Planning & Budgeting for Prom/Graduation 2014 and Win a $50 Prepaid Visa

This year is a BIG milestone for our family as our oldest child is graduating from high school in a just a few weeks. And with this milestone comes the special celebration of a graduation formal dinner and dance for our daughter, who has been looking forward to this special evening for months. She has been looking at formal gowns since Grade 11...all while dreaming about what her dress for this special night might look like, along with ideas for hair and makeup. And as any parent who has a child graduating from high school knows, the costs to make these dreams a reality can quickly add up. For instance, formal dresses for teen girls alone can cost several hundred dollars.

When the school year started, we had a discussion with our daughter about what her prom/grad costs might be and what she would be able to pay for with her part-time job, and what costs that her Dad and I would agree to pay. We wanted to be clear about who would cover what so that there would be no surprises. Did you know that 56% of Canadian parents pay nearly the full price of prom for their children?{As revealed by the Visa Canada Prom Spending Survey 2014}

In our case, we expected our teen daughter to share in some of the costs for her special night. We think it's important for her to understand the financial costs of grad celebrations. She agreed to pay for the limo ride, hair and makeup and a few smaller items. My husband and I agreed to pay for her formal dress and shoes, a dress for the cap and gown ceremony, and tickets for the formal grad dinner and dance for our family. We also placed realistic budget limits on each item and encouraged our daughter to stay within budget. Then we wrote down the budget on paper so we could stay the course with our plan.We also talked about ways to say money...such as wearing the same shoes for both the cap and gown ceremony and the formal dinner/dance. However, these decisions take careful thought as you try to teach your child about staying within a budget while also balancing their dreams for a special night. Hopefully, both parents and child can meet somewhere in the middle where every one is happy and dreams are met! But more importantly, it is crucial to teach your teen about responsible budgeting and spending....no matter what the event.

Visa Canada recently released this amazing FREE app called Plan'It Prom to help kids and parents with the budgeting process for Prom. I so wish that we had this app available to us when we began the process of budgeting and planning for Prom/Grad back in September 2013 as it would have made things so much easier for us!

This app is available to download FREE from the iTunes Store, the Google Play Store and from www.practicalmoneyskills.ca/prom. It's a wonderful planning tool for parents and teens to use to make a budgeting plan.

The app contains great information and tools for planning all aspects of the prom journey including a place to enter amounts budgeted for each item, helpful tips for saving money and a timeline to help in putting the whole plan together.

And if you have a teen daughter like I do, just have a  look at this amazing list that lays out many of the expenses that need to be discussed for budgeting.

I think prom and grad activities are an important teachable moment for parents to talk with their kids about budgeting and finances, and the opportunity to come up with a mutually agreed plan, with teens sharing and taking more responsibility for costs.  I love this app because it provides both parents and teens with a tool where plans can be agreed to and recorded in a very organized way that is literally at your fingertips. Teaching financial literacy to teens is such an important job and this app helps parents and teens to record a realistic, detailed budget, track spending and provides a place for teens to create a visual gallery for inspiration for things like dresses, shoes and hair. And as with anything in life, planning is the key to making sure that things run smoothly, which results in happy teens and happy parents. And if you have a teen graduating this year, I wish you and your family a happy & memorable day!

For more than 20 years, Visa has been a leader in developing innovative, free programs that help people effectively learn the fundamentals of personal finance, including budgeting, saving, responsible spending and the wise use of credit.  Visa is offering one lucky reader a $50 prepaid Visa card to help with prom expenses or some other expense that your family is budgeting for this summer.

To Enter to Win A Prepaid $50 Visa Card:

1. You must be 18 years old and live in Canada to enter. {Except where prohibited.}
2. Please leave a comment below sharing something that your family is saving/budgeting for this summer.
3. One entry per person and please make sure that a valid email address is attached to your comment.
4. Contest closes Thursday, May 22, 2013 at midnight MST.

Disclosure: This post was generously made possible by Visa Canada. As always, I only partner with brands/products that I use in my own home. All opinions are my own.