Every young lady looks forward to her quinceañera, but for one particular teen, Rubi Ibarra, her party turned into a viral media frenzy thanks to a simple mistake. Her father recorded a video inviting their family and friends to the quince celebration stating that no one would be turned away, but instead family and friends forwarded the video on social media, and before they knew it 1 million people had RSVP’d to the party held in the small town of La Joya, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
What was supposed to be a sweet beautiful party, turned into a nightmare and even resulted in the death of a guest. During the weeks preceding the party, millions of memes popped up on Facebook and Twitter, and the news of Rubi’s quince spread around the world since media outlets gave it extensive coverage.
The event was named the party of the year, where at least half a dozen musical artists confirmed to perform, but the day of the party, only one showed up. The party was held the day after Christmas–on a Monday, and thousands of people showed up and friends and relatives had to get through an army of reporters just so Rubi could attend an open-air Mass. The original church where she was supposed to have her Mass refused to do it there because of the number of people that were expected.
In most of the photographs, Rubi looks scared, frightened by the number of cameras and strangers that showed up at her party. At one point her father even threatened to end the party if the reporters didn’t give her some space.
The party came with a prize, $10,000 pesos to the winner of the horse race called “La Chiva,” a race that turned into tragedy. Félix Peña was trampled by his own galloping horse “Oso Dormido” when he got too close to the animals racing. He died on his way to the hospital.
Rubi’s quince is a prime example of the dangers of putting your life on social media. Traditionally, quinceañeras are very expensive, almost as expensive as a wedding in many cases, which is why people do invitations the old fashioned way, through a paper invitation.
What turned into a ha-ha moment because Rubi’s father invited everyone turned into a viral disaster the day of the event, something that caused a lot of stress, money, and unnecessary attention to what should have been a private and beautiful moment for this teen. Learn from this family’s mistake and be selective and smart about your choice of words and what you decide to share on social media because you don’t ever want to become a meme or have this amount of attention on you, especially as a teen.