Sitting in the chair at Accolades Salon Spa in St. Paul, Nabella Grijalva held out her phone to show the hairstylist some of the ideas she had for her big day on June 27.
On the other side of the room, Nabella’s grandmother Blanca Grijalva closed her eyes while a woman applied her makeup.
When she was Nabella’s age, Blanca did her own hair and makeup for her own quinceañera celebration — a traditional commemoration of a girl’s 15th birthday held by many Latino families.
“I had seen this girl have one, and it was really pretty. I wanted one, but I didn’t know if I could have one,” Blanca told the Pioneer Press when the paper covered her quinceañera celebration in 1985.
Now 40 years later, some parts of the day are a little more extravagant for Nabella’s celebration, held the day after her birthday. Blanca has been preparing for the last two years.
“When Bella came along, I just always, I’m like, ‘Well, we’re gonna have a quinceañera for you one day,’ because I didn’t have girls of my own,” Blanca said. “And that was what I grew up with traditionally, the whole concept of it, I guess. The religious aspect of it, the food, the dance, just the whole tradition, just the way it’s celebrated, was just really important. And to get your family members together. And to celebrate her, because it’s about her.”
Over the years, Nabella’s dad often asked her if she wanted a quinceañera celebration or the money for it. Nabella knew she wanted the celebration.
“I’ve known exactly what theme and what dress I wanted since I was like 8 years old, so I guess that dream definitely did come true,” she said.
Blanca’s quinceañera celebration
With a little help from Linda Velasques, left, and Lillian Velasques, Blanca Grijalva, née Blanca Estela Santana, is ready to receive congratulations at her quinceañera in St. Paul on May 10, 1985. (Liz Hafalia / Pioneer Press)
Forty years ago, when Blanca celebrated turning 15 years old, her friends – 14 girls and 15 boys – marched ahead of her down the aisle of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on St. Paul’s West Side. The teenage Blanca followed in a white dress and veil, a bouquet of flowers in her hand and her parents on each side. Her father, Victorio Santana, made a special trip to Mexico to buy the dress.
For the family, the celebration was an important Mexican custom and a symbol that Blanca had stayed loyal to her religious faith.
“Everybody thought she deserved this party,” Santana told the Pioneer Press in 1985. “She is like the perfect child in everybody’s eyes. This is something we could give her.”
For Nabella’s family, the celebration is also a symbol of moving into a new phase in life, one with more responsibility and freedom.
“This party, this quinceañera signifies, for me personally, the next step in life,” said Jesús Grijalva, Nabella’s uncle.
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At Blanca’s celebration, more than a dozen sets of godparents paid for much of the party, including the clothes, reception room rentals, cake, music, photographs and flowers. The food was a homemade meal of mole, rice and beans made by Blanca’s mom and friends.
Now, more of the financial responsibility falls on immediate family members, Blanca said. It can be significant – while Blanca’s quinceañera dress cost her father $100, Nabella’s was $1,900. It’s just one of the changes in the 40 years since Blanca had her celebration.
“But back then, we didn’t do the surprise dances or anything. We just did, like, the presentation of the godparents and then the waltz. And there was a lot of godparents back then, but now that’s kind of gone away,” Blanca said. “So most people, I think, that have them now just kind of take care of the whole thing themselves.”
Her father had a lot of friends to help him with the preparations, she said.
The tradition and religious aspect of the celebration was an important part of that day for her father, she added.
“I knew it was important, especially to my dad,” Blanca said.
Nabella’s day
Gracyella Rivera makes sure Nabella “Bella” Grijalva’s hair will stay in place as she applies hairspray before Bella’s quinceañera party at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Paul on Friday, June 27, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The day of a quinceañera is spent preparing for the evening’s celebrations.
With her hair and makeup done, Nabella dons her red and black quinceañera dress and takes a limo to the Cathedral of St. Paul for pictures with her damas – the five girls who make up her court. Nabella chose not to have any boys on her court – the girls’ green dresses go better with the green accents in Nabella’s dress.
More of the day is spent visiting different parts of the city for photos before heading to the Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront hotel downtown. There, Nabella and her friends do last-minute touch-ups on their hair and talk about anything from the popular video game Roblox to their families’ homemade tortillas.
The girls are nervous, but prepared. They joke about ordering food delivery if they don’t have enough time to eat during the festivities. They’ve spent weeks preparing their dances for the evening. Being a part of Nabella’s court is an honor, they said.
Nabella asked her friend Gracyella Rivera to be a part of her court when they were just 8 years old.
“We were childhood best friends,” Rivera said. “And we still are, and we were playing in our living room, and we would always talk about having a quince and her having one, and how she would want it ranchero-style — she did have it like that — and she asked me that time, and then it just stuck. Someone actually had it. It was just like living a childhood dream.”
Outside the room, the guests socialize and eat food from the buffet while a mariachi group plays. Men wear big hats and belt buckles as part of that ranchero-style theme, which Nabella described as a cowboy, Hispanic-Western style.
The girls get ready for their grand entrance with Nabella’s family. The mariachi band plays them in to applause and cheers.
Blanca had tried to secure a church for a blessing of Nabella, but many don’t host quinceañeras on Fridays. So a chaplain offers a blessing at the hotel venue, that Nabella may grow in wisdom, knowledge and grace, with love and faithfulness for her family and friends. She is gifted a Bible and rosary. Other gifts include jewelry, as well as high heels and a teddy bear to symbolize her transition from childhood into young womanhood.
Nabella and her friends sit at a long table at the front of the room, with Nabella’s name largely displayed in lights. They mingle with guests. It’ll be sad when the celebration is over, but it’s happy, too, they said.
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Near the end of the evening, Nabella and her 9-year-old sister Amaia switch from dresses to jeans, crowns still on their heads, for a coordinated dance they’ve been practicing for weeks. When Nabella’s dad asked her if she wanted a quinceañera celebration or the money, she knew she wanted the celebration — but she thinks Amaia will pick the money to travel. Either way, they have this dance together.
“It’s been very fun. I mean, definitely kind of stressful. But I love every night just practicing our dances in the living room, making sure to get it down and having good laughs throughout this very stressful time,” Nabella said. “It’s just fun. I love getting more time with my family than just us being cooped in our rooms. So I love that. I also feel like I built a better connection with my sister throughout this whole process.”
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