Debutante (or Deb) (French word for “female beginner”) is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who as reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal presentation known as her “debut” or “coming out.” Originally, it meant the young woman was eligible for marriage, and part of the purpose was to display her to eligible bachelors and their families with a view to marriage within a select upper class circle. This event is traditionally referred to as The Debutante’s Ball.
In the Philippines, a debutante’s ball is very popular and widely celebrated when young Filipina teenager turns 18.
The highlight of a debutante’s ball is known as The Grand Cotillion Dance where the Debutante, with an escort, share a waltz dance with the elegantly-dressed cotillion court composed of her friends of 9 boys and 9 girls. A special cotillion choreographer is normally hired by the debutante’s parent to teach the un-experienced boys and girls to perform a highly-choreographed waltz dance. Practices for the dance can last for 6 months and normally held in the debutante’s residence every weekend.
The other popular dance is The 18 Roses Dance where the Debutante shares a memorable dance with 18 men with each one offering a freshly-cut red beautiful rose. The father of the debutante is typically the first one to dance, often called The Father and Daughter Dance. The Debutante picks the 18 songs to play and the participants normally include relatives, friends, godfathers, neighbors and acquaintances.
Next of the tradition is The 18 Candles Presentation, wherein 18 ladies will light 18 candles to resemble the 18 lights that will serve as guidance to the debutante as she makes her transition to the status of a full grown woman. Sometimes, the 18-lighted candles are the candles that the debutante blows before she cuts the cake. Most often, the mother of the debutante is the last of the 18 candles participants. Each participant also says a word, a congratulatory note or wishes to the debutante.
A new activity that we have seen lately is what others call The 18 Symbolic Treasures, where 18 participants, mostly family friends and relatives, as well as godmothers and godfathers, offer a gift to the debutante. A perfect gift is something that the Debutante can treasure as she moves on to college and started to live as a young woman.
The last of the tradition is A Word From The Debutante, where the Debutante shares her thoughts of probably one of the most memorable times of here life.
Likewise, a debutante’s ball is a way for the parent to showcase to the society their daughter’s talents or specials sills like dancing, singing or playing instruments and other talents she possesses.
The debutante’s ball normally concludes with hours of dancing enjoyed by both the adults and teenagers.
The following is the typical Debutante’s Ball Agenda
INTRODUCTION OF THE COTILLION COURT, THE FAMILY, ESCORT, AND THE DEBUTANTE
TOAST IN HONOR OF THE DEBUTANTE
WELCOME REMARKS BY THE PARENTS
INVOCATION OR DINING TIME
VIDEO PRESENTATION
THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER DANCE
GRAND COTILLION WALTZ DANCE
COTILLION COURT SPECIAL DANCES
18 ROSES DANCE
18 CANDLES PRESENTATION
SINGING OF THE TRADITIONAL BIRTHDAY SONG
BLOWING OF THE CAKE CANDLES
CUTTING OF THE CAKE
18 TREASURES PRESENTATION
A WORD FROM THE DEBUTANTE
DANCING TIME (Courtesy of www.pacificsounds.com)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Buffet etiquette, please read on before you dive
. No matter how much the standards of fairness and justice cry out for you to do it, please avoid smacking the person in front of you who has not grasped (pun alert!) the concept of using tongs. We've all been there, standing behind a cretin who grabs each small piece of lettuce individually, dropping about 73 percent of the pieces anyway; as a result, it takes this person 27 minutes to successfully transfer a satisfactory amount of lettuce to his/her/its plate. It may be very tempting to knock them down and give them a swirlie in the raspberry vinaigrette dressing, but you must avoid doing this. You could very well get thrown out of the restaurant, and charged with assault. (Although if you are charged with assault, and the case goes to trial, it's likely you'll get acquitted by a sympathetic jury.)
2. Tip your waiters and waitresses. Even though you are getting your own food, they're still cleaning up your massive piles of plates and bowls and whatnot; at many buffets, they're getting your drinks, too. They also deserve credit and financial compensation for not laughing at you as you waddle to the dessert bar for your fifth helping of pie.
