In July 2008, we gave away a quinceañera surprise to Rosario Mendoza, from Little Rock, CA. Rosario won a quinceañera package that included a free dress, accessories, cake, and a makeover! The best part is that Rosario’s best friend, Emily, nominated her for this contest, which aired on the local Los Angeles morning show KTLA.

Here is what Emily wrote about Rosario:

“Hi, my name is Emily. I think my friend Rosario Mendoza deserves this. Her father was in the army, and now her brother and sister are going to be deployed as well, just before Rosario’s quince. Her dad, her brother, and sister are fighting for our country. And Rosario wants to join soon too.

Rosario is a fun-loving and energetic girl. She is into techno music. She is a rocker; but she is a really pretty girl. She is a freshman in high school and she loves animals. She can paint pictures really good. She is a real good artist. We met through our friend Cheyenne in 8th grade. I would like to surprise her because I think she is so special. She is different. She is a really good and true friend. It's hard to find one of those people. You can't really be in a bad mood around her because she is really fun to hang out with.

I want Rosario to experience a quinceañera just like I did. I think los quince are an important celebration in a girl’s life because it’s when a little girl is starting to become a woman and she needs a day to celebrate it. I had mine last year, together with my sister. We had it together in order to save money because quinces are expensive, and it made sense since we were born close together. It was a great decision. We had the best time of our lives. Our theme was a fairy tale and we were both princesses. Some of the difficult parts of our quinceañera were to get the damas to agree on the dresses. Also, for the surprise dance we both wanted the same chambelán. We had 300 people. All together our court was 28 people.

The ideal theme for Rosario’s quinceañera would be a '50s theme. She adores the '50s. If you picked Rosario, I would really appreciate it, because when a girl turns 15, she is mostly looking forward to becoming a woman and getting ready for the rest of her life.”

And so we surprised Rosario by inviting her to speak on TV about the importance of celebrating los quince. Little did she know that we’d announce on the air that we had chosen HER to receive the package! She was so surprised that she was almost speechless, but she was oh-so-happy! 

Can you imagine how you would react if you won a quinceañera?

Emily and Rosario, below. Right: Rosario's quince pics.

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