At 72, Rosalba Casas lived out her childhood dream by wearing a flowing pink dress and a princess tiara to celebrate the 15th birthday party she had longed for decades later.

It was the first time Roseallba wore professional makeup, a ball gown and rode in a limousine with 28 other senior citizens who were chosen by the Sueños Hechos Foundation to celebrate the collective party.

The limousine drove through the streets of north-western Bogotá in broad daylight with dance music playing, while the grandmothers leaned excitedly out of the open roof of the vehicle to greet passers-by who, upon seeing them, recorded them with their mobile phones.

‘I had never ridden in something like this before!" said Casas.

The 29 elderly women descended from the limousine onto a red carpet leading to a community hall, where police officers in full dress uniform raised their sabres, forming a guard of honour for the quinceañeras.

The 15th birthday ritual was completed.

The grandmothers changed their shoes, which, given their age, were trainers, and were then invited to dance the waltz. They were accompanied first by the police officers and then by their husbands, children and grandchildren.

Freddy Alfonso Páez, director of the Sueños Hechos Foundation and retired police officer, said that for the past five years they have been celebrating the 15th birthday of older women and have benefited 128 women.

The project began with 15th birthday celebrations for girls from low-income families and was extended to adults when they thought of other women, such as their own mothers, who did not celebrate the traditional party in their youth.

The Sueños Hechos Foundation celebrates the collective party every year with the help of sponsors who donate the limousine, food and even dresses, and receives support from the police, whose officers serve as aides to the grandmothers.

AP Video shot by Mako Alvarez