`They're great girls,' says the sales assistant, `but I hate to see them coming!'

"They're great girls," comments one Dublin sales assistant, "but I hate to see them coming. They ask you to hold a dress and then come back with their friends who chop and change their minds for them and you don't know where you are."

Even a modest debs' night can set you back £200. "My daughter has had her dress made," confides a Dublin mother. "It cost about £90. The double ticket is £60 and she'll be spending £15 on her hair. I expect her to pay for at least half the drinks and the taxis so that could cost a further £50." Lots of people, though, are spending closer to £500 on the night and some even more especially if a family decides to throw a party to enable friends and relatives to admire the debutantes.

According to some young women, in some south Dublin suburbs it's uncool to be seen in a dress made by a dressmaker - "you can pick them out a mile off." Hired dresses are a definite no-no. Brown Thomas confirms that the average spend on a debs' dress is £200. However, has learned that some parents are willing to spend as much as £600 on a gown. Sensible youngsters though are opting to hire and even borrow dresses, but even hiring costs around £70 in Dublin.

Mothers still want their daughters to look virginal. The youngsters however have different ideas. When it comes to evening dresses, the girls want figure-hugging numbers revealing as much flesh as possible. `In' fabrics include velvet, satin and stretchy lycra. Black is still popular, but this season, girls are also going for plum, purple and dark blue.

Family warfare can and frequently does break out in dressshop fitting rooms. One salesperson recalls a youngster who was trying on backless dress recently but refused to come out of the fitting room for maternal approval. She had a large tattoo on her left shoulder of which her mother was unaware. She tried, but failed to convince the mother that it was only a transfer and was forced to settle for a cover-up dress.

This season's fashionable low-cut dresses involve further expenditure - tanning sessions can cost up to £35. Meanwhile, girls with long hair bent on acquiring a Forties look to complement the slinky dresses are spending around £25 on hairdos.

Boys are certainly less expensive to kit of out for the debs'. Fortunately they have no hang-ups about hiring their outfits. Blacktie, the Square, Tallaght says that this year has been their busiest debs year ever. Black is still the most popular colour for dress suits, but boys are now teaming them up with bright waistcoats and matching bow ties and wing-collared shirts. An all-in package including an orchid for the girl costs about £46, but Blacktie also offers special deals to schools.

Double Tickets for debs' dances vary in price but can cost up to £60. Lots of kids still get their parents to drop them to the debs, others take taxis but increasingly youngsters are opting to arrive at the venue in chauffeur-driven limousines. "Their first choice is the American stretch-limo, but when they've all gone they fall back on Mercedes," explains Carl McCrory of American Limousine Service. In Dublin, a limo can set you back as much as £180 for a one-way journey. According to student Patrick Smyth it's the girls who are keenest on hiring limos for the night.

Rumours that Bewleys have banned debs are untrue. Well-behaved debs are welcome, says general manager John Farrell.