Prom memories: priceless

For those of us who will never make it to Hollywood to watch the glamorous movie stars walk the red carpet in their beautiful gowns and flashy tuxedos, we go to prom grand marches.

It is really a lovely sight to see these young people - many whom we are familiar with from their athletic, academic musical or drama achievements - suddenly transformed into kings and queens of the red carpet.

This comes at a grand cost, however.

A recent report found that American families with teenagers spend an average of $1,078 each on the prom this year, that's 33.6 percent more than the $807 spent in 2011.

Families in the Northeast will spend at least twice as much as any other region in the country and Midwestern families will spend the least at an average of $696.

Preparing boys for the prom is somewhat cheaper but unless they are willing to put on that old powder blue leisure suit their dads have been storing in the closet just in case it will come back into style, it's going to cost a good 200 bucks to dress them up.

Many girls plan months ahead of prom - with no sun in the winter months in this part of the country, they pay for artificial tans (shame, shame - don't they know that those tanning beds are bad for them).

Then comes prom dress shopping. Most would never, ever, ever in a million years be caught wearing the same dress two years in a row or wearing one their sister wore two years prior or heaven forbid, purchasing a used dress (icky, icky, full of other girls' germs.) Once the dress is purchased, most make appointments for their hair, makeup and even fake nails to match their dresses. Oh, and there are shoes, too, and jewelry, handbags, flowers.

I had two girls, I know the routine. And those beautiful dresses will be hanging in our closets forever. Don't get me wrong, I, like many, enjoy ogling over who beautiful these prom go'ers are but I can't help recall my prom days.

I was not a size 0, 3, 5 or 7 which means, back in the '70s, stapling a table cloth together was about the only gown I was going to get. There were not the larger size racks as there are today (and today those racks are filled with some wonderful clothes for those of us who enjoy the food in this world).

As for preparation, there was none. I ran a comb through my pageboy haircut, threw on some shoes from my closet and I was ready to go. I didn't even put on make up! (Maybe that's why I didn't have a date)!

I could have stayed home because I didn't have a date but I didn't want to miss the fun - even back then when things weren't as glamorous as they are today, we thought we were glamorous in those prairie dresses and those dresses made of the then-popular double-knit material.

It did not cost us what families pay today by a long shot, but you know what? Prom is all about memories - and those are priceless.