Mom Hires Drag Queen for Daughter's 5th Birthday Party: 'Magical'

A little girl getting her birthday wish to have a drag queen perform at her party has delighted the internet this week.

On Friday, La Dede Camacho, who uses the TikTok handle dedecamacho, shared a video of the moment she surprised a young girl after her mom had asked for a drag queen at her 5th birthday party.

With more than 1.7 million views, the video has delighted viewers around the world.

Drag performance has seen increased popularity as an art form in recent years, often attributed to the popularity of the reality TV show RuPaul's Drag Race, which premiered in 2009 and has recently completed its 14th season.

With theatrical origins, male performers were donning petticoats and performing as women in the theatre as early as the 1800s, but it wasn't until the 1920s that the term drag was really popularized.

Many drag queens are enjoying worldwide fame with names such as Trixie Mattel worth an estimated $10 million and RuPaul boasting an estimated net worth of $60 million.

La Dede Camacho, who has been performing as a drag queen for 12 years, told Newsweek: "The birthday party was a year ago, and it was through drag story hour."

The Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) was founded in 2015 by Michelle Tea in San Francisco to inspire a love of reading in children while also teaching deeper lessons in diversity.

DQSH events are aimed at children aged 3 to 11 and are hosted by drag queens who read children's books and engage in other learning activities.

Since its inception, drag story events have spread and now take place across the U.S. as well as in the U.K., Sweden, Canada, Japan, and Australia.

But drag story time has drawn criticism, with several Republican politicians pledging to take action to prevent them altogether.

Critics have said that drag queens are inherently sexual and that elementary-school-aged children are too young to be introduced to LGBTQ+ topics.

In June, members of the right-wing nationalist organization Proud Boys disrupted a drag storytime event in Alameda County, wearing shirts with AK-47s on them and yelling out homophobic and transphobic slurs.

But the reaction to the now-viral TikTok video of the birthday party event couldn't be more different, with thousands of viewers rushing to praise the fun footage.

"I love this," said one commenter, while another wrote: "Why settle for a princess when you can have a queen visit?"

Another viewer wrote: "Guess my parents didn't love me because they never got me this. But seriously, I'm crying this is so beautiful and you are too."

"I say yes to everything," said La Dede Camacho. "She loves RuPaul's Drag Race and asked her mom if she could have a drag queen perform at her birthday party.

"I love that people believe that my art is magical and hopeful."