Sweet 15th Brasilian Birthday Party

In Brasil, the equivalency of the large 16th birthday party in the USA is when you turn 15 years old. My friend works as a soccer coach, and one of his team players was having a birthday party and invited the coaches. I was invited as a plus one, and very excited for the cultural experience!
I kid you not when I say that it was as fancy as a wedding. The venue had tables set up, food bars with hamburgers, pizza, brigadeiro, and lanches. There was a flower arrangement table with doces placed in flower decorations.
As guests entered, they greeted the mother of the birthday girl and then went for a picture with the birthday girl in front of a wall of leaves and a sign that said “this is happiness”. Waiters circulated with champagne, red wine, juices, and water.
Throughout the night, the birthday girl changed dresses twice. Once she had greeted her guests, she changed into the second dress and elegantly walked down a flight of stairs like a debutante. She danced a formal ballroom dance with her father and several other male family members. Her mom gave a tear-jerking speech, and she followed it up with a small speech.
Evidently, there is a tradition in Brasil that when you are 15 years old the family gives the girls a family ring. There was a small ceremony of presenting her with the family ring. Then, there was more food eating and casual dancing on the dance floor.. until she came out in her third, shorter party dress, and presented a planned dance with her friends. In the beginning of the party, it was a majority of USA pop music, but at this point it changed to Brasilian Funky. I was also really surprised that they had smores there- a rarity in Brasil.
By about 1:30 am, a lot of the crowd had filtered out. The group consisted of a mix of classmates, family, and friends. We left the party about 2 am.