Wow, that’s a LOT of money! I don’t think I spent that much all together for the three homecoming dances and two proms I went to in high school. Then again, my family is handy with a sewing machine, so the costs of two of the dresses never went above $50 US. The tickets for prom were the biggest expense-- $75-- and even then, there were plenty of schools that charged even more (up to $150) to cover the cost of renting out a hotel ballroom/country club/catering hall, DJ, and other stuff that went into making the prom happen. Of course, unlike a lot of kids, my group of friends always had a “let’s watch movies and make popcorn” co-ed slumber parties after these events. None of us were that into drinking at that point.
As for the OP, how did prom night go? I hope that little bastard who wanted the prom ticket back got his just desserts for being an immature little ass about the situation.
Hope it worked out, purple haze.
I went to several proms, but I wouldn’t say I ever had a magical time. It was just a school dance. I think too much emphasis is put on these events. My mother was far more excited about them than I was; in fact, I turned down one invitation just because my mom’s frenzy of prom-joy was stressing me out.
Just before one prom, I found that the guy had also asked two other girls. We all got together and decided that none of us would go, just to teach him a lesson…but I had my fingers crossed. 
He was dating one of the other girls before we even got our prom pictures developed.
I’m assuming she reimbursed the boy for the cost of the ticket?
Doesn’t your heart just break for them sometimes?
My wife’s neice suffered a similar humiliation – invited to Prom, then the boy found out another girl was still available (for more, we later discovered, than just Prom) so broke the date with Deniece. SIL, who is a kind of in-your-face broad, loveable but fiercely loyal to family, called the boy’s mom asking, basically, WTF? Kid’s mom said, “They’re only this age once. I want my son’s Prom to be perfect for him, so I’m not going to force him to take anyone he doesn’t want to.”
I guess that’s the attitude nowadays – Prom has taken on an importance so great for some parents they’re willing to let their darlings ruin it for others just so it can be “perfect”. Wotta load!
You know what I bet? I’ll bet, 20 years from now, **purple haze’s ** daughter remembers this Prom as one of the best times she ever had, and the punk who stood her up will be posting sleazy “How I lost my virginity on Prom night” stories on SDMB.
No offense, but your SIL was out of line there.
Just a question, but why the hell should she? The guy gave her the ticket and then decided he didn’t want to go with her. His fault for being a jerk.
~Tasha
Really-why would you even WANT to go to the prom with a dick like that?
At least she could go to her prom. My prom, you had to have a date or no dice.
I went with a female friend from work (whom my family and everyone else thought I was actually dating). Prom was the only HS dance I actually went to. Afterwards we were gonna go to a party, but I got lost and accidently ended up in New Jersey (from Northeast PA), then New York, then New Jersey again, back to PA (I had to pay to get back into PA), then we ended up in the Poconos. My sense of direction is not very good. I used up 2 tanks of gas that night.
I don’t understand why the authorities would do this. Not everybody can get or even wants a date, but weren’t those students still part of the school and part of the class that was celebrating? I’ve never heard of not allowing solo students to attend the prom.
Yes, he’s a jerk. Why would she want to have a jerk pay her way?
Uh, why not? He was going to anyway.
~Tasha
Yes, but the right thing to do would have been for her to offer to pay for the ticket. Sometimes we have to teach people manners, and it sounds like this kid could stand to learn a few. Whether he accepts the offer to pay or not, she’s got the moral high ground.
FWIW, I went to my senior prom with a “date” consisting of five other girls and four guys. Yes, we all got in on one ticket. No, nobody hassled us about it. This was 1987. We had major geek cojones and no one felt like messing with us, I guess.
My school was small enough to have a “Junior-Senior Prom,” actually (both 11th and 12th graders allowed to go every year). My junior year, I set up a Tarot card fortune-telling booth – there was some kind of theme that year that made this appropriate – and charged 50 cents a fortune. Never in my life have I had such a golden opportunity to tell asshats exactly what I thought of them – and I got PAID for it! (IIRC I netted about $50.)
purple haze, I am so on pins and needles wondering what happened for your daughter. I think I’m probably safe saying we’re nearly all sitting here identifying with her. If it was unspeakable and you don’t want to talk about it, or she doesn’t want you to talk about it, maybe you could just drop in for a quick say-so?
Mad props to your kid in any case!