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It might feel a bit chilly to be thinking about prom, but you can bet your high school princesses are already dreaming of their dress.
If you get started early enough, you may be able to convince your daughter to check out a consignment sale, where she can find a dress on trend for half the cost.
"A consigned dress is exponentially less likely to have a mate at the prom," Blair Hailey, of Williamsburg, says. She is a junior at The College of William & Mary now, but she has been shopping for consigned formal gowns since her earliest school dance days.
"You get more originality and a huge savings in price with consignment," she adds. "I'm not sure that any of my friends really knew it was a consigned dress — you don't have to tell anyone."
In addition to the variety of consignment stores on the Peninsula, there are several prom resale events in the spring.
This year, Bruton High School's Green Club is hosting a "Rethink, Reuse, Redress" event at the Williamsburg school on Saturday, Feb. 18.
"My mom and I have always had trouble finding the perfect dress for school dances. It always ended up taking too long, and it wasted too much gas," says Bruton junior Callie Houghland, the club's president. "I have always loved buying dresses at consignment stores, because they were more inexpensive and unique. We also always question what we would do with our dresses after the usual one use they get. Why leave them sitting in my closet when others could use them?"
Hailey is getting double duty out of her formal gowns, since she will consign eight of her dresses at the Bruton sale.
The sale will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and students will collect dresses and accessories at various times on Thursday and Friday, and from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday.
For those who want to consign their dresses, the seller will receive 50 percent of the purchase price. Dresses will range in price from $5 to $75, Houghland says. Anyone is welcome to shop the sale.
"Most of the dresses have only been worn once," she says. "We are hoping to appeal to peoples' desire to buy an inexpensive and attractive dress. There are so many events that girls need a dress for— homecoming, spring fling, prom — so why go out and buy a $200 dress three times each year of high school?"
For six years running, the Fairy Godmothers of Virginia have hosted a large prom sale event for junior and high school students in Hampton Roads. More than 2,000 dresses will be available this year, says organizer Wendy Baylor.
This year, the sale will be held at Norfolk Academy March 7-11. It is designed to serve low-income families, but no proof of financial hardship is required. A student I.D. or proof of student status is required.
At the sale, all dresses will be priced at $10, and accessories will cost between $1 and $5.
"Girls are able to get an entire prom look for under $20," Baylor says. "Each girl who attends the fair is paired with a personal shopper to help them find the perfect dress and accessories for their event."
In order to participate, girls should sign up for an appointment time at sites.google.com/site/fairygodmothersofva/promfair. Those with used dresses can donate at the Dillards store in Norfolk's MacArthur Mall through the end of February.
And young ladies in Gloucester have their own dress fairy.
Sarah Fary, owner of the Sarah L. Fary alterations shop in Gloucester, collects prom dresses and offers her alterations services for free.
"I started because of the crummy economy," Fary says. "There were a lot of girls who weren't going to prom because they couldn't afford the dress."
The "Fary Godmother Program" will be open to all girls with no questions asked, Fary says, from 2 to 5 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays from March 2 to April 21.
