Planning a Quinceneara for Next Year
Planning a quinceanera is always a big task, even more if you have not done one before. Well we’re here to help, feel free to browse our site for more tips, ideas, comments and insider stuff to all quinceanera. Well, lets get started. First of all we’re going to need a date, so start looking for reception halls in your area, one thing we need to know before looking reception sites is an idea of how many people it will hold. So we need the your number of guests, bigger quinces need a bigger salon right! Also don’t forget to include the dance area, check that the reception site has a good space for your corte de honor to dance their dances, surprise dance, etc.
The Quinceanera Reception Sites
With your number of guests in hand, ask around hotels, banquet halls, if possible go look at the place before deciding on it. Just ask if your date is available, but don’t sign the contract yet, because if you want a religious ceremony before it, then you must find a church close to your city that will do it for you in the same day. I guess locking the place and church would have to be done together, nowadays is becoming very difficult to synchronize these two. But with a little patience and time it can be done.
The Church / Religious Ceremony
If you want a traditional religious ceremony on your quinceanera, then the best thing to do is lock your church date first and then with plenty of time look for a salon. When it comes to locking places, time will be your only friend, ask the church administrator to lock your date in advance, many do it even one year earlier. Many new quinces don’t even have a religious ceremony anymore, many don’t do it because of the synchronizing dates hassle, or just because they’re not religious enough. Many others that really want to have one, do it in a different church and just have a blessing by a pastor. Many others don’t want to pay for it since some catholic churches have a very high price. Whether you’re having one or not, it is cool both ways.
Padrinos
This is very important, make your list very early in the planning process. Don’t be shy this is a tradition, and a very good one, it allows us to have many quinceaneras in this economy.
The Quinceanera Dress
Everything gets easier after picking the right quinceanera dress. The next step in your quinceanera planning project is to pick your quince dress, the color of your dress will dictate the theme colors, or at least give you some ideas for the decorations, favors, invitations, etc. When picking out your dress the big question is the color, what’s your favorite one? Turquoise, Hot Pink, Lime, Purple, Black or even Orange. Should I buy the dress on a store or online? Well, online is a little cheaper but, it may not fit you perfectly, and then you will have to pay for fixing it.
The Choreographer
Hire a choreographer for your traditional dances, baile sorpresas. I’ve seen choreographers work with a group of damas and chambelanes for as long as 6 months. It all depends how many hours per week you guys practice. The more people you have in your corte de honor the more difficult it is, since moms have to drive them to your home or place to where they practice. Also, you have to feed them all, or at least buy some snacks and drinks. Hiring a choreographer is becoming very expensive that’s why some people make up the dances themselves, or have a sister that had their quinceanera already, and is a little creative with dances and is up to the challenge.
Photo and Video
Finding a really good one is very important, this will be the only thing left after everything comes to an end. If you don’t want any surprises, ask for a sample video, a good videographer and photograher is not shy to show his work. Always allow plenty of time for the production of your video and photos, video editing and good photo retouching takes some time.
Catering
Many people do their own food preparation and serving, but at the end say, “I should not done that, I din’t have time to enjoy my party”. The Hispanic tradition is to serve your guests even if they arrive the party at 11 p.m. How crazy is that right! If you’re going to do this, always hire a waiter to do the job for you, or ask some relative to help you with that. Of course there are companies that do this for you too, they prepare the food, and serve it.
The DJ
Ask your video guy to recommend you a DJ. Or hire one that you know from a friends party. Hire one that has a good light show, or plenty of lights to make the place feel like a party. When it comes to hiring dj’s, ask about their onstage personality, and see if you like it. This is important since, sometimes people say. “No hablaba nada” or “Man, He didn’t shut up”. This is very true, some people want all the introductions there can be, announcement for every part of the event, etc. and many people want the dj, just to dj and be silent.
The Quinceanera Invitations
There is no party without guests right! Order your invitations 2-3 months in advance, people usually do it in 2 months in advance, but many others do it the same month, please don’t leave it to the very last 2 weeks, since you have to allow one week for production and another week for shipping. Many homemade invitations take even longer to make, allow 2-3 weeks for production and one week for shipping. If you’re ordering online, double check your names and last names, since this is the thing the stores don’t change. If you’re planning on having your padrinos on your invitations, choose an invitation with plenty of space, if not any invitation will do.
Ok, I think you can make a party now, you have all the basics, a dress, a place, the food, the dj, some one to video tape it, guests, of course there are many things left to do, but we’ll talk about them later. Feel free to browse around and read many other of our posts, happy quinceanera planning!
Decoraciones para Quinceaneras
Decoraciones para quinceaneras – Las decoraciones para el salon de tus quince es lo primera impesion de tu fiesta para tus invitados. Las decoraciones deben de hacer juego al tema de tu fiesta. Si es posible dale un ejemplo del color que quieres las decoraciones a tu decorador del salon. Ultimamente han salido muchos tips de rosa, y son parecidos pero no iguales. Se ven bien bonito que todos los colores cordinen con el mismo tipo de rosa o cualquier otro color. Las decoraciones con globos se ven bien pero muchas veces estos no aguantan toda la noche, y para la hora del baile sorpresa de tu quinceanera estos adornos ya se andan cayendo. Mas tips de decoraciones para quinceanera muy pronto..
