QUINCEAÑERAS MORE ELABORATE

"Girls celebrating their quinceañeras are also moving away from the traditional white and ivory dresses and choosing bright colors like orange, flamingo pink, and lime green.

For entertainment, some parents are now paying more for a live band than for the facility," says Elsa Molano. She reports that on average, her clients spend about $14,000 per quincieñera celebration.

Princess for a day: In Miami, Rodriguez-Kidder is observing similar trends. "The girls want to be princesses, but not in a little-girl kind of way; they want a more grown-up type of theme." She also sees fewer white dresses, although in Miami, the teens currently favor pastel blues and pinks. Her clients almost all insist on a DJ so the kids can dance to the hot songs they hear on the radio.

L.A. event planner Leslee Tarlov receives similar music requests from her Bar and Bat Mitzvah clients. "Absolutely, a DJ," she emphasizes. "There are a lot of DJs now that really put on a whole show, interacting with the kids and keeping them busy for hours."

Kids and parents have different goals: While the kids care more about the party activities, it's the parents who focus on the food. Tarlov says that in her experience, menu choices now reflect a back-to-the-basics trend: meat and potatoes. These days, she says, caterers aren't planning separate menus for kids and adults. "Kids' palettes are so much more sophisticated now that it becomes less necessary."

Sophisticated or not, kids everywhere apparently still love chocolate. Corinne Futerman, owner of Corinne's Concepts in Catering, in Huntington Station, New York, says she's noticing a new must-have at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs in the New York area: a chocolate fondue fountain. "Everyone requests it," she maintains.

Image by the Hilton Garden Inn, CA