The first thing I thought when I read about Bella Thorne's star-studded quinceañera celebration was: Oh my god, she's only 15?! The second thing was: Wow, this really makes me sad that I never had a traditional Latin 15th birthday party celebration.
As I read about how the just-turned-15 Cuban American Disney star celebrated becoming a woman (and how she's been planning the party since she was 13!), it made me really sad that my parents didn't push the party on me–and it also made me realize that I am DEFINITELY going to force my daughter to have one, no matter what.
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I know it's a bit weird for me to say that I am going to force my kid to have a quinceañera, especially because I generally don't believe in forcing your kids to do anything. In fact, I grew up one of those very-good-but-very-stubborn kids. I made good grades and rarely gave my parents any trouble, but at the same time I could be VERY stubborn. If I didn't want to do something, I just would refuse to do it, period.
When I was 15 years old, I didn't really have any Latina friends. At the same time, my family is pretty tiny by Latino standards (I only have two first cousins!) and my Russian mom didn't know enough about the Cuban traditions to really push it. Meanwhile, my abuelita never really threw my aunt (her daughter) a big quinceañera, so it just didn't seem to be a family priority at the time.
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Now, many years later, I really regret that I never had a quinceañera celebration. I regret that I didn't care enough and nobody in my family pushed it, because when I look at photos of friends' or, well, Bella Thorne's quinceañera, it makes me feel that I've missed out on something very special.
That's why, no matter what my kids say, they are GOING to have a quinceañera if it kills me. In fact, maybe I'll even have a Doble Quinceañera when I turn 30 years old. After all, just because I never had one as a kid, doesn't mean I still can't embrace the tradition at some point, right?
Image via Splash News
