Dress event helps teens get ready for prom on the cheap

Party like it's 2006?

Nope. Not in this economy.

These days, plenty of families struggle just to make their mortgages and keep food in their fridges. Some parents simply don't have the luxury of spending hundreds of dollars on strapless ball gowns for their daughters to wear on prom night. Manicures, pedicures and professional up-dos - so long a crucial element of the rite of passage that is prom - are, for many daughters, as out of reach as a Jaguar XF.

It's these teens in particular that the Friends of Advantage, an organization that supports Advantage Behavioral Health Systems, hope to help with adDRESS A Need, a benefit dress sale that will be held Friday and Saturday. More than 300 dresses will be for sale at prices ranging from $20 to $90.

Friends of Advantage also will award several head-to-toe makeovers for students who could not otherwise afford to go to prom.

"We just want to let these girls know there's a way to go to prom without having to spend $500," said Tammy Dalton, development officer for Advantage Behavioral Health systems, which provides behavioral health, developmental disability and addictive disease services.

While adDRESS A NEED is geared toward promgoers, Dalton points out that many of the dresses would work great for adults who need an outfit for a night out dancing or a dressy evening on a cruise. The sale will even offer several brand-new wedding gowns.

"There are some wonderful dresses," Dalton said. "In these tough economic times, people welcome good pricing for beautiful dresses."

adDRESS A NEED also will include jewelry, shoes and make-up vendors, so it'll be possible to purchase an entire look in one stop. The gowns also come in sizes from 0 to 32. "That's something we're proud of," Dalton said.

Teens who don't find a dress at adDRESS A NEED can hunt for prom bargains at the area's second-hand shops. The Athens Goodwill store already has seen several teens come in this year to purchase prom dresses, according to Elaine Armstrong, director of public relations for Goodwill of North Georgia.

When shopping for a dress at a second-hand shop, teens should

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