Closets for Prom

Closet for Prom was created after I received a text message from a friend while I was on a mission trip in Africa. She texted me “I have an idea you can do”. By that night we had come up with a name and I was promoting it on the local Facebook group I run, Lake Cities Area Buzz! The rest is history!

What is Closet for Prom?

Closet for Prom is a community project/effort. We have received over 200 donated prom-style dresses (and about 50 non-prom-style dresses) we have 5 drop-off locations in Lake Dallas, Corinth, and Flower Mound. We have an amazing team of volunteers that have spent hours picking up dresses and organizing them by size. We have sizes 0-24. We also have some shoes, jewelry, and clutch-style purses. We even opened it up to accept men’s suits. We have scheduled shopping days where the girls can register online. What makes this different from many programs is there are no income requirements and the dresses aren’t just for girls of a certain income level or social status. We want all the girls in the Lake Cities to feel beautiful and have an opportunity to attend prom without the financial burden of buying an expensive dress to be worn for only a couple of hours and then stored away for years. The dresses we have received are amazing. Many even still had tags! One had never even been opened from the shipping packaging! The only requirement we have is the girls need to live in the Lake Cities or attend a school in the Lake Cities. We have had girls from Lake Dallas High School, Founders Classical Corinth, Guyer, and Ryan. We even had a 12-year-old that was attending a father daughter dance at her church! They basically borrow a dress and commit to returning it within 2 weeks of their event.

We also ask that it is professionally cleaned so it will be ready for the next “check out”. There are no fees. We don’t want the girls to be embarrassed to shop with us! Our hope is that as it grows, Closet for Prom will become the cool place to go to get your Prom dress.

We are also going to create an online catalog and make the dresses (both prom style and non-prom style) available to be shopped online year-round. Then any community member would be able to utilize the closet! If you had a gala or event to attend, rather than going to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress for a couple of hours, you could check on out.

We will continue to collect year-round. My hope is that after prom this year
We will get flooded with dresses.
The current drop-off locations is posted on FB.

Next year we have plans to grow bigger! I have started a nonprofit called Lake Cities HOPE (Helping Other People Elevate) and Closet for Prom will be one of the events that it takes care of. I hope to develop a relationship with a local dry cleaner that can maybe offer a discount if all the girls go to them. We hope to get more racks and covers for the racks to protect the dresses year round, matching hangers, hot pink dress bags with Lake Cities Hope Closet for Prom personalized on them, I want to work on getting swag bags for the girls, and even a red carpet for the girls to walk down! I want to make it an awesome experience that they will never forget! We will also be accepting financial donations through Lake Cities Hope to extend the program.

This has been such a fun project. Seeing the girls find the perfect dress is amazing!