Dance recital costumes…prices?

[KatieJ]

Update.

DIL explained this price is for 2 costumes, 2nd one will be handed out and worn for spring recital.

It’s still ridiculously expensive. It sounds like this fee was a total surprise to them…yes there will be costumes for recitals, but the price wasn’t spelled out ahead of time. No worries, they can afford it, it was just a shock.

They do not  live in a high COL area . I don’t know if it is a competition studio, but I doubt it is considering where they live. 
 

 

My son just asked me if $180.00 for a 3 year old dance recital (December 20th, so holiday themed) is expensive.

In my world, when my girls were in dance, that would have paid for lessons for the entire year.

Do costumes really cost that much these days?

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by KatieJ

[mommyoffive]

Yes!!! That is crazy expensive, unless she is a ton of different classes.  When we were at a place that made us pay for costumes they were never more than $40.  But a more competition studio or something like that end up charging higher prices.

[teachermom2834]

That is really high for just one costume. Is it just one costume or are there multiple dances with multiple costumes?
 

My experience is that for a three year old if they are ordering brand new full costumes it probably costs the studio about $30 and the studio likely marks it up to $55-65. 
 

More expensive for bigger kids or for more costumes. Or if the $180 includes a costume/recital fee/ and a couple tickets.

So just a costume it is definitely really expensive but recitals can get up there (pictures, flowers). Maybe there is more included? My advice would be to find a studio that doesn’t charge so much because that is alot and it will only get much more expensive as the dancer gets older if she sticks with it.

$180 for a 3 yo yo participate in recital is a lot but not unheard of if it includes other recital expenses. Still high but not ridiculous as far as dance goes. But for one costume that is crazy and I would run. 

 

 

[catz]

That is crazy for a 3 year old.  Our old studio would require you to wear pink or black Leo and tights and they’d supply pieces (skirts, wings, crowns, etc) at those ages.  

[KatieJ]

2 minutes ago, catz said:

That is crazy for a 3 year old.  Our old studio would require you to wear pink or black Leo and tights and they’d supply pieces (skirts, wings, crowns, etc) at those ages.  

That was the deal when my girls dance, but they are 40 and 45…so it’s been a while. 

[Just Kate]

Yes, it really is that expensive. My dd is in high school, but at a new studio where she is just taking classes this year (no company, no competition team). She will be in 3 recital dances in the spring and her 3 costumes cost over $400. I hear that the little one’s costumes are just about as much as the older girls. I think it’s absurd, for what it’s worth. 

[teachermom2834]

Costumes drive me nuts. We’ve been at studios that handle it different ways. One thing is that when you are at a studio that squeezes you on costumes they will insist that every studio does it that way and that is just the way it is. While it may be common for studios to charge crazy amounts for costumes it is certainly not true that every studio does it that way. I always ask that question and we’ve found a wide variety of how costumes are handled. 

[catz]

17 minutes ago, KatieJ said:

That was the deal when my girls dance, but they are 40 and 45…so it’s been a while. 

Well this studio is still running that way.  My daughter is a teen now and we’ve hardly spent anything on dance costuming.   They did circus classes for a while.  Those costumes ran about 40-50.  Over 100 seems crazy.  Especially for kids younger than like 12.  

[KatieJ]

Just now, catz said:

Well this studio is still running that way.  My daughter is a teen now and we’ve hardly spent anything on dance costuming.   They did circus classes for a while.  Those costumes ran about 40-50.  Over 100 seems crazy.  Especially for kids younger than like 12.  

I suspect the dance studio my girls went to still functions pretty much as it did back then..as it is 3rd generation family now running it.

Unfortunately my son doesn’t live near that studio…and it’s their first recitAl experience….and I am thinking it may be their last at that studio!

[Bootsie]

There are two ballet schools associated with professional companies in my area.  For one of those schools, there is a $155 recital fee which includes one costume.  Additional costumes, if needed are $60.  The other school charges an $80 recital fee (or $130 per family recital fee) and then costumes are extra--which are at least $45 each.  

There are costs, other than costumes, associated with a recital (auditorium rental, soundbox and lighting staff, programs, etc.)  These will vary greatly depending on location and local cost of living. So, some depends upon how the studio is funding all of those costs--through a recital fee or through higher monthly dance tuition.  So, whether those are reasonable costs would depend upon the context.

Personally, I would avoid a studio that had multiple recitals per year or multiple costumes required, especially for younger children.  A recital scheduled Dec 20 seems to be a poor choice with so many other priorities that time of year (Nutcracker productions, and other holiday productions, can be part of holiday celebrations, but I would put those in a different category from "recital".

[Heartstrings]

I just got the bill for my daughters first ballet recital costume and it’s $150.  Classes are $72 a month for 1 hour a week.  It feels high but it’s our first year so I don’t know.  

[teachermom2834]

When my dd was at a studio that charged alot for costumes she was getting 6-7 costumes per recital at $70-80 each. And this was just a purely recreational place. The costs were way out of line with the product being put on stage. 
 

