This year is a BIG milestone for our family as our oldest child is graduating from high school in a just a few weeks. And with this milestone comes the special celebration of a graduation formal dinner and dance for our daughter, who has been looking forward to this special evening for months. She has been looking at formal gowns since Grade 11…all while dreaming about what her dress for this special night might look like, along with ideas for hair and makeup. And as any parent who has a child graduating from high school knows, the costs to make these dreams a reality can quickly add up. For instance, formal dresses for teen girls alone can cost several hundred dollars.
When the school year started, we had a discussion with our daughter about what her prom/grad costs might be and what she would be able to pay for with her part-time job, and what costs that her Dad and I would agree to pay. We wanted to be clear about who would cover what so that there would be no surprises. Did you know that 56% of Canadian parents pay nearly the full price of prom for their children?{As revealed by the Visa Canada Prom Spending Survey 2014}
In our case, we expected our teen daughter to share in some of the costs for her special night. We think it’s important for her to understand the financial costs of grad celebrations. She agreed to pay for the limo ride, hair and makeup and a few smaller items. My husband and I agreed to pay for her formal dress and shoes, a dress for the cap and gown ceremony, and tickets for the formal grad dinner and dance for our family. We also placed realistic budget limits on each item and encouraged our daughter to stay within budget. Then we wrote down the budget on paper so we could stay the course with our plan.We also talked about ways to say money…such as wearing the same shoes for both the cap and gown ceremony and the formal dinner/dance. However, these decisions take careful thought as you try to teach your child about staying within a budget while also balancing their dreams for a special night. Hopefully, both parents and child can meet somewhere in the middle where every one is happy and dreams are met! But more importantly, it is crucial to teach your teen about responsible budgeting and spending….no matter what the event.
Visa Canada recently released this amazing FREE app called Plan’It Prom to help kids and parents with the budgeting process for Prom. I so wish that we had this app available to us when we began the process of budgeting and planning for Prom/Grad back in September 2013 as it would have made things so much easier for us!
For more than 20 years, Visa has been a leader in developing innovative, free programs that help people effectively learn the fundamentals of personal finance, including budgeting, saving, responsible spending and the wise use of credit.
Disclosure: This post was generously made possible by Visa Canada. As always, I only partner with brands/products that I use in my own home. All opinions are my own.
Astounding how much prom costs these days – we're a long way from that but this is a good heads up, maybe I should start saving now lol.
With my daughter moving to a level where she will skating more and will be entering her first competitions this year, we are already looking at budgetting for that – skates, costumes, coaching and ice time.
We have 3 small granddaughters so we try and help out with swimming, dance lessons etc. If I was fortunate enough to win, I could help pay for those recital costumes!
Thank you, as always, for the chance to win!
My husband has been working crazy hours for the past 9months an we've barely seen him. His contract ends at end July so we are saving for a family trip to one of the islands and spend quality time together.
I love these ideas for Prom – will keep them in mind for when the time comes!
We are saving for a roof rack and hog pack for our car – camping with space would be lovely!
taraelizabethmorgan at gmail . com
My son graduated from high school three years ago, so now we have the big University graduation coming up pretty soon, but having a boy is way different when it comes to grad expenses! I'm way more concerned about the cost of text books now! It's crazy what they charge, even if your lucky enough to get a used book they are still quite expensive! We had the same feelings about paying for university, he is responsible for paying his share but we will help with certain costs, like books, so that is what I'd use the GC for. Thanks for the chance to win!
janesfilms@yahoo.ca
We too have our oldest graduating this year and the costs are adding up quickly. But as for what we are saving for – we are saving for renovating our family room including installing a new gas fireplace as well as new flooring for the room.
chrisulag@gmail.com
We are currently saving for a family camping trip in the mountains this summer
Such a great article – love the app. We are currently in the midst of preparing for Grade 8 Graduation which is proving to be quite expensive as well. So much more than a dance in the school gym like I had 30 years ago – LOL! Our family is saving for a relaxing cottage vacation this summer.
Angie this is us too, our eldest planning for her prom! But then the way bigger expense of university in the fall…that's where our budgeting efforts are also happening.
We are saving in order to go on a vacation in the summer by eating out less and dining at less expensive places without trying to sacrifice on food quality.
cassey.chik at gmail.com
we're saving for a small vacation.
carrie_dodd at hotmail dot com
My husband and I travel home to the Maritimes to visit our families every October and are always looking for ways to cut costs! Thanks for the chance to win.
Our family is saving up for an end of summer vacation. We have definitely started to cut back on some expenses and putting more money aside for the vacation.
nomnombearinyvr at hotmail dot com
Honestly, we are saving for our daughters education. She starts university in the fall and it won't be cheap.
2margarita@rogers.com
I am saving up all my spare cash to go to mexico next winter. My son and I went with family last year for the very first time, we loved it so much we want to go back again
We are saving for a new tablet such as a new version of ipad when it comes out in the future.
We're saving for a holiday this summer. We want to just get away and have some fun and RELAX!
beautiful dot dreamer @ gmail dot com
we are saving for a road trip to the east coast this summer!