From the expensive gowns and accessories, to the little details like spray tans, the cost of prom adds up fast.

Teenagers spend an average of $919 on just prom, according to an annual Visa survey.

Prom dresses cost around $400 to wear for just one night. The $80 dollar heels will be worn for one hour before switching out for tennis shoes for comfort. A new $100 hairstyle will get ruined and matted the moment you walk onto the dance floor.  

The buildup to prom is unnecessarily expensive for a high school dance you spent $50 to get in. 

There is no king and queen. You can’t wear your dress again. There is no returning it. 

Prom would be a fun and non-stressful experience if there weren’t so high of expectations with it. With all the money and time spent solely on your appearance, people leave sweaty and disappointed. 

In every Disney Channel movie that is based in high school, prom is the most magical night of the year. That your crush of ten years will ask you to dance, you will admit your feelings for each other, you get king and queen and your life becomes a fairy tale.

In reality, there is nothing about whatever happens in that dance circle that is magical. Much less, it’s the complete opposite and a little scary. 

However, dances are fun ways to start and end the long school year, and people should go to the dances and enjoy them. They start the year off in an exciting manner and end them with a final good memory with your class.

Even like the movies, these dances will be the times you look back on years from now. But it’s not going to be how your nails looked, if your shoes perfectly matched your outfit or if you looked tan.

The cost, the expectation and prom being seen as only a dance for dates are causing people to opt out on even going.

It’s time for the prom expectations to be killed. It’s time for the preparation to be reduced by a few hundred dollars. Prom is a memorable final event, even without the $500 dollar dress.