Quinceanera Ideas

Following Tradition

As you get started, you should sit down with the birthday girl and make the plans together. Give her your budget and have her help make decisions about the number of guests, venue, entertainment and food. This birthday marks the year that she becomes an adult, so allowing her to help with the planning is a perfect start to the responsibility and independence that comes with this particular birthday. Before you figure out the entertainment and party details, first figure out the location, date and time for the party so that you can get the invitations out as quickly as possible. Popular Quinceanera locations are reception halls or venues with a similar type of space.

Essentially a Quinceanera is just an average girls 15th birthday party, but because of the heritage you may choose to follow the Mexican traditions for at least a portion of the celebration. One of the important traditions is the dancing. The Quinceanera girl should choose an escort and a court to accompany her. The court is often an even number of guys and girls, usually comprised of friends and family that are closest to the birthday girl. Another tradition is for the Quinceanera girl to share a dance with her father, often a waltz. Many times the court will also have a couple professionally choreographed dances as well. If you choose to follow these traditions then you will probably want to hire a professional ballroom dancer or choreographer to come in and teach the Quinceanera girl, escort and court the dances that will be displayed at the celebration. Plan to have a least one to two months of rehearsal for these dances.

Selecting the Right Music and Menu

Considering the tradition that exists relating so much to dance, it is obviously very important to select the right music. To stay with the tradition, you may want to hire a mariachi band, latin or salsa band to perform traditional Mexican music. If you wish to have more of a mood music setting instead of a dance setting, then a better choice might be a classical ensemble, guitarist or pianist. If you've chosen specific songs to be used for the father-daughter dance and court dances, make sure the band that you hire can accommodate those choices. If they cannot, you may want to hire a DJ instead or in addition to the live entertainment. The music will set the tone of the entire celebration, so let the Quinceanera girl have the ultimate say on the music choice because this is her day and you want there to be music that she enjoys.

As with any party, food is very important. You can choose to have a sit-down dinner with a full waitstaff, a serve-yourself buffet style dinner or just a table of snacks, finger foods and refreshments. Whichever you choose, you should base the menu choices off the birthday girl's favorite foods. If you are choosing to have a full meal or buffet, you may want to consider hiring a caterer to handle the menu for you. Another very important party of the food is the cake. Talk to a local bakery or cake decorator to have a special cake made that matches the party's theme or colors.

Don't Forget the Rest of the Details!

After you've chosen the venue, you must transform it into the perfect setting for the Quinceanera. Decorate with drapes, streamers and balloons that match the colors chosen for the party. Flowers are also very helpful in making this an elegant event, so hire a florist to provide beautiful arrangements and centerpieces. If the venue you have chosen does not provide tables and chairs you will want to contact a local party rental place to set up those things for you. You may want to also consider providing some form of party favor for the guests as a way of thanking them for attending. It's especially important to provide favors or gifts for the court that accompanied the birthday girl for this very special event.

This event only happens once in a lifetime, so you will want to be sure that every minute is captured so that it may be remembered forever. You could handle the pictures on your own, or if you have the budget, hire a professional photographer. Another fun idea would be a photo booth. Allow the birthday girl and guests to take candid photos that print out right away. This also makes for an excellent additional party favor for the guests. You might also want to consider hiring a videographer to record the event in it's entirety or maybe even just the dance portion.

If all of this still sounds like a lot to take on, you could always hire a party planner to handle it for you. However, with the right resources you can do it yourself and have fun doing it. GigSalad is here to help you every step of the way as your one stop shop for all your Quinceanera planning needs!