Spray tans, hair appointments, manicures, pedicures and dresses. When it comes time to prepare for school dances, there are many expenses for girls, and the Sadie Hawkins dance is no different.

Those attending the dance often purchase new dresses, shoes and jewelry, and the Sadies dance adds the extra expense of tickets for some girls. 

Our staff asked 30 random girls at the high school about their planned expenditures for the dance. 

Twenty-nine planned on purchasing a new dress for Sadies, and those dress prices ranged from $25 to $630, according to the girls.  

High school student, Saphira Johnson, thinks that money could be spent on much better things. 

Twenty-three of the 30 girls planned on purchasing new shoes, while 20 planned on buying new jewelry to match their dress. 

The average price of the shoes was $57.39, and the average jewelry price was $33.85. 

Eleven girls planned on getting a spray tan ranging from $20 to $60, and 22 girls planned on getting a nail appointment with an average price of $77.18. 

“It’s difficult to balance wanting to align with your friends, but also trying not to care about how you compare to them,” high school senior, Mimi Chapman said. 

Between the fall’s homecoming dance, many formals and Sadies in the winter and prom in the spring, the cost of dance preparation adds up rapidly throughout the year.

The average total spent on the dance is approximately $395, according to the 30 interviewed girls. 

Lucy Stokes said that spending more on prom makes sense, but spending that amount of money on every dance is too much. 

If a girl attends the homecoming and Sadies dances each year of high school and spends the same amount on senior prom, that’s an average of more than $3,500 spent on 9 high school dances.

This number was eye-opening to senior Gmahir Alshariki. “It is ridiculous to spend that much since it should be a fun dance,” she said.