PROM NIGHT STRESS

As if being a high schooler isn’t tough enough, the pressures of prom can weigh heavily on your teen. Here are some tips on how to talk about what’s expected of her, some of the situations she may find herself in, and how you can be there to help your teenager deal with prom peer pressure.

PEP TALK

Although prom night is filled with anticipation of fun, your teen may be feeling anxious about the big night, too. If your teenager is without a date, worried about keeping up with his friends, or concerned with sex expectations, parents are probably the last people with whom he wants to discuss this.
When the pre-prom pep talk is approached strategically, the conversation can benefit both parents and teens. According to Teen Communication Expert Josh Shipp, the best way to approach your teen about prom is to state the obvious and follow up with some advice.
For example, Shipp suggests you open with a conversation starter such as, "Honey, let's get this over with and have the awkward parent/child prom talk. I want you to have a good time and be safe. If you find yourself in a situation you know you shouldn't be in, call me and I'll come get you. NO QUESTIONS ASKED."
Here are some other prom concerns with which your teen may be grappling:

CASH

Whether the Bank-of-Mom-and-Dad is funding this night of fun, or your teen is using his part-time paycheck, keeping up with his classmates may feel mandatory. Giving your prom-goer a budget will keep spending in check.
If your teen gives you a hard time about the currency cap, here are some creative ways to maximize results without tapping out her cash flow:

• Share a limo with friends.
• Rent a tux that is a designer look-alike.
• Spend less on the dress and let the accessories take center stage.
• Opt for the lesser-known brand of heels.
• Pick up a larger single-flower boutonniere and corsage.

DRINKING

Yes, prom night is known for teen drinking, but this doesn't necessarily mean your teen is going to drink. Should she find herself in a situation where the pressure to join in is in full force, or if she chooses to partake in the partying, here are a few tips to share with her:

• Carry around a cup with a drink without drinking it to avoid pressure from friends.
• Never accept an open drink; you never know what may be lurking in it.
• If you end up drinking, have an, "at any time, from anywhere" ride policy.
• Never get behind the wheel if you have had even the least bit of alcohol.
• Never get into a vehicle where the person behind the wheel has been drinking.

SEX

For decades, "prom night" has been virtually synonymous with "sex." Whether she's going to an after party or staying at an all-nighter with friends, let your teen know that she does not have to give in to "sexpectations." Offer these tips to help her avoid giving in to peer pressure during the post-prom scene:

• Be up front; do not let your prom date assume that you're on the same page.
• Let your friends know you're not ready for that big step, and ask them to stick with you.
• Do not put yourself in a situation where too much privacy is possible, such as a hotel room.
• Use your curfew as an excuse to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

After you lay out the ground rules, offer advice, and make it through curfew negotiations, remember to tell them to have fun. It's prom night!

MORE WAYS TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEEN

• Connecting with your kids: Strategies for tough conversations
• Teach your tween to deal with anger effectively
• 7 Books to read aloud with your teen or tween

source 

As if being a high schooler isn’t tough enough, the pressures of prom can weigh heavily on your teen. Here are some tips on how to talk about what’s expected of her, some of the situations she may find herself in, and how you can be there to help your teenager deal with prom peer pressure.

PEP TALK

Although prom night is filled with anticipation of fun, your teen may be feeling anxious about the big night, too. If your teenager is without a date, worried about keeping up with his friends, or concerned with sex expectations, parents are probably the last people with whom he wants to discuss this.
When the pre-prom pep talk is approached strategically, the conversation can benefit both parents and teens. According to Teen Communication Expert Josh Shipp, the best way to approach your teen about prom is to state the obvious and follow up with some advice.
For example, Shipp suggests you open with a conversation starter such as, "Honey, let's get this over with and have the awkward parent/child prom talk. I want you to have a good time and be safe. If you find yourself in a situation you know you shouldn't be in, call me and I'll come get you. NO QUESTIONS ASKED."
Here are some other prom concerns with which your teen may be grappling:

CASH

Whether the Bank-of-Mom-and-Dad is funding this night of fun, or your teen is using his part-time paycheck, keeping up with his classmates may feel mandatory. Giving your prom-goer a budget will keep spending in check.
If your teen gives you a hard time about the currency cap, here are some creative ways to maximize results without tapping out her cash flow:

• Share a limo with friends.
• Rent a tux that is a designer look-alike.
• Spend less on the dress and let the accessories take center stage.
• Opt for the lesser-known brand of heels.
• Pick up a larger single-flower boutonniere and corsage.

