The PYMNTS staff – and most of our readers (we assume) – are well past the point in life where the most important question we face in April is whether or not someone will ask us to the prom – and/or agree to go to the prom with us.
As it turns out, the entire PYMNTS staff did in fact succeed in nailing down dates to the prom back in the day (or “a prom” anyway, we didn’t all go to the same prom together). Interestingly, no one reviewed the experience all that highly.
One staff member focused on the unique flaws with hers.
“I went to prom in 2004 and it was as weird and terrible as a small all girl, Catholic prom should be. Kids bop and Jesus music was the approved soundtrack. We weren’t allowed dates and it ended at 9pm sharp. Why? Because the nuns didn’t want it to go too long.”
And another staff member had an experience that was shockingly similarly to the plot of a telenova.
“I went to prom in 2004 and it was awkward because my date — who was secretly in love with my best friend — was shorter than me, and my boyfriend was also there (but with another date). Prom is awkward, like I was in 2004.”
And while 2004 seems to have been an especially bad year for proms, at least among the PYMNTS editorial department, no one actually gave the prom a good review. Most noted the experience was “anti-climactic and not worth it” and the single most positive thing anyone had to say about the experience was that their date served his desired purpose.
“Of course I went to the prom with a cute guy whom my father hated. But that’s why I went with him. I was also homecoming queen in college.”
In light of the total lack of later-life enthusiasm the experience of prom attendance seems capable of generating, it is at least somewhat surprising that prom commerce – or “prommerce” as we will heretofore be calling it – is such a big business.
But big business it is.
According to a new study by Visa, prom attendees, on average, spend $919 to go to the prom. That money buys important things such as tickets, clothes, limousine rentals, flowers, photographs, food accommodations, and, naturally, the all-important after party. Given the 3 million-4 million high school juniors in the United States – prommerce, at the low end, is an industry worth over $2.5 billion-$3.5 billion.
Given that Americans spend as much on the prom each year as the state of Vermont spends to fund its entire annual budget, it seems worth taking a closer look at.
So please, PYMNTS would like to formally invite you to accompany us on a journey through the surprising, strange and slightly scary world of prommerce. Prom gowns, tuxes and wrist corsages not required.
While $919 is the average prommerce expenditure according to Visa’s poll of 3,000 likely prom attendees, it was an average that fluctuated fairly widely depending on other correlating factors.
Regionally, Northeasterners lead the nation in prom-related spending, shelling out $738 for overall prom night costs and around $431 on “promposals,” (more on that in a second) creating a total bill of $1,169.
Midwestern families, in news that is likely surprising to absolutely no one, will spend the least – only dropping $515 on prom night and $218 for the promposal (it’s worth waiting for), leading to overall expenses of $733.
Southerners – and we admit being surprised by this – however are also looking pretty thrifty when it comes to navigating prommerce – spending around $850 a piece on prom expenses.
Westerners on the other hand hover closest to the national average – spending about $937 per family.
That regional breakdown is not terribly surprising – the Northeast and West have the most expensive proms, the South and Midwest the least. What has caught a lot of notice in the press, however, is the negative correlation between income levels and prom spending.
Simply stated – the more you make, the less you are likely to spend on prom.
Low-income families – those who bring in less than $25,000 per year (which is approximately where the poverty line for a family of four is drawn) plan to spend $1,393 for a prom, according to Visa’s annual survey. As a group, they are the biggest spenders and overshoot the national average by around $475. By contrast, households that bring in more than $50,000 a year in income are expected to spend $799 – meaning they are underspending the national average by about $120 and their less well-off counterparts by almost $600.
And, it is worth noting that these look increasingly like family costs as opposed to costs accruing just to prom attendees. The survey also noted that moms, dads and legal guardians nationwide are footing more of the bill this year – 73 percent said they’re bankrolling the experience as opposed to 56 percent last year. On the upside – for those parents – it looks like overall spending is forecasted to be down by about 6 percent.
One of the more interesting and eye-catching parts of the study is how much people spend to ask others to the prom. This newly developing sociological phenomenon is called the “promposal.”
Proving that the concept of dowries is not in fact totally dead, these days asking someone to the prom now costs, on average, about $325.
What are people spending this money on?
According to The Washington Post, all kinds of things. Favorites include invitations on a Tiffany’s card, (tucked inside a blue Tiffany’s jewelry box, of course); invitations made via skywriting, and invitations sung by entire school choirs.
And while we at PYMNTS aren’t fully convinced that this new tradition is not secretly destroying America, (and that’s not just because none of us on the team were on the receiving end of a promposal) we do have to admit that some of them are pretty cute (skip to 2:05 for the highlight of the video).
OK, we’d go to the prom with that guy.
While the prom is expensive for everyone, for some it presents a series of challenges that in the past would have made it an unattainable event, both logistically and financially.
McKensie Teal is one of those people.
The 20-year-old suffers from an incredibly rare genetic condition that leaves her in a wheelchair and in tremendous pain. Her boyfriend lives over 3,000 miles away and it initially seemed that they would not be able to attend the prom together, since McKensie requires a specially equipped van to travel and must always keep a ventilator, suction machine and oxygen tank at the ready. The trip will cost $8K — nearly half of which has already been raised through a GoFundMe campaign.
McKensie is going to the prom – she will reportedly be wearing a gradient blue dress with a pleated bodice and a gathered skirt. She will accessorize it with white knee-high Converse sneakers that have pale blue shoestrings.
Hold on to that good feeling. You’ll need it.
While some will use crowdfunding this year to be with their true love at the prom no matter what the cost, others will have an opportunity to bring a “cute guy that their father hates.”
Meet Riff Raff.
Riff Raff is a 33-year-old “surrealist” rapper from Texas with green hair and teeth that have reportedly been filed to points to more closely resemble a shark’s.
For the bargain price of $28,000, Riff Raff will escort your daughter to the prom – provided she is at least 18 years old.
What does one buy when one goes to the prom with Riff Raff?
According to the rapper’s posting on Instagram, apart from a date, he offers “full Twitter and Instagram promotion” of your prom and “pulling up in a Lamborghini so your whole school knows you are with the Riff Raff and so can now be a ‘legend at your school.’” He is also offering an evening at “the finest penthouse suite in town” to cap of the night for the lucky high school student.
Again, we only wish we had made any of that up.
So, all this is to say that prommerce is likely not going anywhere anytime soon. If anything, though sums spent may be declining, the ritual itself is getting more expensive. But maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world.
Having your daughter tell you she is going to the prom with Riff Raff and needs a new dress, now that might be.
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