Over the years my husband and I have asked to be padrinos for many many events, but this is the first time I was in the driver’s seat asking for padrinos for my own child’s party: my daughter’s Quince Años. I thought, “Well, this will be easy… right?” NOT! After a lot of planning and a little coaching (and bribing) of my teenager we finally sat down and called all our friends and family and got everyone on board to help with the party. I thought I would share how we did it, and hopefully help you and your child in your padrino journey.
Teach the importance of what a padrino really means:
Yep, they are teenagers. They don’t really understand what a padrino is, or care, but it’s a very important part of our culture and you should take the time to explain it to them. This is what I told my son:
Padrinos not only help Mami and Papi pay for your party but more importantly, being asked to be a padrino/madrina is an invitation to be an extra padre/madre. Padrinos and madrinas are like part of the family and when you call them and they accept to be padrinos, they become a mentor and role model to you for the rest of your life.
Make the list of people to call/visit:
Make a list of all your closest friends and family. Don’t forget adults that play an important role in your child’s life like teachers and coaches.
Make a script for your child:
This might be the first time in a while that they have to communicate without texting or tweeting. Help them write a heartfelt script that they can learn and use when calling their padrinos. Here is the one my son used:
Hi Tio. How are you? My mom and dad are throwing me a party for my Quince Años in December and I wanted to invite you to it. I also wanted to know if you would be one of my padrinos. My mom has the list of everything my padrinos are helping with and I can text it to you when we are done. If you can’t, I understand but hopefully you can at least come to my party. This means a lot to me and thank you!!!
Make the calls:
This is the worst part. My daughters acted like if I had just asked her to kiss a boy in front of his grandma. She was so nervous. I told her if she wanted a party, she had to have padrinos and reassured her that everyone would be nice and be happy that he called. I actually made her use her own phone which was nice since her Tios weren’t expecting that. They all were very excited about getting a call from her personally.
Mom follow up with text:
Right after he got done with his calls I sent each one of her padrinos a quick text.
Hey, thanks for talking to Rachel about her party. She was SO nervous! It means a lot to her dad and I that she wants to continue this tradition and I’m glad you want to be one of her padrinos. Thanks 🙂
Follow up with text from child:
After she was done with his calls, I had her get on his phone again and text her padrinos. This is what he used:
Here is the information about my party. Thank you again for helping.
Follow up text in 2 weeks from child if padrinos haven’t paid:
For the padrinos that said they would contribute, but hadn’t yet (or forgot!) we followed up with a quick text a couple weeks after my daughter made her first calls.
Hi Tio- I’m starting to get my things around for my party and was hoping you still wanted to help. Thank you!
Save the Date text from Mom:
I used this as a Save the Date but also as another reminder for the padrinos without actually asking them again.
SAVE THE DATE!
Rachel’s Quince Años Party is coming soon! I have attached the link to her event page that gives all of the details for her party. Hopefully, you can make it and I can’t wait to see you there!!!