3. Whatever you do, do not die at a buffet. It ruins the mood for your fellow eaters. I swear to God this actually happened at a buffet I was at once: Someone keeled over while dishing up some food, and had to be hauled out, covers over head, on a stretcher. This was both depressing and appetite-ruining.
4. For the sake of all those around you: Do not feel the need to test the sneeze guards to see how effective they are.
5. Avoid staring at the morbidly obese person who is eating at the buffet. It seems there's one at every buffet, all the time, and although it is a challenge to NOT count how many times that person goes back for more gravy, doing so is just rude.
6. In a similar vein, do not hurl dinner rolls at skinny people who are making their seventh trip to the buffet. It's not their fault that God blessed them with a metabolism that you would kill for. It also doesn't necessarily mean that God loves them more than he loves you. Necessarily.
7. Don't eat too much during the meal just before you go to the buffet. Let's pretend you're going to dinner at a buffet. If you're like most people, it does not matter whether you ate merely a small salad with a Diet Mr. Pibb for lunch, or you ate a Six Dollar Burger® along with a large fries and a Coke the size of a tanker truck, and then followed that with a quadruple Mocha Frappuchino®. Either way, you'll pork out when you get to the buffet for dinner. Buffets are not for dieting or moderation. (Would you go to an orgy if you were trying to be abstinent? No, you would not. ) Therefore, take it easy pre-buffet. It'll save you an extra trip to the gym, not to mention an overeating stomachache.
8. Finally, whatever you do, please do not ask for a to-go container. This is also a true story: I was once at a buffet with some colleagues, when one of them asked if he could take some food to-go. (This person generally has the social graces of a drunken water buffalo, so we were mortified, but not surprised, when he asked this.) The look on the server's face was simply amazing, a combination of horror, disgust and discombobulation. Needless to say, the request was declined. We would have kicked the crap out of this idiot colleague in the alley afterward, except we were all so full that the only thing we wanted to do was go and nap.
If you follow these eight easy steps, you will be a better buffet-goer--and you, too, will be on your way to calling yourself, while suspending all modesty, a buffet expert.
Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and ask God why He doesn't love me as much as the skinny people.
Some of this advice has previously appeared in Las Vegas CityLife and the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune.
Recently in Yum:
Part Artist, Part Scientist, All Female - In Tucson and in the restaurant world in general, women rule when it come
2. Tip your waiters and waitresses. Even though you are getting your own food, they're still cleaning up your massive piles of plates and bowls and whatnot; at many buffets, they're getting your drinks, too. They also deserve credit and financial compensation for not laughing at you as you waddle to the dessert bar for your fifth helping of pie.
3. Whatever you do, do not die at a buffet. It ruins the mood for your fellow eaters. I swear to God this actually happened at a buffet I was at once: Someone keeled over while dishing up some food, and had to be hauled out, covers over head, on a stretcher. This was both depressing and appetite-ruining.
4. For the sake of all those around you: Do not feel the need to test the sneeze guards to see how effective they are.
5. Avoid staring at the morbidly obese person who is eating at the buffet. It seems there's one at every buffet, all the time, and although it is a challenge to NOT count how many times that person goes back for more gravy, doing so is just rude.
6. In a similar vein, do not hurl dinner rolls at skinny people who are making their seventh trip to the buffet. It's not their fault that God blessed them with a metabolism that you would kill for. It also doesn't necessarily mean that God loves them more than he loves you. Necessarily.
7. Don't eat too much during the meal just before you go to the buffet. Let's pretend you're going to dinner at a buffet. If you're like most people, it does not matter whether you ate merely a small salad with a Diet Mr. Pibb for lunch, or you ate a Six Dollar Burger® along with a large fries and a Coke the size of a tanker truck, and then followed that with a quadruple Mocha Frappuchino®. Either way, you'll pork out when you get to the buffet for dinner. Buffets are not for dieting or moderation. (Would you go to an orgy if you were trying to be abstinent? No, you would not. ) Therefore, take it easy pre-buffet. It'll save you an extra trip to the gym, not to mention an overeating stomachache.
