I SAY come to California !! course I AM obgligated to tell everyone that has the chance to experience the greatness of Cali to do so... but... I would never pay 500 dollars for formal unless that price includes like the plane ticket there and hotel room or whatever... I don't know what all this girl who's planning this has spent the money on to make it so expensive.. but I can't see it being worth it, especially when I know my chapter is probably going to have our formal at a VERY VERY nice place in San Francisco and it's not costing anything close to 500 a person

Here are the elements:
Charter bus ride
Renting the facility
Hotel room
Dinner
Open bar

approximate attenance: 20 couples
current approximate price: $450

wow.. that doesn't even count your dress.. and other stuff like that

OK, here's the next question. Is that $500 American or $500 Canadian? I don't know what the exchange rate is right now but that can make a difference - although I doubt that much.

shiiiiiiiitttt... what are they serving for dinner? caviar? oysters on the half? NY steak? gold?

how did that get approved from your national (sorry i am under the assumption you are, if not I apologize.) I remember my cousin saying that her sorority only paid $5 for their formal one year and then another friend in another house said their national restricts them from going over $20 per couple.

i'd say skip it... my house gets all bent out of shape if the bids are over $70.

That's US dollars

WOW! That is too much money for a formal. :eek: We spent $85 per couple at the most.

Assuming that you belong to a national GLO, and I realize that every GLO has its own standards, how do you get away with the fees for a hotel room and an open bar? Pare those two expenses away, and you have probably cut away the cost to less than $100 couple. If someone wants/needs a room so badly, or needs to drink like an idiot, let them pay for those parts themselves! All an open bar accomplishes is the feeling of "getting your money's worth". Don't even get me started about the hotel rooms!

honeychile

Here is a link to the travel company, STA Travel.

Yeek...I paid less than that for my flight to Rome! :eek:

Our formal was maybe $50 a person, if that much. We have it in the nicest hotel in the city, with heavy hors d'oeurves and open champagne bar. We also have a charter bus. If people want hotel rooms to pre-game or post-game in, they could pay for it.

no
 

go to california. You will love the trip.

Well, we just had a meeting to verify who was going and we were a few couples short of what we needed. No $500 formal!

(might I add to the reverb echoing across the walls of the thread...."WHOA!!!....$500 formal!!!) I would rather PAY MY DUES!!

I'm glad for you that you don't have to have the expensive formal. I would be upset if i had to miss our formal!

$500 is far too extravagant for any undergrad. Maybe you can all get together and plan a little more affordable formal. :)