<p>What should we expect? I assume a gift is usually given. What type of gift do you give for a Quneanera?
I was raised Catholic but had don’t recall ever hearing of anyone having a Quineanera. How long of a mass?</p>
<p>It’s <em>Quinceanera</em> (“quince” - Spanish for 15)…</p>
<p>Quinceanera is the correct spelling. Son was invited to one and described it as being “just like a wedding.” The girl had a beautiful dress and attendants. I believe he just gave her money. I feel sorry for the parents, knowing they may have to go through this again in 10 years or so. It should be quite elaborate and not to be missed.</p>
<p>Cross-posted with Government.</p>
<p>mom60, we celebrate quincea</p>
<p>Thanks on the spelling correction. I knew it didn’t look right. I was going off the spelling the Mom used in her email.</p>
<p>It’s a 15th birthday celebration common in Latino communities, especially Mexican and Puerto Rican. The ones around here are quite elaborate. Some involve limousines or horse drawn carriages. Expect an hour long Mass.
It can involve a sit down dinner and dancing. Similar to a wedding.</p>
<p>It is a beautiful celebration - traditional and she wears white. Modern and she can wear any color. After the Mass there is a celebration just like a wedding reception, attendants and music and dancing and LOTS of food. The nice part is that everyone - friends, godparents and family chip in and contribute to the party. One may provide the dress, another the pillow, another the band or DJ, etc. It really is a family/friend/community celebration.</p>
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<p>Really? My neice was an attendant recently. The entire party, including the girl who was turning 15, wore low-cut dresses in a bold color. Her mother, my sister, brought the pictures into work and a co-worker commented, “OMG, these people must be from ________.” It is a country in South America and sure enough, the co-worker was right. She was able to identify the country because of the way people were dressed!</p>
<p>My D was in one back in HS. (though they actually held it when the girl turned 16.) Like Toledo said, the dresses were matching. They were not low-cut, and all a champaigne color (except the one celebrating, of course–she was in white.) Extremely elaborate ceremony and reception. My D had to take dance lessons with the rest of the party to perform both ritual, traditional dances and things like waltzes.</p>
<p>As parents of one of the party, we were invited to attend. Fancier than many weddings I’ve attended. We all had a very good time.</p>
<p>We went to a quince about 7 years ago. The service was short (kind of a mini-mass?) on Saturday afternoon with only about 15 family members and friends in attendance. The party that evening included a buffet dinner for some 50 HS friends and family. There was a DJ, dancing, and a nice slide show of the honoree’s life to date. She had a blast, and the teens danced until the DJ turned off his equipment, pausing only to scarf down the ice cream and cake when they were served late in the evening. No formal dances and no court of attendants. Typical gifts: $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble.</p>
<p>Living in Texas, I was so hoping my D would be invited to one…but the girls seem to be opting for trips to NYC instead of parties.</p>
<p>My daughter was in a quinceanera court last year. A whole year of dance lessons was involved, along with a gown and accessories. It was very much like a wedding (similar to Sweet 16 parties hereabouts, too) in that it was at a catering hall, had limousines and everything. It was a lovely experience for my daughter but very expensive.</p>
<p>Typical gifts here are in the range of $50 to $100 and it’s generally cash.</p>
<p>My younger daughter has had fantasy dreams of one for years. She thinks we will arrange for mariachi to play outside in the street. Ha! In February in Minnesota no musician is going to risk an instrument outside. We’ll probably just take her and her friends out for dinner.</p>
<p>Oh, just FYI, in addition to wedding packages, Disneyworld has started offering quincea</p>
<p>Bat Mitzva, Sweet Sixteen, Quincineara . . others?</p>
<p>Kei</p>