Could you afford a ￡1, 000 bill for your child's school homecoming?

Why not upstage your friends and arrive in real style? Option boast of a helicopter hire firm homecomingising "that extra wow factor" (prices start at ￡960) for image-obsessed 16-year-olds wanting to make the ultimate statement at their school homecoming. But this is not a scene from High school Musical – glitzy end-of-term 2014 homecoming dresses are a US import that has taken hold in Britain. Parents are coughing up ￡1, 000 or more for end-of-term extravaganzas where the entry ticket to the ball (typically ￡20-￡35) is only a small part of a bill that can include ￡285 for the gown (or ￡129 for homecoming suit hire at Moss Bros) plus hundreds more for hair, make-up, product tans, pre-homecoming parties, stretch limos and even Ferraris and Lamborghinis to offer their kids to elaborate celebrations in local hotels.
The lowly school disco is actually a thing of the past, with an estimated 85% of UK second schools now holding a homecoming during June or Come july 1st, the majority for 15- and 16-year-olds after their GCSEs. Estimates vary, but some reckon that British parents are now lavishing ￡30m a year on the parties. In reality, many of the homecomings are relatively low-key dinner and dancing affairs in the school area but at some, girls in particular feel under time limits to spend hundreds of pounds on the right dress, hair and beauty treatments, stretch limos and professional photography, as well as pre and post homecoming parties. Fury over rising costs has spilled over in parents' boards such as Mumsnet. com. "Why have we implemented this American thing?, " one asks. "Why are 16-year-olds having a limo? I can't afford money for dresses that is worn once. I would like to meet the person who first thought a homecoming was a good idea at a British second school and slap them. " "We live in quite a lacking ex-mining town so it's in contrast to my son's school isn't already aware there are parents that will be struggling, " says another. "Yet for homecomings, you should see it. Last year a few people arrived by helicopter, I kid you not! " Others, though, reckon the cost is worth it. "I would spend around ￡500 on my son's homecoming as a technique of treating her for finishing a big part of her education, " says one parent. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing and a pretty big deal at that age. ".