Author Topic: Today's rant - evening ball  (Read 4157 times)

bigchrisb

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Today's rant - evening ball
« on: December 08, 2013, 03:53:45 AM »
Had a rather un-mustachian weekend.  Went to a ball with my partner.  It was evidently very important to her, so went, had a good time, and chose to zip my comments and let her enjoy it.  However, I need to have a bit of a vent, so please indulge me!

Attendance at a ball at the fanciest venue in town.  Cost breakdown:
- Tickets, 2@$150 = $300
- Suit hire $200
- Dress shoes $210
- Taxis etc $30
- Hair cut, dye and style $200+90 = $290
- Mani/pedi $100
- dry cleaning $20
Plus other miscellaneous bits and bobs.

So, for three hours of parading around like a peacock, something like $1200.  I have to say, there are other things on my bucket list a little higher to do for that sort of a budget.  However, I realise that partnerships are partnerships, and sometimes we need to be a willing participant in things that are of greater value to the other...


happy

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Re: Today's rant - evening ball
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2013, 04:15:13 AM »
LOL, how did you look with your hair colour and nails done?

Yeah rant away. I'm cheering you on. Its ridiculous.  I've been to more than my share of formal balls and dos, obligated  by both professional and societal  pressures and finally figured out I'd rather spend the money some other way. So i positively avoid that sort of thing unless I have no other choice.

Now my teens are doing the year 10 and 12 formal thing: some parents are forking out $1000 for a year 10 girl outfit....I tried to keep mine within a few hundred.

Its kind of fun to get all glammed up for the night and get carried away, but when you stop to think about it YIKES, so much money , you could have 12 great meals at $100 a pop, several weeks or more camping holiday, etc etc. (hmm yes I know you'd get some stocks....)


Anatidae V

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Re: Today's rant - evening ball
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2013, 04:37:16 AM »
My mum paid $30 for my year 12 ball dress, ~7 years ago. Everyone else's was >$150. Try specialist second hand dress/dance shops, mine was quite small but had at least 3 dresses that fitted, all sub $50 but similar or more than my friend's dresses if bought brand new.

Richard3

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Re: Today's rant - evening ball
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2013, 01:54:05 PM »
Suit rental is usually a bad idea, I've bought a suit and a tuxedo (both machine washable) for less than you spent renting one you got dry cleaned. I would still have them but I ditched all my stuff that didn't fit in two bags when moving back to NZ from Europe.

Dress shoes are not an expense for this ball only unless you threw them out afterwards or bought really badly.

The mani-pedi and hair expenses I can pretty much only say "LOL Women". I could write a somewhat thought through analysis of the beauty obsession and poor inoculation against cultural values but LOL women sums it up more succinctly and I am hungover.

bigchrisb

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Re: Today's rant - evening ball
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2013, 04:35:13 PM »
Concur on the "Lol - Women" line! :)

At the end of the day, I paid about half this, and its about 3% of my monthly income, so small fry.  However, it was certainly an insight into how different groups of people think and approach expenses (I'm an INTJ engineer, the general group at this do was certainly not!!)

nikki

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Re: Today's rant - evening ball
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2013, 05:34:20 PM »
O___O

Why?

I didn't even go to my high school prom and have never worn a formal get-up, so I suppose this sort of thing just doesn't appeal to me.

Moomingirl

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Re: Today's rant - evening ball
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2013, 01:04:45 AM »
@ Richard3 and Bigchrisb - steady with the 'LOL women' remarks. That is non-mustachian women you are talking about. They are a different breed.....

I am about to go out to a formal function. My costs are:
Dress - $1 from the charity shop (on the discount rail - they obviously didn't realise it was pure silk) rehashed to suit me.
Shoes- pair I have owned for about five years, originally cost $5 from the charity shop (looked brand new).
Hair - cut my own. Will stick it up with some fancy clips for the evening. I always get told it looks nice when I do this.
Mani / pedi - Clean and tidy is good enough, and are free (nail buffers cost about $2 and last for ages). I can't stand the smell of nail varnishes anyway, and they look awful when they chip a few days later.
Husband - wearing suit he already has. I will air it afterwards, and wash if necessary. We don't buy stuff that is dry clean only.

You only have to spend as much as you want to. Sometimes a different experience is cool. We did a special function a couple of years ago for which the tickets cost $300. We will remember it for the rest of our lives, but the incidental costs would have been less than $20.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!