Marvelous Mardi Gras Party
By Penny Warner
It doesn’t have to be Fat Tuesday to host a Marvelous Mardi Gras Party. Choose a “Bon Temps” theme for a birthday party celebration, baby shower, wedding reception, prom night, or even a simple dinner party. You can order a complete Marti Gras party kit, with hats, horns, balloons, beads, and carnevale masks, and then add your own special touches to personalize it for your friends or family. Turn up the Zydeco music and laissez les bon temps rouler!
Invitations
- Mask it. Send your party guests a plain or feathered mask, with party details written on the back
in permanent marker. If the mask is plain, ask the guest to decorate it and wear it to the party.
Place mask in a large padded envelope along with a string of Mardi Gras beads.
Costumes
- Ask the revelers to come in masked Mardi Gras costumes, such as jesters or royalty, then greet
them with purple, green, and gold beads as they arrive.
- Give them a mask to wear, made from feathers, sequins, foam or foil. Top them off with jester
hats, jeweled crowns and sparkling tiaras.
Decorations
- Turn the party room into Bourbon Street, with lots of purple, green, and gold balloons and
streamers.
- Hang up a sign on the front door that reads, “French Quarter.” Cover the walls of the party room
with banners, pennants and signs like, “Bon Temps,” “Bourbon Street,” “Let the Good Times
Roll,” “Commander’s Palace,” “House of Blues,” and “Madame Zydeco’s Voodoo Shop.”
- Drape colorful beads and feather boas on everything – furniture, lamps, tables, shelves.
Sprinkle candy doubloons on tables. Tape feathery masks on the walls and place them on
the table.
- Cover the serving table with a Mardi Gras theme tablecloth or fabric in purple, green, and gold.
Serve drinks in hurricane glasses or glow cups filled with glow swizzle sticks. Set a festive
Mardi Gras mobile in the middle of the table. Play Zydeco and jazz in the background.
Games & Activities
- King & Queen. Elect a King and Queen of Mardi Gras – the Guests of Honor, couple with the
best costumes, or just draw names at random. Have them make a speech, then lead the first
dance.
- Show Me Your Beads. Write up stunts on index cards, such as “Cast a spell,”
“Do the Two-Step,” or “Sing Happy Birthday with a French accent.” Have players draw a card
and perform the stunt to win a necklace. The person with the most necklaces wins a fancy
necklace with a disco ball or clapper.
- Make a Mask. Give your guests plain masks and lots of arts and crafts supplies to use for
decorating them, such as sequins, feathers, glitter, and foam sheets.
- Zydeco Dancing. Turn on a Zydeco CD and dance.
Food
- Cajun Cuisine. Serve Seafood Gumbo and Louisiana Jambalaya, with red beans and rice.
- Southern Sweets. Set out bowls of fortune cookies and jellybeans in Mardi Gras colors, along
with pralines and moon pies.
- Hurricanes. Whip up Hurricanes in plastic Hurricane glasses, using a pre-mixed or homemade
recipe.
- Mardi Gras King Cake. Make this royal cake the easy way, and use it as a centerpiece.
Prepare a cake mix and bake in a bundt pan. When cool, insert a small plastic baby somewhere
in the cake, then frost with vanilla icing. Sprinkle purple, green, and yellow sugar along
dividing lines, to resemble a crown. Tell guests whoever finds the baby will have good luck all
year!
Favors
- Feather masks, boas, crowns, and tiaras
- Zydeco or jazz CDs
- Pralines and Moon Pies
- Mardi Gras bears, ducks, beanbag animals
- Bubble gum and chocolate coins
