As Senior Ball is approaching, 12th graders need to consider: Is spending over 100 dollars on a school dance worth it?
For a couple ticket, it is 125 dollars and ten dollars off with an ASB stamp. A single ticket is 70 dollars and with an ASB stamp, it is 65 dollars. But what if that is too much?
To put it into perspective, the ball is hosted at Spanish Hills Country Club, an elegant venue that is also providing food. The menu for the evening is a choice of salad, entree and side. Comparing the meal to a nice restaurant in Ventura, you would be looking at 30 to 50 dollars alone.
Along with this, one must consider the preparation to attend. We are going to look at the cost of a formal dress, a tuxedo, shoes, hair, makeup and a corsage and boutonniere.
We went down to Santee Alley in the Los Angeles Fashion District. There we found “ideal” dresses from 80 to 180 dollars, depending on the complexity of the gown. One must take into consideration the drive and time to find a dress down there.
Senior Olivia Monarres shared, “I went to Macy’s with my mom in the [Thousand Oaks] mall and I have to pay for 200 [of my dress] and my mom is paying for the rest.”
Alternatives would be borrowing a dress from a family member or friend or thrifting a second hand dress. Senior Paris Carmody bought her dress from a thrift store downtown for only five dollars while senior Claire Ortiz got her dress for 30 dollars off Depop, a mobile app where you can sell and buy used clothing.
Check out our previous article on Depop: https://thecougarpress.org/depop-an-instagram-ebay-app/
[huge_it_slider id=”85 “]
If you are looking for a tuxedo, the Senior Ball ticket came with a coupon for a 59 dollar suit or tuxedo rental at Mission Tuxedo that includes a coat, pants, a shirt and a tie. But you can also rent a tux, for 100 dollars or more without a discount.
Another small thing to consider is corsages and boutonnières. In the Senior Ball ticket envelope there was another coupon for five dollars off a set, three dollars off a corsage and two dollars off of a boutonnière. If this extra bit of money doesn’t seem worth it, the easiest alternative would be to not get them. They aren’t anywhere near essential.
Other things to consider are shoes, hair, makeup and gas. These can all add up.
On average, the cost of a pair of heels at Charlotte Russe is around 20 dollars. Charlotte Russe is a convenient option to shop from, considering it’s in the Pacific View Mall, a mile away from Ventura High School. If you are looking for dress shoes, a brand new pair of Vans is about 50 dollars but for more of a “classy shoe,” Macy’s sells some averaging the cost of 100.
Senior Kaitlyn Berry went to Senior Ball last year, she shared, “[Last year] I went to Michael Kelley [Salon] for both hair and makeup. Hair was 50 [dollars] and makeup was 60 [dollars],” Berry concluded, “People have the choice to do it themselves, which could save a lot of money, [but the price] was worth it in my opinion because doing it myself would just stress me out, and it’s easier for someone to just do it for you.”
For someone who gets a dress, gets their hair and makeup done and gets a single ticket, this may average out to 300 dollars. For someone with a tux and a single ticket, it may be 200 dollars.
Transportation to the dance could add on more dollars as well. The Spanish Hills Country Club is located about 20 minutes away from VHS. A parent or guardian can do the honor of driving you and your date, or another alternative is taking an Uber. According to Uber, they are a ride-hauling service operating in 785 metropolitan areas worldwide, Ventura being one of them. An Uber from VHS to The Spanish Hills Country Club would cost around 30 dollars depending on the size of the car you take, the bigger the car the more expensive. Another alternative is to pull up to the dance in a limousine which could fit nine to 12 people, that would cost around 130 dollars.
VHS students share their own opinion on the price of the whole event, Monarres commented, “It’s difficult because I have a boyfriend who won’t let me pay for half, and it just makes it harder on him to pay for the whole price so it’s [kind of] unfair in a way.”
Senior Liam McGee is not attending Senior Ball this year because of his work but he explains, “I think it’s too expensive, I think it should be a little bit cheaper especially [because] if you have a date and you’re taking them out, you want it to be nice.”
Senior Harrison Behrens said, “[Senior Ball] is very expensive, 125 dollars?! It’s expensive. I think everyone should be able to go to Senior Ball because it’s strictly for seniors, and they should make it affordable for everyone.”
