Some Free/Low Cost Prom Dress Events in 2014

It's the midst of the prom dress hunting season.  While some events have passed already, there are still some events in the future.  I'm still waiting for the annual Raising Awareness event (we hope) at Owens Community College, which is generally in early April.  Here's a roundup of some events and opportunities around the country:

Check out this national listing of stores for donated prom dresses at Donate My Dress.  Another regional operation, Operation Prom, which operates events in New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey and Philadelphia, has prom dresses and tuxedo vouchers for low-income students.

Project G.L.A.M. has a listing of a couple of pop-up events in New York City.  In other local events, there's a prom dress resale event in the downriver suburbs of Detroit on March 22nd and 23rd.  The Macomb County Michigan Department of Human Services is hosting a Dress to Remember Event on April 2nd, 2014.

In northeast Massachusetts, there are some Priceless Prom events for dresses in late March and early April.

Free/Cheap Dresses for the Prom--the 2013 Season has Started!

Because of the mechanical problems that happen when cups of tea collide with keyboards, I've been offline for a couple of days.  However, it seems the 2013 prom dress season has begun, at least in Toledo.  Prom for Paws, the annual fundraiser for Toledo's Planned Pethood, will hold a sale of donated prom dresses--none above $25--to benefit Planned Pethood, a nonprofit that provides spaying and neutering to dogs and cats in the metro area.  The sale is at Salvatore Capelli Salon, 114 S. Boundary Street in Perrysburg from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 2nd.

*****pdate for Toledo and northwest Ohio************
The northwest Ohio low-cost prom dress event of the year is Owens College's, and parents and students will have their crack at gowns going from $5 to $20, and accessories from 50 cents to $5 on April 6th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Student Health and Activities Center.  For more information, call  (800) GO-OWENS, ext. 2569.

Outside of Toledo, the national network of volunteers involved with Cinderella's Closet has begun to roll out its schedule of prom dress sales.  There's also the Princess Project in California.  In Ankeny, Iowa, there will be a prom dress giveaway on March 4-8 from 4 to 7 p.m. via Project Fresh Start at Arkeny High School.    Lone Star College is sponsoring a prom gown giveaway at the CyFair Branch Library on March 15-17th, and April 19th and 20th in Cypress, Texas.  Call Elise at 281-290-5248 for more information.  And for prom dress giveaways in New York City, Dutchess County, New York, Atlanta and Baconton, Georgia, see the website here, for graduating seniors only.

****Update from Detroit:

The fourth annual Deja vu Prom Dress Resale will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Feb. 23, Sunday Feb. 24, Saturday March 2, Sunday March 3, at Grosse Ile Golf and Country Club, 9339 Bellevue Rd., Grosse Ile, Mich.

A Detroit event on April 14th: https://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=509009009167029&id=128098500591417

 


 

Getting a Low-Cost Prom Dress in 2012

Prom season is nearly here, and besides our past roundup of low-cost prom grown projects, we have some new ones to announce.  Here in the northwest Ohio/Toledo area, Owens Community College students are hosting their 2nd annual Prom Dress Extravaganza, in which high school students can purchase prom dresses for $5-$20 on April 14th at the Student Health and Activities Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as accessories ranging from 50 cents to $3.  For more information, call Owens College at 567-661-2569. 

In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, there is a  Prom Project till March 10 for prom gowns, AND young men can get a tuxedo voucher, plus etiquette lessons.  In central Illinois, the Perfect Prom Project will be held March 31st at Latzer Hall in the University of Illinois YWCA.  Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY is having their Prom Project March 9 and 10, 2012 for girls looking for a gown. 

As in the past, Donate My Dress is always a good jumping-off point in finding gently used prom gowns at a low cost, but googling "prom project, " along with the name of your town, is another useful tactic.  Of course, you may accidentally find programs on alcohol and drug free post-prom lockups, but that's the price you pay in finding cheap gowns.  Good luck.

****UPDATE:*****for teens in metro Detroit area:  The Detroit Free Press has a contest to win $500 towards prom expenses.  You have to make up a prom dress, or some other part of prom attire....from copies of the Detroit Free Press newspaper, and take a picture of it.  The winner gets the money to pay for prom costs.  Send a picture of your newspaper prom attire to freeprom@freepress.com by April 23rd. 

Low-Cost Wedding and Prom Gowns

Prom season will be sneaking up on us soon, and even poor girls will want to dress up and go. Guys will rent tuxes, but since gown rental has not reached the masses just yet (although it's available in some larger cities), some organizations exist to help girls go to the zenith in high school socializing. Women may also be on the lookout for low-cost wedding gowns, or a place to donate gowns from their special day.


Donate My Dress is a national organization that works with local ones to provide donated prom and bridesmaid dresses across the country. Here’s a look at local organizations around the country that provide these services, as well as places where donated dresses can be taken. They even list national places that will accept dress donations by mail if you do not live near a local organization.

Brides Against Breast Cancer is another group that creates a chance for women to both donate their once-used wedding gowns to be sold at a fraction of their costs, with the proceeds going to breast cancer. However, not all the gowns are used—about half are NEW gowns donated by manufacturers. They have a national tour of donated used and new gowns for purchase. The 2011 schedule is underway, and still being planned.

For military brides, Brides Across America receives donations from designers, shops and brides across the US for qualified military brides—those planning a wedding soon, or who had been deployed to Iraq Afghanistan or Qatar in the last five years, who did not have a formal wedding.

On a sadder note, the group Heavenly Angels has in the past accepted donated wedding gowns to make into shrouds to bury infants whose parents could not afford decent burial gowns. However, according to their web site, they are current suspending this because they have no tailor or seamstress to perform this work.