Prom is a night of dreams and opulence for high school students. It’s a time for students to dress up and let loose at the end of a long school year, but is it really worth the hype?

First, there’s the question if you want to spend three hours in a ballroom with a bunch of classmates, presumably dancing as well. After an hour or so that ballroom heats up from all the people dancing.

Some people don’t want to bother being in that environment just to hang out with their friends to the tune of whatever music the school allows. Particularly, introverts find that math works out in favor of staying home or hanging out with someone else instead.

But for many, including myself, the heat and music choice is totally worth it for a night to get dressed up and have fun with friends. The dinners beforehand are a good excuse to go out with a friend or partner to a fancy restaurant.

But with fancy dinners comes the cost of the meal and, more broadly, the cost of the whole night.

Suits and dresses can get extremely expensive, with people paying hundreds of dollars for a dress or suit they might only wear once or twice. Some people can manage to cut costs by using things they already own and buying second-hand, but even rented suits can break $200. 

Now there are ways to cut costs further. Secondhand and open closet initiatives can help people who can’t pay hundreds of dollars on a single night. But the vast majority of people are going to spend a couple hundred dollars on the night. 

Is that price worth it? 

It’s true that it’s one night, and for those who rent or borrow clothes they won’t have the outfit for later formal events, but it can be extremely fun. For those going into professions that often require similar gatherings, it can be a good trial run.

For others, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. They’d be happier going to dinner with friends or watching movies with them at home. It’s a matter of personal opinion and not everyone will agree that it’s worth it.

It was for me and others who danced and met up with people we hadn’t seen in months or years. But everyone’s internal decision-making is different and neither decision is better or worse objectively.