The perfect prom dress. While some scour numerous department stores, hunting for their coveted outfit of choice, and others scroll through tens and thousands of websites, prom season presents a challenge of great proportions.

Senior Neha Sunil (12), found her desired dress to be over her budget, so she decided to make a dress herself, enabling her to have her perfect dress without the burden of the cost.

“There was a dress online that I thought was cool but it was $15,000, so I figured that it looked fun to make, so I decided to make mine,” said Neha.

Others, such as Priscilla Pan (12) and Janet Lee (11) were able to find their dress through a simple store search. Shopping malls and department stores in particular provide a large selection of prom dresses to choose from.

“[My dress] light blue and it has a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps and the back has a cross strap design and on the front it has sparkly sequence,” said Priscilla. “I went to Great Mall and Valley Fair and everything either didn’t look good or was way too overpriced, so I went to JCPenney.”

Although shopping takes more time and energy, it allows the shopper to try the dress on, making it easier to find a dress that is suitable. During this time of year, many stores even have specialized departments for prom dresses. For example, Macy’s is offering dress sales starting at 15% off to almost 50% off. Janet was also able to find her perfect nude hourglass dress for herself in Macy’s.

Other students have found that that clicking a few buttons on a laptop could lead to having the desired prom dress in a matter of five to seven business days.

“[My dress is] navy-ish, strapless, and it has lace detailing on the back. I got it from a sketchy website that ships from China,” Kristen Park (11) said. “I feel like those kinds of sights offer more unique designs and styles and I was just browsing and I liked it. It took lots and lots of browsing.”

Prom will be held on May 15 in the Capital Club. The theme this year is “Enchanted Forest.”