The St Vincent de Paul Society has said that the recession is driving more and more parents to sourcing clothes for First Communions in their charity shops. The administrator of the Society’s resource centre in Ballina, Anne Keane, has said demand for second-hand children’s clothes has risen sharply and Communion dresses and outfits are badly needed.
She said the customers patronising her shop for first communion attire are “not our regular customers” but rather are “people we have never seen in here before”.
Ms Keane said that every year the Society is approached for help by families who have over-extended themselves and gone into debt to pay for First Holy Communions.
She said many parents feel compelled to make a big impression for the occasion who then find themselves in hock to money-lenders – both legal and illegal ones- and find themselves out of their depth with meeting exorbitant repayments.
“A lot of people get themselves into huge debt and then they come to us when they literally have no food left in the house after paying off the money lenders,” she revealed.
St Vincent De Paul shops sell First Communion dresses from as low as €30 up and complete outfits, including shoes and accessories for as little as €70, she said.
She was speaking in the context of a survey conducted by Ulster Bank which found that parents spending an average of €748 on first communions and the attendant celebrations.
The survey estimated that the average price of a first communion dress is €200, with accessories such as veils, tiaras, shoes, bags, prayer pendants and rosary beads costing €150 on top of that.
This is before the parents buy new rig-outs for themselves and any other children, or contemplate the cost of a family occasion in which other relatives are invited to lunch.
The survey found that on average, families spend €354 on food and drink for a first Communion celebration.
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SV (3)