Big Party Event on a Budget

We had 3 months to plan my daughter's Quinceanera-15th Birthday Party from the time she sprung it on us ("I want to have a Quince for my birthday") to when her Bday was (more here).

It turned out great, and although people can spend a fortune on these, like a "Super Sweet 16", but even worse. The dress alone can cost thousands. Also, I got to live out my dreams of doing a "DIY" wedding (mine) that did not happen because my parents demanded on paying for the flowers and stuff...pshaaah!!!

Luckily, I am a plucky sort, and so is my girl, so we searched high and low for her dress (one requirement: it had to be RED...and have a big ballroom skirt). We ended up in downtown L.A. and after a few moments of bargaining, had THE dress!

The dress is what inspired everything else...the color scheme (black, ivory, and touches of that cherry red).

The kids performing the Waltz

The venue (because my girl has LOTS of friends..and our familia is HUGE too) was a lovely golf course with a clubroom. We got a special rate on that, too, because we booked it at one of their special event open-house nights. Score! It included all the linens and the floating candle centerpieces. I opted not to have the cake/coffee and we applied that money saved for a fabulous candy-dessert bar. I made the programs in Word and glued them on some decorative scrapbook paper I got in one of those huge books at JoAnns (with my coupon, of course)

I did it all on a tight budget. I got many of the decor ideas on Pinterest, such as the flowers. I only used a few strategically placed arrangements, again in a very tight color scheme of mostly white and some red. I went to the Los Angeles Flower Mart the day before and bought armloads of gerberas, lovely white roses ("old one" so they were 10 bucks for 2 dozen!!)and glass vases from the Dollar Tree.

We scored a photo booth rental from Groupon for a third of the price they normally go for...it was a HUGE hit!

Our DJ was a friend of hubs contracted at a great rate. Our photographer was our cousin.

It was Beautiful and worth every cent. We are so proud of our big girl!

Make it a Great Day!
Ann

p.s.... I wanted to add many more pics, but Blogger was taking 7000 years per photo upload! Anyone know wassup w dat???