It sounds like a new teen comedy movie, but the gum wrapper prom dress is a real thing.
The recession's gotten so bad in Iowa that one high school junior, Elizabeth Rasmuson, decided that a gum wrapper prom dress was cheaper to make than to actually buy a dress.
The prom is next weekend and Elizabeth and her boyfriend Jordan will be wearing matching gum wrapper creations. The lady, of course, will wear the gum wrapper prom dress, and her beau will be wearing a matching vest.
All the stories online about Elizabeth's gum wrapper prom dress seem to mention that she made it from "5 Gum," a Wrigley brand, so it almost seems like the manufacturer sent her a few bucks to promote their product. Either way, the girl's probably only spent around 100 dollars to build her gum wrapper prom dress.
No, Elizabeth didn't chew all the gum. She gave it to friends after they promised to give her the wrappers.
The basic structure of the gum wrapper prom dress is the old "gum wrapper chain." My dad used to make them when I was a kid. You can see how to make gum wrapper chains
here. But if you wanted to make the world's longest gum wrapper chain, you'd better start immediately. The current record holder, Gary Duschl of Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been working on his Guinness World Record chain for 45 years. It's 12 miles long.