Terms
The quinceanera tradition varies with the country of origin, these are some terms you should be familiar with. 80% of us quinceaneras are of mexican descent.
quinceañera
- celebration of girl’s becoming adult: a Latin American celebration followed by a formal dinner-dance for a 15-year-old girl, marking her passage into adulthood.
chambelanes
- young Hispanic girl’s escort: a boy who is a young girl’s formal escort in a court of honor during her rite of passage welcoming her into adulthood
damas
- formal escort of girl: a girl who is another young girl’s formal escort in a court of honor corte de honor during her rite of passage quinceañera welcoming her into adulthood
padrino
-godfather of girl: a godfather of a young girl who is having a rite of passage party quinceañera welcoming her into adulthood, and who pays for flowers, invitations, and other things. Aka sponsors.
corte de honor
Hispanic group escorting young girl: the group of formal escorts of a young girl at her rite of passage party quinceañera welcoming her into adulthood
La Ceremonia Religiosa/ La Misa:
-A church service, mass or simple blessing, usually catholic but not always. In each country it is different. For example, in Cuba families do not have a church service; Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Central Americans almost always have a church service. Puerto Rican quinceañeras traditionally have a blessing of all the accessories (rosary, shoes, Bible, prayer book, etc.) during the reception. After this blessing, the mother of the quinceañera places a crown on the her head and her father changes her shoes from flats to heels, signifying the change from childhood to young womanhood.
La Recepcion
-Generally following the ceremony is the reception, this is the main party with food, drink and music. It can be arranged around a particular theme, such as Cinderella, Hollywood, flowers, colors, or any favorite thing of the quinceañera. The reception almost always includes the following:
The Introduction of the Court of Honor: Each name of the Court of Honor is announced as they enter into the reception. This is similar to the announcement of a bridal party at a wedding and is generally done by the Master or Mistress of Ceremony, DJ, or bandleader.
La Entrada/The Entrance: In some cultures this is a very dramatic, almost
theatrical moment. In Puerto Rico, the girls walk in on the arm of their Honor Escort to a white peacock chair, where she sits and is crowned and her shoes are changed from flats heels. One Mexican American quinceañera made her arrival on an oversized star which was lowered from the ceiling to the stage.quinceñera location
El Vals/The Waltz: One of the highlights of the reception, this is a very special moment, and is usually practiced months preceding the actual day of the quinceañera. In most cultures, the quinceañera starts dancing (usually to a waltz) with her father. She continues to dance with her father into the second song as her Honor escort dances with her mother. Halfway through the second song, they switch so her escort is dancing with her and her mother is dancing with her father. On the third song, the Court of Honor joins in.
El Brindis/The Toast: The father generally leads the toast, but it can be done by the master or mistress of ceremony, bandleader or Honor Escort. Mexican quinceaneras lately do another dance with the Copas/Glasses to finish with the grand finale toast.
Vals de los Padrinos/Sponsors Walts: Mexican quinceaneras do a sometimes very long walts where every padrino/sponsor dances with the quinceanera. This sometimes takes a very long time since very often they are more than 30 padrinos. In some quinceaneras the mayority of people invited to the celebration are padrinos/sponsors.
La Partida del Pastel/ The Cutting of the Cake: The special moment where the family and friends sing “Feliz Cumpleaños” Happy Birthday to the quinceanera. Don’t be surprised if a chambelan or family member pushes the quinceanera so that her face smashes the cake.
El Baile Sorpresa / The Surprise Dance: This is the dance where every quinceanera chooses a theme and performs a choreographed dance. Sometimes quinceaneras have a choreographer or the quinceanera and chambelanes choreographe themselves.
El Cambio de Zapatillas / Quinceanera Shoe Exchange: This tradition consist of changing the flat shoe to a high hills shoe, signifying the transition from a girl to a grown woman or senorita. This is usually done by the father, where they usually end dancing a song together.
La Coronacion / The Crowning Moment: Tipically the father or mother crown the quinceanera, at this moment also padrinos give her other gifts like jewelry and other quinceanera accesories.
La Ultima Muñeca / The Last Doll: A damita (a kid dama) or the father usually gives the quinceanera her last doll, later the father dances with the quinceanera and the doll. This is usually a big doll.
El Baile / The Dance: The quinceanera starts off the dance with her fafher or a chambelan. This is the last thing that happens and usually ends at 12 midnight or even later.
The Thank You: The parents of the quinceañera read a thank you to the girl for turning out so beautifully and also to God for bringing her to them and seeing her through every day up to her quinceañera. The girl then reads a thank you to her parents for being there as well as for giving her the party, the sponsors for their contributions and finally to the guests for coming.
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