Prom Procrastinations

“Prom is an exciting time for teenagers. The perfect dress is any dress that they feel beautiful and confident wearing.” Christy Austin

It’s that time in the school year when two important events are looming on the horizon for Year 11 students, both equally stressful in a teenage girls life but for completely different reasons….. GCSE exams and Prom!

Some unsuitable options on the racks in one Dubai dress shop.

So here we are three shopping trips in, five malls down and several dresses tried on but none of which are quite the one! The teenager and I have covered some ground in the glitzy malls of both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, fuelled by coffee, iced tea and pizza (good job I am not trying to squeeze into a party dress anytime soon!). So far we have only come across either dresses that are too mature in style and dark in colour, some way too over the top gaudy embellished monstrosities and some that are basically just bridesmaid dresses. So now we turn to home of the Prom via the internet, America as the search continues online.

The teenager is on the Prom committee, part of the team of ‘doers’ that are busy ‘doing’ with a variety of events and fundraising activities in their spare time and at weekends ahead of the event scheduled for early May in one of Abu Dhabi’s posh hotels. This weekend the Prom team will be out in force at their school BSAK’s (British School Al Khubairat) International fete, running stalls to raise more money for their end of year celebration.

If you are in Abu Dhabi this weekend, pop down to the BSAK International Fete

With its origins in the US, the American export of the Prom, a combination of dance and celebration at the end of a specific school year, is a major event in the life of a teenager and their social calendar. The UK has adopted this American cultural phenomenon, with about 85% of schools and colleges adopting their own style of Prom such as a ‘Leavers Ball’ for students in Year 11 and again in Year 13. The trend is also big here in the UAE across several of the different nationality schools, BSAK even has a Year 6 (11 year olds) prom complete with limos!

My two boys were so easy to kit out, we just hired suits, purchased a pocket square/tie to match the colour of the respective dates dress and paid a share towards a limo and after party and hey presto job done! Girls are so much harder but daddy’s wallet is still intact so far and the teenagers hormonal spikes have been few and far between. Still on track (at the moment) but I am well aware we still have a Prom mountain to climb with the dress, shoes, bag, spray tan (or maybe just go to the beach suggested one brother), hair and nails….good job she’s daddy’s little princess!

You have to love the modern-day teenager, the girls have created a Facebook Prom group so once they have selected/purchased their chosen dress they can upload a photo to the group so that there won’t be any of the dreaded ‘she’s wearing the same dress as me‘ awkwardness on the night……social media at its best! Genius!