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Photo albums. Souvenirs, Party favors, Cake bases.
For 10 years Madeline Ramos has been steadily
stockpiling these items whenever money allows,
preparing for what she calls the “chance of a
lifetime”: the quinceañera party of her only
daughter, Jeseina. And so when Jesenia arrives at
her 15th-birthday party on October 2, she will step
out of a horse-drawn carriage that rents for $225 an
hour. Wearing an imported white dress with a
Cinderella style collar ($518), she will pose for a
professional photographer ($950) at a rental hall
($1,200). Add to that the guestbook with penholder
shaped like a pillow, the lavender-and-plum
decorations, and the silver scepters that Jesenia’s
14 attendances will be carrying, and the price tag
of the one day party for a teenage girl climbs to
about $10,000. “I’m spending a lot more than I was
anticipating,” says Madeline, a Puerto Rican-born
single mother raising three children as a records
processor for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, police
department. “But it will be worth it.”
More and more Latino families are echoing this
sentiment, transforming what used to be a rite of
passage marked with a modest celebration at home or
maybe a favorite restaurant into a busting
extravaganza that seemingly announces to the whole
world (or the whole neighborhood, anyway) that their
little girl is now a woman. This evolution reflects
in part the growing buying power of Latino families:
According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at
the University of Georgia, disposable income for
Latinos has jumped 30 percent since 2000-double the
pace of the rest of the U.S. population’s—a trend so
significant that the $70 billion-a-year wedding
industry now targets quinceañeras at bridal shows.
At the same time, experts say, the quinceañera
serves a powerful link to Latin American heritage.
“It’s a continuation of culture and tradition with a
strong religious tie,” Alma Morales Riojas,
president and CEO of the Washington, DC-based Mana,
an organization that develops Latina leadership and
empowerment. “A big part of being Latina is looking
forward to a quinceañera.” The message is certainly
getting through; just note that in March, Priscilla
M. Mora, a San Antonio event planner and president
of Quiceañera Event, attracted 1,000 people to a
company trade show. Similarly, Jeremy Miller, a disc
jockey for Best Bet Entertainment in Reno, Nevada,
reports that as of April 1, he and already booked 12
quinceañeras celebrations this year—compared with
the 10 he had throughout 2003.
The growing emphasis on a single day’s event,
however, has led some to wonder if young Latinas are
being sent the wrong message. According to a recent
survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, 77 percent of
Latinos cite the cost of tuition as a major reason
they don’t go to college; meanwhile, though, the
average total price of attending a public university
for one year is nearly $11,000—practically the same
amount that a typical quinceañera can run. “For our
culture, sometimes people think, Eres mujer, te vas
a casar – she may be getting married soon; she needs
to run a household – not, She’s going to go to
college,” says Alejandrina Montoya, a coordinator
for a mother-Montoya, a coordinator for a
mother-daughter leadership-program at Mujeres
Latinas in Acción in Chicago. “We need to have the
quince años be just a part of growing up and also
have other expectations, like going to college.”
Juana Ortega, a mexicana, says she has always told
her daughter Kayla that she does want her to have an
education, but have a beautiful quinceañera party is
equally a profound goal. When the two went to get
invitations printed up for the 200 guests expected
at the March 20 event in San Jose, California, “I
became very emotional,” Juana says. “Kayla and I
came back home so happy.” All in all Juana, along
with Kaya’s 56 padrinos, spent $6,000 on Kayla’s
quinces, springing for a Cadillac Escalade limousine
to ferry Kayla to the rental has as well as a
seven-tier cake and disc jockey. “We have some
savings, and thank God the padrinos were responding
well—so far everyone has come through,” Juana says.
Family has also come through for Maritza Vazques, a
puertorriqueña planning her daughter’s quinceañera
on May 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Maritza’s
sisters and nieces will help decorate the rental
hall with balloons, which are cheaper than flowers,
and Maritza herself will bake the cake. Still,
Maritza will end up spending about $6,000 to
celebrate her daughter’s 15th birthday – but she
says she will do so without any regrets. “To me,”
Maritza says, “the expense of the party is worth
it.” |
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