Affording the perfect prom dress is a SNAP

The social pressures faced by young women preparing for their senior prom are challenging enough.  The last thing any of them want to worry about is whether they can afford to purchase a suitable prom dress.

Fortunately for Spring-Ford students, due to a concerted effort by members of SNAP (Students Need an Alternate Party) and its board of directors, there is an affordable option available to purchase this most important of all prom necessities.

On Saturday, in the third of four scheduled prom dress extravaganzas, the east wing of Spring-Ford High School was transformed into a formalwear showroom complete with five changing rooms.

“This is our second year for this,” said board member Janice Johnson. “It’s such a thrill for us to be able to provide girls with an affordable dress for prom. The smiles and looks on their faces when they have the right dress on are priceless.”

With more than four hundred dresses available, each donated by recent brides, students, or businesses, the girls do not have a difficult time finding and falling in love with that “perfect dress."

“The first year we did it with a bunch of vendors,” added Johnson. “We had providers of nails, hair, limos and everything else, but we realized that the main goal is to get the dresses in the hands of the girls and all of that distracted from that happening.”

Purchased new, prom and formal dresses typically range in price from $79.00 to upwards of $800.00.

The dresses offered at the SNAP events have a simple pricing policy: each dress is $20.00, with a pre-pay option for just $15.00.

“The girls have so much fun with it,” said Johnson. “One of the coolest experiences so far has been when a girl that got a dress here last year brought it in this year to donate it and said, 'Now it’s some one else's turn to enjoy this dress.' I was almost in tears.”

The money generated from the sales of the dresses will go directly into SNAP’s fund for the post-prom activities to be held at the high school. Last year's events cost more than $30,000.00, which is a small price to pay to prevent prom night disasters from occurring.

SNAP has raised money this year during three other events, including a casino night and a sold-out “Dancing with the Stars” night.

“The school has been amazing,” said Johnson. “They have allowed us full reign of the school and let us keep all of the stuff set up here. We have been so lucky that moms have volunteered to help the girls with trying the dresses on and helping wrap them up so they make it home safely.”

With more than a dozen pairs of high heels on hand, not to mention irons, steamers and tons of mirrors, the girls are able to take their time and try on as many dresses as they want in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.

This year’s post-prom will have the theme of “Viva Las Vegas” with different community groups from the area sponsoring different sections of the festivities, as well as providing refreshments for the kids.

Monster inflatable apparatus will be on hand for the students to romp on as well as post-prom favorite Guitar Hero. There will also be Wii games.

Karaoke, face painting, casino games, caricature artists and many more activities will help provide a safe, sensible and fun environment for the students to finish off their night to remember.

“The post-prom activities that schools are doing now are fabulous,” said Johnson. “As a parent, it is such a relief to know the kids are safe and still having a great time, without being in a position where they may make a bad decision.”

Donations of dresses are accepted all year long and can be made directly at the school.

SNAP will be holding another dress event on April 14th at the school from 3:00pm until 7:00pm.

The dress events are a very practical way for girls of any budget to get a great dress at an affordable price.

“We are thrilled with the amount of support we have gotten,” added Johnson. “The smiles and joy on the girls faces makes all of the work to put this together worthwhile. Even the guys that come in with their girlfriends seem to have fun helping.”

Dave Conard is the lead sports correspondent for Limerick-Royersford-Spring City Patch.