Traditions meet Technology: How I asked for Padrinos and it worked!

July 8, 2022

By Kim Gamez

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.

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 son acted like if I had just asked him to kiss a girl in front of his grandma. He was so nervous. I told him if he wanted a party, he had to have padrinos and reassured him that everyone would be nice and be happy that he called. I actually made him use his own phone which was nice since his Tios weren’t expecting that. They all were very excited about getting a call from him personally.

Mom follow up with text:

Right after he got done with his calls I sent each one of his padrinos a quick text.

Hey, thanks for talking to Hugo about his party. He was SO nervous! It means a lot to his dad and I that he wants to continue this tradition and I’m glad you want to be one of his padrinos. Thanks :)

Follow up with text from child:

After he was done with his calls, I had him get on his phone again and text his padrinos. This is what he used:

Here is the information about my party. Thank you again for helping. (Then he added a link to his social media page)

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 son made his first calls:

Hi Tio- did you have a chance to see my event page on Mi Padrino? 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! Hugo’s Quince Años Party is coming soon! I have attached the link to his event page that gives all of the details for his party. Hopefully, you can make it and I can’t wait to see you there!!! We love this part of the culture, bringing families together even when thousands of miles apart. I hope my experience above can help you while you try to organize and plan your big day!

Con Amor,
Kim Gamez, former CEO and founder of Mi Padrino

Mi Padrino is excited to have been acquired by Queenly