Granddaughter's Upcoming Quinceanera

I have a granddaughter who will be having a quince in about a year and 4 months.  Right now, believe it or not, is the time to start planning.  First of all, at this stage of the game,  it's too early to pick out a dress, because of course, you want it to fit....but you CAN start planning on colors, themes, start a notebook with ideas of how many people you will be inviting,  writing down their names so you can get a head count on how big of a place you will need to rent for the upcoming event. Most event locations like to have a year notice, especially if it's a place that gets booked up quickly. Plan on calling around places in your area, remembering that you need to be able to have the quinceanera in a location that's not too far from your home area so that your daughter's friends will all be able to attend. Once you get your notebook started, keep track of how much the event locations are charging, write it all down, even how much the deposit is. If you and your daughter can come up with a theme for the quince, you can start looking around for decorations on sale. I suppose I will once again start getting ready to help, especially since I went through one just nearly 3 years ago with my own daughter (the youngest).

Quinceanera Checklist--- A Double Check

Here is a second checklist of help when planning your daughter's quinceanera...........

1. Make sure if she or her party is changing for different dances that they have all their clothing packed and ready, packed in a small bag for easy location.
2. Good communication is important with your band or DJ especially if you are making your own CD of music to make sure your CD will play in their equipment, and if not, make sure they know what songs you want played, especially for the dance.
3. Talk with your photographer to make sure they know exactly what pictures you want.
4. Don't over order the cake because not everyone wants a piece and you will have left overs.
5. Ensure that the location you are renting has ample room for the quinceanera and her party to dance....it takes more room with more damas and their partners.
6. When deciding on food to serve, make sure you do not serve foods with alot of messy sauce that may be spilled easily.
7. Balloons make excellent decorations, especially on a budget.
8. Make sure the quinceanera's party knows what time you expect them there.
9. When decorating the hall yourselves, make sure once youv'e made your decorations, you pack them up in boxes that will make it easier to carry into the hall.
10. Don't forget to have fun, because it is alot of work.

Ten Steps To An Easier Quinceanera

Here are some things that I have learned along the way, while planning my daughter's quince. I still have yet to learn more as we approach....counting down we have just under 7 weeks left to go.
1. Always plan ahead and make sure that if you have a boy (chambelin) cancel out, you have someone to back his spot up.
2. If you get the girls(damas) and their mothers together when picking out dresses, things seem to go more smoothly. My daughter and I picked the top 4 dresses, then let the mothers and damas get together and decide upon the final top 2 choices. That worked out great for us because they all came in, got fitted and put a down payment on their dress, which helped us alot, and they were all happy about the choice in dress.
3. You don't need to pick out the most expensive tux's for the guys because more than likely, if it's too much, they won't be able to get it, and another thing is they don't keep the coats on very long.
4. Look for bargain prices and half off sales when going to get your quinceanera decorations and paper ware for eating. There are alot of bargains to be had at such places as Party City and Hobby Lobby. I found alot of great sales out there, but I also did this months ahead of time to allow for time in finding sales.
5. As for the Doll, if your daughter goes with a standard color of dress of pink or white or perhaps baby blue, you can find those pretty easily, but if she goes with anything else, like my daughter did in picking out a royal blue dress, most likely you will have to buy a doll and have the dress made, which isn't always cheap. You can find dolls for pretty cheap and if you know someone who sews, it shouldn't cost as much.
6. Getting the damas and chambelins together is a group effort, so you must be able to offer rides to those who need them when it's time for the dance practices and take plenty of drinks for them as they practice, especially if it's in weather such as summer. We are having our practices at 6-8 pm on Sundays so it won't be as hot, but I will still take a cooler full of drinks for them.
7. Important things to stay on top of after you have secured your party spot is the cake, your sponsers, decorations (getting those done ahead of time so you don't have to scramble at the last minute), your dj/band and the music you want played, the doll's dress, the food menu.
8. Invitations can be done at home on your home computer with as much kits they have to offer in the craft stores, or you must allow plenty of time if you are ordering someone else to do it, in case of an error in printing.
9. Talk, talk, talk, and I mean keep your mind sharp about what all you've got going on and make sure to write it all on a tablet so you can keep up with everything.
10. Give your sponsors a choice of the toast, especially if you have some that don't drink. We are going to offer sparking white grape juice as well as champagne and tie different colored ribbons on the glass to decifer which is which.

Still Working On That Quinceanera

Wow, time is sure flying and I am counting down the time for my daughter's quinceanera. It will be on August 16th. I am pretty much done with buying the decorations, after settling on ivy bowls for the tables, candy wrapped in tule fabric, along with hanging heart decorations and some pretty colored flowers too. I am going to set up a table in my sewing room and decorate it to be sure it will be what I want. I decided to make our invitations and bought some invitations from Hobby Lobby, got on microsoft works and wrote out what I want to say, by finding different sayings on various websites to help. I have called the guy who is going to make the cake to get that confirmed. The choreographer called last night and we will start the kids on the dancing practice at the end of the month. Now I have to make a cd of the music we are going to use. She has picked out "My Wish", by Rascal Flats for the Father/daughter dance. She has also picked out 2 cumbias for their dance "Fuego" and "No Tengo Dinero", both by Kumbia Kings. We still are lacking the introduction and the waltz, which will get picked by tomorrow. Her dress will be getting out of layaway this week so we can take some pictures of her in it for the table decorations as well. Gee, this is really getting close to time with so much more to do.

