Formal Shopping

Today we are going shopping for formal dresses. My girls are pretty excited. I am too except for the fact that the place they want to go is in a mall that is almost 2 hours away! When some of our friends first started talking about hosting a "formal" Spring Fling for the homeschooled kids in our area (in WV) the hubby and I weren't sure what we thought of that. One of the reasons we homeschooled our kids was to keep them from some of the dating standards of the public schools, the social pressure of the boy/girl thing, etc. Not that in any way we thought they would not have an interest in the opposite sex but that it wouldn't be driven by peers or the social pressure to fit in. But of course, the idea of dressing up and having a fun evening with your best friends is always irresistible. As far as I can remember there was only one official couple at this formal dance. The rest of the kids kicked off their shoes and danced their socks off! There was a great meal, and very little of the drama I remember at my high school proms. It was a blast - so we are headed back for another "formal" this year! We can't wait. Now if only we could just get this dress shopping over with!
Oh yeah, and to appease my frugal friend , the dresses in the picture at the top (which mortifies my daughters now to look at because they had the "same color") were purchased after most of the local school formals, and therefore discounted. Kaitlyn's dress (L) cost $18 and Kendra's dress (R) cost $40. I don't remember who picked their dress first - but this year they have both decided that they will have different color dresses.