And now their GCSEs done and dusted, they want to dress up like red carpet actresses.

It's perfectly understandable why 16-year-olds here have adopted the whole American prom thing.

They've all seen Grease - and those over the top parties to mark the end of high school look like such fabulous fun.

The prom is such a ball... It's all about playing grown ups for the night.

Boys who have never worn anything but jeans turn out in dinner suits and bow-ties.

And among the girls, even the die-hard tomboys glam up in make-up and fancy frocks.

But it is costing parents hundreds of pounds to indulge their prom-mad kids.

It's madness; like all things American, it's way too excessive.

Boys no longer borrow their dads' ancient dinner suit, they either buy or hire. Their aftershave is big name designer. They wouldn't dream of giving their school shoes an extra polish and making do; they need a new and expensive pair.

But it's even worse if you have a daughter. Girls spend an average of £200 on fabulous dresses and up to £100 on blingy accessories. Then there's even more cash to fork out at the hair and beauty salon.

They think it's essential to have been primped and preened within an inch of their young lives before they put a diamante stilettoed foot inside the mandatory stretch limo. They want to look as good as their style icons - Li-Lo, Girls' Aloud and Paris, even though they don't have even a tiny fraction of their cash. Or their stylists.

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They have spray-tans, manicures, pedicures, leg waxes. Their highlights gleam as their hair is swept into immaculate up-dos by trained stylists.

I can't believe their Saturday jobs run to much of the cost. The rest has to come from the Bank of Mum and Dad.

Some parents will merrily go along with it because for the last 16 years all they have ever done is over-indulge their offspring.

But others will feel trapped by this ridiculous, over-blown prom phenomenon. No matter how hard up they are, how can they say no when every other kid in the school year is getting glammed to the eyeballs?

I wonder what these 16-year-olds are going to have left to look forward to when they reach life's other milestones? Leaving Sixth Form at 18... Graduating from university... Walking down the aisle .

Will they be less exciting because they have been there and done it while they still had braces on their teeth and acne gel on the bedside cabinet?

When I left school, we had a leaver's disco in the assembly hall. It was basic - and brilliant.

We put our best outfits on and did the rest of the beautifying ourselves - with a Miners' kohl pencil, plenty of spot-stick and a dash of blusher from a cardboard pot of Bourjois.

Hairdressers? Why bother when you could sleep in a set of squashy foam rollers the night before?

And as for manicures, what was the point when you were still persevering with the Stop 'n' Grow?
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