Quinceanera Update Again

Well, we are only 3 months and counting so here are more of what's going on. I have decided to make the bouquet myself since I know how. All the crystal bouquets are running $120 and $150 and my daughter has decided that's not necessary. I have also decided to print the invitations myself and was able to find them for half price at our local Hobby Lobby store in the wedding section. Really nice invitations and envelopes orig. $24.99 but since it was half price, I got 2 boxes of 50 for that price. I am also working on the table decorations. Royal blue and baby pink are her colors so I am having a heck of a time finding silk flowers in the blue. Anyways, for the tabletops, I am using the ivy bowls and will decorate those with blue marble stones in the bottom and a candle. I also have purchased heart shaped candle holders and will cover those up with tulle in her colors. I have also thought about cutting out some heart shapes like confetti and spreading those on the tables. Pink hanging hearts in the wedding section of Party City will also help decorate. Her "theme" is hearts so I told her it's Hearts For A Sweetheart. She liked that for sure.

More Of The Quinceanera Plans

The Quinceanera plans are going well. We now have our guys set up for renting their tux, yes, it's a little early for this, however, I don't want anyone to have to have the burden of paying all of it at once. This way, they have nearly 4 months to pay. We picked out something rather nice, but affordable as well. We decided to add a couple of little girls, one being our granddaughter and one being my daughter's escorts sister to the mix of things so they can carry the pillows.
I managed to find an arch at our local hobby lobby at half price, so it was $10 plus tax. My next chore is finding what I am going to decorate the tables with and how I am going to deal with the invitations.

Quinceanera Update

Here we are nearly 4 months away from my daughter's quinceanera, and time is really moving quickly. We have an appointment with a choreographer over the weekend and went to one of his quinceanera's to see his work and we were very pleased. Finding a choreographer wasn't easy. I found that by asking around, I found several to choose from. I was also getting a little worried about my daughter not having all her damas and chambelins, so I decided to tell her that we needed to order the girls dresses. Now, for me, it was important to do early so that it would give the families plenty of time to pay on the dress in installments. My daughter called all the girls on her list, told them to meet us at the dress shop around 1 on Saturday, and much to my suprize, all but 1 were able to make it. The mothers came with them to help choose a dress, something appropriate, also something that can be worn again. This worked out so well and I was very pleased. I also called around and found the wishing well that we needed for people to put their cards in at the ceremony, and found one for only 6.99, which I have to decorate, but was happy for the bargain because the one across the street had one for 14.99. What a bargain!

Qunceanera Planning (3)

I am steadily looking for a photographer and have my list narrowed down to 16 of them.....way too many. I also happened to notice that Party City was having the plastic tablecloth covers for only half price. That made them only $6.49 each. I also had a $5.00 coupon off for spending $25.00. I managed to get 4 white rolls, which is plenty to do all the tables for the quincea. Right now, we are just picking up things while on sale, thank goodness we still have plenty of time to do it.

Quick Look at Quinceanera Prices So Far

Here's what I am looking at so far, in the way of expenses:
1. Reception Hall-- $500, which includes the clean up.
2. DJ/Band-- $800
3. Dress-- $ 338.00
4. Security for the event-- $200
5. Tiara-- $34.00 plus tax
6. high heels-- $20.00
7. video taping of the event-- $0 because my sister in law has offered to do this
8. cake-- still working on this
9. pictures-- still looking over various offers that have been made but possibly around $250
10. invitations-- I will be making those so it won't cost too much.

Her various gifts such as the Bible, watch, necklace, ring, doll, and bracelet have already been chosen by some of our closest family member for her, so I have no idea on those things at all.
More to come, as I venture on her journey for her quinceanera.

Back To Quinceanera Planning

As I go over this list for the quinceanera, I am writing all of it down. I have been so busy lately with my father being ill and going out of state to see him through surgery, but now I am back on track. I made the first payment on the quince dress yesterday, which brought our total down to $200., which is good. Thank goodness for places that offer layaway.
The cake is going to be paid for from my stepson, THANK GOD for him. The reception area is being paid by my other stepson and wife, THANK GOD for them too! Now with those things out of the way as far as having them paid, I am setting my concentration on finding padrinos (people to help pay for) the band/DJ that we are having. Since the singer of the band is my brother-in-law, he has set us up with a nice package through a friend of his. We are excited about this. More than likely, my other sister and brother-in-laws will help us with some of this cost.
Now, on to the photographer. If I could, I would be the one taking pics. I love doing that, but since I must set my sites on the event, I have put an ad on craigslist to get some prices. Let's see how that goes. We still have a little less than 6 months so, I think we are in good standing right now.

Quinceanera Checklist

Here is my checklist for what we will be needing and things we need to address now that we have the dress and the reception hall:
1. cake
2. invitations
3. music/band/DJ
4. security for the reception
5. food to be served for the reception
6. pictures or video, most likely, both
7. decorations
8. plastic ware for the food and cake
9. drinks
Those are things that need to be addressed now that I have some all important decisions made. My daughter also has to get confirmations from her court of honor to see who we can depend on to dance with her.