1974
1975
Southwords
May 1975Helpful hints for poor prom-goers
Like everything else today, prom costs are on the rise. Remember when a meal for ten dollars included everything, not just a guarantee for a chair, silverware, and a napkin? Well, folks, those days are long gone. But hark! Help is here. Today, many restaurants offer prom couples special menus (not just printed up placemats) from which to order.
The famous 95th Restaurant in the Hancock building carries a special menu, which, for $12.50, includes the entree, dessert, appetizer, and coffee. The entres range from frogs legs (sorry, no discount if you bring your own from biology) to roast duckling. A restaurant a little closer to home would be The Seven Eagles Restaurant located at 1050 Oakton in Des Plaines. A dinner for two would run about $25.00, with the last seating being at midnight. If you are looking for more entertainment than for quiet solitude, try The Tango of Allgauer’s Fireside. The Tango, at 3170 Sheridan Road, has live entertainment and a guy can walk away with only a $20.00 hole burned into his pocket (and ringing ears) for a dinner for two. But plan ahead, The Tango reservations are needed about two weeks in advance.
For really name entertainment, Allgauer’s is the place. On May 17, the Mark Lucas and Clancy Troy Show will be appearing, and on June 6, Dave Major and the Minors will be featured. To see groups like these, reservations are needed well in advance; it was suggested to have them made at least the night before. If you’re worried about the cost of a long dress of the cost of a rented tuxedo, get ready to break open the old piggy bank and count the pennies.
The rental of a tuxedo will be between $18.50 and $40.00, but this also depends on the store you rent it from, and also the color and the style. The prices at Henry’s Tuxedos, on Lee Street in Des Plaines, range from $18.95 to $28.50 and orders should be placed as soon as possible. Seno Formal Wear, in Golf Mill has prices from $22.50 to $38.95, and suggests orders be put in three weeks early. Both Serafini, 21 N. Northwest Highway in Park Ridge, and Gingiss, 9513 N. Milwaukee, have prices ranging from $20.00 to $40.00, and orders should be placed as soon as possible.
Flowers and boutonnieres also will play a role in the game of “How to Drain a Person’s Pockets.” Corsages and wrist corsages are about the same price; they range anywhere from $4.00 to $15.00. This will vary with the types of flowers used with daisies being about the least expensive and roses being the most costly. Nosegays will be about $2.00 more for the same amount of flowers, so if you are trying to win the game of saving, buy a corsage.
Life may seem like an endless road of bills with the upcoming proms, but not all is lost, the tickets are free (what a relief!). If with all the helpful hints given thus far, you still feel you can’t afford prom, these steps are your last resort. Read on, carefully:
Collect the free tickets. Tell the girl that she does not need a bid, and that you will write up some memoirs on the back of the pictures she took before you left her house. Double with someone so you don’t need to spend more money on gas. Go to McDonald’s or House of Pies afterwards for a hamburger or a pie. Sew satin on the lapels of your best-looking suit jacket, ruffled shirt. In the dark no one will know that it isn’t a tuxedo. Buy her a simple plastic daisy corsage, or tell her that you’re allergic to all flowers and can’t get within six feet of them or you’ll break out in hives. If any more help is needed for the financing of your prom night, the Savings and Loan companies are listed in the Yellow Pages.