Is Your Birthstone The Key To Making A Perfect Quinceañera?

Birthstones can mean lots of things. They're primarily used to celebrate a birth or a special occasion. Each birthstone is a different color or shade of color, and all are available as jewelry and other collectibles. There's a tradition that says birthstones bring good luck in fortune and in love to their wearers.

Basically, each month has at least one birthstone. There's a precious stone (meaning valuable, like a diamond) and a semi-precious one that's more often collected. You're probably already familiar with at least one of the birthstones commonly used, but have you thought about using them for your Quinceañera?

Birthstones offer significance and depth to your color scheme

The Quinceañera commemorates your milestone birthday year, so why not use your birthstone to commemorate your birthday month? You can choose your birthstone color as the color of your gown, the main color for your decorations, or for any other color choice. By choosing their color - and even using them in your decorations – you'll bring their elegance and meaning to your fiesta decorations.

Birthstones have an ancient tradition.

Birthstones also offer a fabulous link to the past. The birthstone tradition dates back many thousands of years, and have been used for everything from promoting good health to warding away bad luck ever since.

Modern birthstones are largely ceremonial. A calendar created a little less than a hundred years ago makes their representative months official, so that there's no movement back and forth. Your birthstone will always be your birthstone, making it another great way to celebrate your birth!

Decorating with your birthstone

Besides using your birthstone color for your gown and decorations, there are lots of other ways to incorporate them into your fiesta planning. You might scatter a few around each place setting, so that every guest can appreciate their subtle beauty. You might give tiny pouches or a single polished stone to every guest as a keepsake favor.

You can also offer small samples of each stone to guests, letting them pick their stone as a kind of favor or calling card souvenir of your celebration.

Finally, your court of honor can arrange their colors to their birthstones. By wearing a gown colored the hue of their birthstone, damas can help in re-creating the old quince tradition of a Rainbow Court. Chambelanes can wear a cummerbund or bow tie of their birthstone color, as well.

Presented below is a birthstone chart, with precious stones as well as semi-precious stones in parenthesis. Remember that neither one is more your birthstone than the other.

January: Garnet (Rose Quartz)
February: Amethyst (Onyx)
March: Aquamarine (Jasper or Bloodstone)
April: Diamond (Quartz)
May: Emerald (Chrysoprase)
June: Pearl (Alexandrite or Moonstone)
July: Ruby (Jade or Carnelian)
August: Peridot (Aventurine, Sardonyx, or Sapphire)
September: Sapphire (Lapis Lazuli)
October: Opal (Pink Tourmaline)
November: Yellow Topaz (Citrine or Turquoise)
December: Blue Zircon (Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, or Tanzanite)