A Week Of Claire's Prom: The Shoes

For those of you not familiar with the buying of the Prom Shoe, let me fill you in: we're not looking for comfort, we're looking for drop dead gorgeous style. My girl, and all her friends, kick off those killer heels to dance the night away.

Stilettos usually photograph better than bare feet, anyway :P

Like Claire's dress, we started looking for the perfect shoes months before. When I find something hot in a heel, I buy it whether she has something to go with it or not. Odds are, down the road, she's gonna get that slinky gown and we'll already have the complimentary shoe to go with it. Plus, they're only $3.29 a pair at Goodwill, so why WOULDN'T I buy ahead?

I've mentioned the big shoe bins our Goodwill has. You gotta invest some time and some serious digging to find the gold, but it's there. That's where I found these beautiful black satin and gold heels. They were BRAND NEW, for $3.29, and the soles were leather. New at the mall, they had to run at least $50.

There was only one thing missing: the buckle at the top (see picture #2).

For $3.29, I wasn't gonna quibble. I snapped those bad boys up and took them home, thinking of ways to comlete the heels for prom. That's when I had a brainstorm and said, 'ribbon.'

Claire and I went to Walmart to the sewing dept. We perused their ribbon selection and found the perfect style: bold red with a black lace pattern. We cut the ribbon to the right length, rolled it into a tiny tube, and threaded it through the buckle-less loop. Once in, we tied the ribbon in a cute bow (see #3).

We were THRILLED with the result! Claire said the shoes fit tightly enough that they wouldn't fall off her feet (IMPORTANT!), her friends thought they were cool (DOUBLY IMPORTANT!) and they weren't too hard to walk in.......well, for such high heels, anyway!

The ribbons were toast by the end of the night, but for the price of a spool of ribbon ($2.97), it was a good trade off. The shoes are so nice, there's nothing wrong with buying other colors of ribbon to match other dresses.

Or, I could take them to the shoe repair in town. I'll bet they could replace the buckles.


Oh options on the cheap, with fabulous end results.........we love thee <3<3<3