DRINKING

Yes, prom night is known for teen drinking, but this doesn't necessarily mean your teen is going to drink. Should she find herself in a situation where the pressure to join in is in full force, or if she chooses to partake in the partying, here are a few tips to share with her:

• Carry around a cup with a drink without drinking it to avoid pressure from friends.
• Never accept an open drink; you never know what may be lurking in it.
• If you end up drinking, have an, "at any time, from anywhere" ride policy.
• Never get behind the wheel if you have had even the least bit of alcohol.
• Never get into a vehicle where the person behind the wheel has been drinking.

SEX

For decades, "prom night" has been virtually synonymous with "sex." Whether she's going to an after party or staying at an all-nighter with friends, let your teen know that she does not have to give in to "sexpectations." Offer these tips to help her avoid giving in to peer pressure during the post-prom scene:

• Be up front; do not let your prom date assume that you're on the same page.
• Let your friends know you're not ready for that big step, and ask them to stick with you.
• Do not put yourself in a situation where too much privacy is possible, such as a hotel room.
• Use your curfew as an excuse to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

After you lay out the ground rules, offer advice, and make it through curfew negotiations, remember to tell them to have fun. It's prom night!

MORE WAYS TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEEN

• Connecting with your kids: Strategies for tough conversations
• Teach your tween to deal with anger effectively
• 7 Books to read aloud with your teen or tween

How British children have embraced the high school prom

As the end of the academic year approaches, British youngsters will be searching for taffeta and stretch limos

Young girls enjoy a stretch limo ride to the school prom Photograph: Rex Features/Newspix

Piles of taffeta, ruffles, tiaras, heels and gallons of fake tan are accumulating in teenage bedrooms around the country, and heads are full of notions of stretch limousines and corsages. The UK's school prom season is gearing up for its biggest year yet.

A trend that arrived from the US on the back of incredibly successful high- school TV shows such as Glee and Hannah Montana, and teen movies such as High School Musical, it has swiftly become the norm forschools here. Where once an end-of-school formal dance or ball might have been held, or even a disco in the school hall, now it has become a major event to celebrate either the end of exam season or even, as the trend gets younger, the end of primary school education.

For recession-hit families the cost of the event is less welcome, but for many businesses the trend is helping keep them afloat. Last year the Holiday Inn saw a 5,000% increase in the number of proms being booked in its hotels and parents were shelling out an average of £244 per teenager.

While this year has a proliferation of prom dresses on sites like Ebay at bargain prices, the prom season is still proving a goldmine for British businesses.

"For the first time this year we've sold more men's suits for proms than we do at Christmas," said Dave Shaw, the marketing manager of men's wear chain Moss Bros.

"The prom business is certainly phenomenal now. And because a lot of boys will need a suit anyway as they leave school and start going for interviews or whatever, the sales are doing better than our hire market. There is already a move, however, away this year from the more traditional style of formal suit towards the more modern, straighter shape and coloured suits."

There are even "prom management" companies. Prom World set up in the Midlands last year, and the Prom Show is becoming a regular event on the Wedding Fair circuit, where exhibitors from dressmakers to photographers show off their wares.

But if all the boys need is a sharp suit and a fresh jar of hair gel, the girls need hair, makeup, nails, jewellery and of course, the dress. "It's all about the dream dress," said Linda Ellison of Prom Frock UK, based in Wigan and currently rushed off her feet by the prom season.

"Prom dresses are flying out of our shop," she said. "We saw the trend coming by chance, as my eldest daughter asked me to get her one and we ordered a few from our suppliers. That was only a few years ago and now we're selling 400 through our shop and 6,500 a year through our stockists.

"It's different from the American prom in that they tend to be aged around 18 or 19 for their prom, whereas our girls will be a bit younger, so dresses are less revealing. We have our own twist – not too risque – but still on trend. It's a very vibrant part of the economy up here."

"I think this year the market has hit the top – there are signs it's stabilising," she said. "Every school is doing it, so it is nearing saturation point."

Companies such as Glasgow-based Katy Moon, making bespoke brides' tiaras, who were in the wedding business, have found a new market coming to them as young girls want that same special day experience.