Where she is now charges $35 per class and that is either pieces that make up a costume (accessories to add to their class uniform) or it is a fee for rental for a nicer tutu for the older girls or a simple costume for the little kids that they can keep. People aren’t happy with that but after being someplace I was paying up to $80 per costume (sometimes two per class) I think it is a good compromise. I understand there will be some expenses and people do want their kids to look nice on stage. I appreciate it is hard to make everyone happy and it is more work for the studio owner trying to piece it together for $35 per class than it is the one who is ordering all new costumes and charging $80. But here the focus is more on the dance than on the glitter and glam of the costumes and it is okay if everything doesn’t match perfectly. I like it a lot better. 
 

The pre pro school attached to a professional company charges a rental fee per student of maybe $50. They kids look nice but they don’t get to keep their costumes. They go into the professional company stock. I also like this solution. Some moms of littles with one class feel like that is kind of a bad deal since they don’t get to keep a costume. But fast forward a couple years when their child is older and in multiple dances and it is a great deal. 
 

Dd also danced one place that just charged the true cost for the costumes with no markup for the studio. That feels better but with 6 or 7 costumes it still gets up there and is such a waste in my opinion. I’d so much rather pay for more instruction than poorly made tacky costumes. 

Okay… costume rant over…but no matter how you slice it $180 for a 3 yo is very very high. That is more than I have ever heard!

 

[Ting Tang]

We’ve paid about $60 for mass produced costumes. The studio we left requires you buy the spring recital costume but rent the Christmas one, and they alternate years for those. My daughter is now at a more classical school, so no more recitals for us. That price seems high unless it’s for multiple dances. 🤷‍♀️ 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Ting Tang

[Farrar]

I just think it’s absurd for 3 yos to have a recital at all. Our studio just did a little presentation class at that age and even that was a lot. 
 

I know we’re unusual, but my kid is literally a professional trainee and we never once paid a costume fee or bought a costume. But he never did competitions. And there were recital fees at the youth studio — they were for the space rental.

[KungFuPanda]

Does that $180 include a recital fee that comes with 4 tickets? Or is that just the costume? I know supply chains are still messed up and it can be harder to source the cheap costumes than it was in 2019 and earlier. 
 

$180 for a three year old’s costume is an absolute scam. I live in a HCOL area and I’ve never heard of anyone paying this much. It’s possible they just didn’t tell me so I wouldn’t go into shock.  But seriously, my daughter danced recreationally and we have friends who danced professionally and I’ve never seen a price that high. 
 

I teach bellydance and those costumes can get crazy expensive, but for student shows the costumes are always less than the toddler costume the op referenced. That price is offensive!

 

[Amy in NH]

We pay around $60 per costume - it's less for the younger kids and more for the older ones.  We know at the beginning of the year, at registration, what the costume fees will be.  I would refuse to pay $180 for one costume unless my kid were doing something specialized and professional (like an international competition).

When my kid, who now at 17 wants to become a professional ballerina, was three - her studio at that time had parent-volunteers make the costumes in the waiting room.  The tutus were tulle strips looped onto elastic waistbands.  We hot glued some flowers onto the front collars of their own regular black leotards. Each costume cost about $15, and they were super-adorable!

$180 is just unreasonable and unnecessary. 

[rebcoola]

My 3 yr olds costume fee for Ballet and Tap is $75 it's one Leo with different accessories for each dance.  The fee was $60 11 years ago when my older 2 did this class.  This is the mid priced school in my town.  The Pre-pro school doesn't do recital costumes but they require specific Leo's and tights for the kids all year long.  The fun/cheap school is $40.

[JustEm]

Our dance school, that is associated with a company doesn't have a recital fee or costume fee. They use costume pieces they have in the companies costume room. 

However, from my understanding of a lot of school's that sounds normal. A lot of times they will charge you more than the actual costume to help offset the cost of the more expensive costumes for the older dancers. At least this is how it is at many schools around here

[ksr5377]

I think it's a little high but it's not outrageous....even though it is.  I just paid $110 for my daughter's ballet costume, $40 for the accessories set - whatever that is- and $40 for the BLACK shoes they'll need to match the costume instead of the PINK ones I bought 3 months ago.  

I loved it years ago when my older two daughters took dance through the city Rec center and the teacher said she would never choose costumes over $35!  We moved so that's not an option anymore, and the classes themselves aren't terrible here.  $40/month for one 45 minute class every week.  But ouch, the costume!!

[Farrar]

I feel like 90% of what's galling is the age. It's one thing when an older kid or teen who is in competition dance spends that much on a costume. It's their "passion" and they love it and it's not out of line with some other pricey activities at that age. But 3?! No. Just no. Nothing at age 3 should be more than a sweet little something. A 3 year old is just as excited by a dollar store tutu and a twirl in their dance class for the parents all there as they are for a stage and a costume. Maybe even more so. 

