I'm Renting It, Not Buying It!

When did the cost of prom get so insane????

My son is going to his girlfriend's prom in a couple of weeks.  She was able to rent her dress, which I think is a great idea.  So, the next logical step is the rental of the tux.

Prom is in about 2 weeks, so I told my son we would go today.  We went to a store about 20 minutes away since there isn't a local one anymore, and I thought the bonding would do us good.  His girlfriend came along so she could match her dress color with whatever he needed to match it with.

Let me go back a few years.  When my brothers went to prom, in the 70's, they were able to wear a different tux to school every day for a week, then they got theirs free.  They were gross back then.  The ruffled shirts with bow ties so wide they didn't need a shirt, and the colors - yuck.  I remember my oldest brother with a powder blue tux and a huge white bow tie.  There are pictures around somewhere, I don't think his daughters have ever seen them.  Even when I went to prom the tux rental was really no big deal.  Suspenders and cummerbunds were hip then. Not bad looking at all.  So what happened?

Ok, back to the tux store with my son and his girlfriend.  The line is a mile long, so we looked around.  Nice tuxes everywhere, nice shirts and vests (I'm so glad vests are hip again), shiny shoes, everything you need.  His name was called, the sales lady greeted him nicely and took him away to get fitted.  My brain is still a few years back in time, so I'm looking at ties thinking how nice they both will look all dressed up.  I can feel a tear starting in my eye thinking of my baby boy all dressed up, looking so fine. My son asks me what cuff links I think would look better, black or white.  We got through that, and his girlfriend picked the color that comes closest to her dress.  Black shirt, tie and vest a very light pink, shiny shoes, good.  Everything in order, good.

So now I'm asked to come to a desk and sit.  Red flag - they want me to sit.  The sales lady is click click clicking on her computer and mumbling numbers that could not have been ours.  She must be working on another order because I'm hearing numbers like $100, $125, $130, and they keep going up.  Then she gives me a paper to sign while speaking very fast about returns, an extra $7 charge for cleaning, what happens if you don't return it on time, etc.  I read the paper, ok, no big deal, sign on the line.  Then she asks us to go to the register.  Wait a minute - she skipped the part where I'm told the price.  My son, and his girlfriend, walk away - very smart thing to do.  The sales lady says, "oh it's only $198, but with his $40 discount, and adding tax the total is only $172................"  I missed the rest due to the stroke I was having.  $172?  I didn't hear that right.  "Excuse me?  What was that price??"  She replied,  "Only $172, it would have been over $200 if he and gone with the Vera Wang but that is only for weddings."  "Oh, well good thing he's not getting married, that makes all the difference."  I then asked her, "You do know I'm renting this and not buying it, right??"  "Oh it would be much more to purchase it" she says.  I then asked the parents filling the store, "I'm I the only here that thinks this is absolutely nuts??"  The people cheered, and my son denied knowing me.

What are you going to do?  Nothing.  I dragged myself, clutching my chest, to the register and laid the money down.  My son did pay part of it, a small part, but at least he paid for some of it.  It did give me some gratification knowing the other parents felt the same way, but there is nothing we can do.  As parents, we want them to have fantastic memories, so we pay.  We got in the car, and drove a mile down the road to a restaurant where I drowned my sorrows in a huge blueberry muffin. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized Adam and Eve had the right idea.  Fig leaves are a dime a dozen, and they sure didn't have to rent them.  Hmmmm, my son is 6'2", wow, that's a gonna take a lota leaves, and where are there fig trees around here?  Better just stay with the tux for now.