Reply #11: That's ridiculous.

[AirmensMom]

My kids had minimum wage jobs and had plenty to buy a nice dress for their proms (one was $75 and the other was $90). And they got something they could wear to another party. OK, so that was 10 years ago, but this is Boca -- the rich girls had very expensive gowns. And they got enough kid together so that the limo was $50 each. Since they were spending their own money, they looked for bargains.

Funny, they looked beautiful and had a great time. But they stopped talking about it maybe a week later ... not like it's something worth spending big bucks on.

$3500.00 certainly does sound excessive to me. But your brother's response says it all. When parents think it's OK, they're communicating that to the kids ... just my two cents' worth.