[Paige]

That's about what my daughter's studio charges give or take a little. We live in a high COL area, but I don't think any of the other schools are cheaper here. The worst part is they never fit my daughter and we have to pay for alterations too. We measure carefully but her measurements don't match the sizes. And then the alterations man says they can't be altered because of sequins or something and I have to beg him to do whatever he can because she has to wear it and we don't care what it looks like up close. Put a x10 for lessons for a year!

This year the studio offered a winter recital too and we opted out because I didn't want to deal with the costume headache. 

[J-rap]

It's been at least 15 years since my girls were in dance, but our dance teacher worked pretty hard to find cute costumes that were affordable for families.  At that age, it was generally a leotard, tights, and maybe a colorful tutu and hair ribbon or something.  The older kids had costumes that might cost $80. 

[KatieJ]

Update in 1st post.

[Farrar]

Honestly, we're in a large urban area and none of the dance places around us do this sort of nonsense. From things I've heard from relatives and people in some of the dance mom groups I'm in, I think this is actually a more rural/exurban thing. Serious dance studios don't need to justify themselves by dolling kids up in overpriced clothes to show they're "serious" dance studios. And in affluent, urban areas, dance studios can be connected to dance companies or large arts organizations and they can hire instructors who had real careers or show off former students who went on to real dance careers. They don't need to bother putting a 3 yo in tuille to "prove" they are a good dance studio. But there's a focus on appearances at some smaller studios from what I've seen. Appearances and trappings and recitals and competition wins at no name competitions. And that's not a slam of more serious comp studios - some kids love dance comp and it's fun. But it can also be a purely pay to play endeavor that's all about the looks. 

[teachermom2834]

This isn’t just a competition dance thing. The places we have been that do this aren’t competition studios. But I agree that the more serious the studio, the less of this extra stuff, in general, and that is even in a not major metro. But sometimes there just aren’t a lot of options for the kind of serious studios that don’t do this. 

[rebcoola]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

Honestly, we're in a large urban area and none of the dance places around us do this sort of nonsense. From things I've heard from relatives and people in some of the dance mom groups I'm in, I think this is actually a more rural/exurban thing. Serious dance studios don't need to justify themselves by dolling kids up in overpriced clothes to show they're "serious" dance studios. And in affluent, urban areas, dance studios can be connected to dance companies or large arts organizations and they can hire instructors who had real careers or show off former students who went on to real dance careers. They don't need to bother putting a 3 yo in tuille to "prove" they are a good dance studio. But there's a focus on appearances at some smaller studios from what I've seen. Appearances and trappings and recitals and competition wins at no name competitions. And that's not a slam of more serious comp studios - some kids love dance comp and it's fun. But it can also be a purely pay to play endeavor that's all about the looks. 

I think some is just parent expectations.  The serious school doesn't do costumes for recitals and a lot of the moms don't send their kids their because of it they want the costumes and tulle and over the top cuteness.   

[gingersmom]

My daughter did tap/dance class ages 3-4.

While I don’t remember what we paid (it definitely was expensive) she and her friends wore the costumes for many years as dress up clothes. 
 

I saved the dresses as we have so many happy memories attached to them.

[MercyA]

When I took ballet and tap as a little girl, my mom and the other moms made most of our costumes. I guess they assumed everyone could sew? I'm old. 🙂 

[Brittany1116]

45 minutes ago, MercyA said:

When I took ballet and tap as a little girl, my mom and the other moms made most of our costumes. I guess they assumed everyone could sew? I'm old. 🙂 

In the early 90s, ours came partially assembled. Mom had to sewn on parts every year. I don't know if there was a discount for the DIY version, but there were at one time 3 of us taking 2 classes each, so she would have taken any discount offered.

[itsheresomewhere]

When DD was little, her dance recital outfit at that age was their normal dance uniform and matching hair bows.  It cost us 4.50 each for that recital outfit.  

[Ting Tang]

9 hours ago, Farrar said:

Honestly, we're in a large urban area and none of the dance places around us do this sort of nonsense. From things I've heard from relatives and people in some of the dance mom groups I'm in, I think this is actually a more rural/exurban thing. Serious dance studios don't need to justify themselves by dolling kids up in overpriced clothes to show they're "serious" dance studios. And in affluent, urban areas, dance studios can be connected to dance companies or large arts organizations and they can hire instructors who had real careers or show off former students who went on to real dance careers. They don't need to bother putting a 3 yo in tuille to "prove" they are a good dance studio. But there's a focus on appearances at some smaller studios from what I've seen. Appearances and trappings and recitals and competition wins at no name competitions. And that's not a slam of more serious comp studios - some kids love dance comp and it's fun. But it can also be a purely pay to play endeavor that's all about the looks. 

This.  Thanks to your help and the others here, I discovered our previous dance studio was a "dolly dinkle" dance school in a somewhat rural area.  Beautiful recital sets and performances make everyone think it is much better than it is.  Then we saw a real ballet teacher, and I pulled her out of that studio.  We will never go back to a studio with competition dance teams.