tissues.
Hair and Make-up
I didn't want anything too 'wowcher' for my hair, just something simple, and I wanted it down. So a half up half down style sounded good to me!
I found a few images on Google to get a rough idea of what I wanted and saved them to take to the hairdressers for them to work around.
I then found another picture, and I got stuck between these two:
I asked a few people and then decided on the first picture.
When I got to the hairdressers, I showed her the picture and asked her to incorporate the ribbon into it and she said it would be about £25 which is a stupidly expensive amount! But after she did it, she decided to give it to me for £15 which is still pretty bad but more reasonable.
The cheapest way I would reccomend is to get a friend or family member to do you hair for free. I only didn't go for this option because I don't know anyone who is a hair dresser, damn!
Make-up wise, I did want a professional to do it for me (I was bound to make a mess of it myself) but my parents wouldn't pay for and I didn't have any money. So I did end up doing it myself. I practiced a few days before, but it didn't turn out much more than my every day wear, but it did for the night!
So your local hairdresser may be able to do some sort of deal for you, but the cheapest place to go is to someone you know personally who can do it for free, I'm sure they won't mind!
And don't go and spend out a bomb on getting a professional to do your make-up either, it's always worth it to DIY (see what I did there.. yep haha) or even get a friend to do it, you'll still look beautiful either way, natural or made up!
I found a few images on Google to get a rough idea of what I wanted and saved them to take to the hairdressers for them to work around.
I then found another picture, and I got stuck between these two:
I asked a few people and then decided on the first picture.
When I got to the hairdressers, I showed her the picture and asked her to incorporate the ribbon into it and she said it would be about £25 which is a stupidly expensive amount! But after she did it, she decided to give it to me for £15 which is still pretty bad but more reasonable.
The cheapest way I would reccomend is to get a friend or family member to do you hair for free. I only didn't go for this option because I don't know anyone who is a hair dresser, damn!
Make-up wise, I did want a professional to do it for me (I was bound to make a mess of it myself) but my parents wouldn't pay for and I didn't have any money. So I did end up doing it myself. I practiced a few days before, but it didn't turn out much more than my every day wear, but it did for the night!
So your local hairdresser may be able to do some sort of deal for you, but the cheapest place to go is to someone you know personally who can do it for free, I'm sure they won't mind!
And don't go and spend out a bomb on getting a professional to do your make-up either, it's always worth it to DIY (see what I did there.. yep haha) or even get a friend to do it, you'll still look beautiful either way, natural or made up!
Transport
There was a big dilemma with transport. Seven of us did want to go in something fancy, but then arguments happened and we ended up going just three of us.
We went down the cheapest route and borrowed a family friends car. This meant we got it for free (we just had to pay £5 each for petrol which isn't bad at all!) and we got a driver! We went in a white Mercedes. Nothing to big and fancy, but nice enough to satisfy us!
I apologise if I gabbled on a bit there, but that's how to get a budget prom outfit for under £100!
Who need's to spend hundreds or even thousands of pounds on one night when you'll have as good a night and look just a beautiful going for al the cheapies!
I hope this helped/helps you spend as little as possible but still look just as stunning on your prom night! Let me know in the comments how much you spent!
Until next time beautiful's
xx
We went down the cheapest route and borrowed a family friends car. This meant we got it for free (we just had to pay £5 each for petrol which isn't bad at all!) and we got a driver! We went in a white Mercedes. Nothing to big and fancy, but nice enough to satisfy us!
I apologise if I gabbled on a bit there, but that's how to get a budget prom outfit for under £100!
Who need's to spend hundreds or even thousands of pounds on one night when you'll have as good a night and look just a beautiful going for al the cheapies!
I hope this helped/helps you spend as little as possible but still look just as stunning on your prom night! Let me know in the comments how much you spent!
Until next time beautiful's
xx