"The tiara has arrived this year for sure. And thank God for it," said hairdresser Sandra McKenzie, who works for a company in the Midlands which offers "Prom Day Deals" for groups of girls. "It's been a slow year and we certainly needed the boost: we've done loads of extensions already ahead of the proms, and have quite a few mobile bookings for styling a group together. It's like weddings except much more fun.

"Curling is big. Big hair is big! Ringlets and the romantic look – I've noticed a lot are really going for the My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding look in their dresses."

But it has exploded so fast that schools are not yet doing what US high schools have long learned to do: co-ordinate. "They will all have them on the same date – they don't think, so we could have rented out 50 cars for June and July if we'd had them," said limousine company boss Daniel Roberts.

"There's a lot being disappointed and all the kids can't get the cars they want. They all go for the same perhaps eight or 10 dates through June and July around us and then they can't get the bookings because we're booked solid. None of the schools think to liaise," said Roberts, of Star Limousines, which rents out the stretch vehicles around Brighton, London and the south east.

He imports and sells the stretch vehicles from the US and said that, while many people would like to get into the business, banks were not supporting them. "People can't get the finance to set up, and with the fuel costs it's not easy to get started.

"It's a booming business. We're taking bookings for 2013 prom season. But the big increase for us is in primary schools having cars for their end of terms."

source http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/03/high-school-proms-in-britain

Stretch limos, spray tans and the £500 dresses: The unstoppable (and ludicrously expensive) rise of the high school prom

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1372539/Stretch-limos-spray-tans-500-dresses--unstoppable-ludicrously-expensive-rise-high-school-prom.html   

Saturday morning at a dress emporium in the Midlands, and dozens of excitable young women — here strictly by appointment only — are waiting to be measured up in one of the store’s ten fitting rooms.

Around them are rails of eye-catching frocks covered in ruffles, sequins and diamante. As they browse, the air is filled with excitable talk of hairstyles, fake tans, make-up and jewellery.

It’s familiar territory, of course, for anyone who has accompanied a daughter, sister or friend to a bridal fitting — but these young women are 15 and 16-year-old schoolgirls and are not getting married any time soon.

Belles of the ball: Girls from Morley High School head off to their prom in a stretch limo

Instead, they have arrived at the Fashion Factory in Cannock, Staffordshire, to be kitted out for their annual school prom. It’s an expensive business: by the time they’ve left, their mothers will have shelled out an average of £250 on that special dress, as well as committing to hundreds of pounds more for hairdressing, professional make-up and limousine hire.

It may all sound terribly un-British but make no mistake, the high-school prom, once the preserve of Hollywood movies, is fast becoming big business here. 

Inspired by films like High School Musical and the television show Glee, British teens are no longer content with the traditional end-of-term school disco and a plastic cup of lemonade to mark the end of their senior school years.

Instead the majority of state and independent secondary schools now celebrate the occasion in swish hotel function rooms with the graduating year walking down red carpets in designer dresses.

‘The mums all come in with a figure in mind but that usually goes out the window when they see how lovely their daughter looks in the dress she’s set her heart on.’

Such is the phenomenon’s iron grip on the British teen’s imagination that a new word has entered the lexicon: the Promzilla, a particular kind of prom-obsessed adolescent.

There’s certainly no shortage of them at the Fashion Factory on any given Saturday. Previously a standard ladies and gents clothing emporium, in a matter of three years the store has gone from selling prom dresses as a small sideline to devoting more than half its 4,000 square foot of floor space to an orgy of silk, satin and net.

This year they are on course to sell 3,000 outfits to the young women and their mothers who have travelled from all over the country to source the perfect outfit.  

Like a peculiar hybrid of a B&Q warehouse and a giant Barbie’s wardrobe, it is overseen by manager Christine Roland, who runs such a tight ship that every single dress that is sold is registered so that no two girls (heaven forbid!) will attend their school prom looking the same.

‘The prom frenzy is incredible,’ she says. 

‘We’ve already got girls coming in to book their prom dresses for summer 2012. 

'It’s a fabulous experience for them. We say it’s like the X Factor. The mums all sit in a row outside the changing rooms, and the girls all parade and get a “yes” or “no”.’

Certainly, the recession seems a distant thing here — Christine tells me that two £550 ‘high-end’ dresses ordered in especially from the U.S. last month, to test the water, sold within two days. She’s now placed a rush order for dozens more. The prom dress purchase, it seems, is something of a budget-blowing experience.