8. Finally, whatever you do, please do not ask for a to-go container. This is also a true story: I was once at a buffet with some colleagues, when one of them asked if he could take some food to-go. (This person generally has the social graces of a drunken water buffalo, so we were mortified, but not surprised, when he asked this.) The look on the server's face was simply amazing, a combination of horror, disgust and discombobulation. Needless to say, the request was declined. We would have kicked the crap out of this idiot colleague in the alley afterward, except we were all so full that the only thing we wanted to do was go and nap.
If you follow these eight easy steps, you will be a better buffet-goer--and you, too, will be on your way to calling yourself, while suspending all modesty, a buffet expert.
Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and ask God why He doesn't love me as much as the skinny people.
Some of this advice has previously appeared in Las Vegas CityLife and the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune.
Recently in Yum:
Part Artist, Part Scientist, All Female - In Tucson and in the restaurant world in general, women rule when it come
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
baby shower
If someone's expecting a baby and you want to throw a baby shower for her, here are some games you can play during the party:
1. Guess mom's tummy size: We passed around a ball of yarn and each person would cut off the length of yarn that they thought would fit around the mom's belly. The person who was the closest got a prize.
2. Guess the baby food flavor: We had a bunch of baby food jars that we tore the labels off of so none of the guests knew what flavor it was. Each person tasted them and whoever got the most right won something.
3. Guess the due-date: Pretty self-explanatory although this would only work if your guests didn't already know the due-date.
For party favors, if you have a bit of money to spend or if you're only throwing a small party, you could go to a party supply store and get mini-bottles and fill them up w/ jelly-beans. If you're lucky you might be able to find mini-bottles (or something similar like mini-baby booties) at a dollar store. That would certainly cut down on cost!
1. Guess mom's tummy size: We passed around a ball of yarn and each person would cut off the length of yarn that they thought would fit around the mom's belly. The person who was the closest got a prize.
2. Guess the baby food flavor: We had a bunch of baby food jars that we tore the labels off of so none of the guests knew what flavor it was. Each person tasted them and whoever got the most right won something.
3. Guess the due-date: Pretty self-explanatory although this would only work if your guests didn't already know the due-date.
For party favors, if you have a bit of money to spend or if you're only throwing a small party, you could go to a party supply store and get mini-bottles and fill them up w/ jelly-beans. If you're lucky you might be able to find mini-bottles (or something similar like mini-baby booties) at a dollar store. That would certainly cut down on cost!
cool luxury watches
You only need a good watch to complete the look you want. That is why it is always advisable to invest in a good watch. But sometimes we do not know where to go in looking to buy luxury watches that are sold with substantial discounts. Rado, Grand-Perrequax, Omega,Audemars Piguet, Tag Heuer, and Corum are just some of the authentic and brand new luxury watches sold at www.thewatchery.com Their watches are so reliable you only need one to make a lasting impression. Watches at thewatchery.com come with serial numbers so you can be sure they're original and can be tracked down if they get stolen. Cool, huh? Check out thewatchery.com to see for yourself.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
16th century Elizabethan period
A sure grand theme for a debut is one inspired by 16th century costumes, make-up, props. The Elizabethan period type of theme would surely bring in the queens and princesses from far and wide. The gowns would need lots of space for the cotillion, the venue would appear like a castle, and the food would be set in long, long tables with long candles. Plus, if the participants would please go British in language for this evening. The invitation would be in scrolls of the 16th century type. Hmmm....let the guests do their research so they can have their gowns and suits tailored after the period of the great Queen Elizabeth of England. For entertainment, you can have court jesters and belly dancers. Hmmm....
Friday, February 6, 2009
the Prom Queen
It's every girl's dream---to have that much-coveted title of Prom Queen during prom night. What does it take to be Prom Queen? Does it have much to do with what you wear or your gown? Hmmm.....not really, because I know many who had the simplest gowns but were chosen as Queen of Prom night. To be chosen as prom queen, one has to have that natural ability to stand out among a crowd of beautiful faces. At prom night, everybody is transformed, everybody is beautiful. But to be able to stand out amidst the multitude of beauties needs more than just a pretty gown. It calls for the total package, the total personality of the person. How she carries herself in her gown is of prime consideration. It's not the gown,you see. It is how you carry the gown you're wearing, how you're able to blend with everyone else during the party. The prom queen is gracious, natural, and elegant even in simplicity.
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