How to Throw a Mardi Gras Themed Party, Including Decorations, Food, and Activities

I spent four years in New Orleans and I learned a thing or two about Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is your chance to act wild and let it all out before lent. If you are not lucky enough to visit the city of sin for this year's festival, think about holding your own Mardi Gras party. Below are my tips to making a Mardi Gras party fun and authentic. Read on and please, let the good times roll!

Mardi Gras Decorations
Everything is purple, green gold, flashy and glittery during the month-long celebration in NOLA. To compete make sure to decorate in the traditional purple, green, and gold; said to signify justice, faith, and power in that order and date back to 1872. Cover your house or party area in purple, green and gold garland, streamers, and glitter.

Provide your guests with masks to enable them to "release their sins" anonymously. Then have boas and of course Mardi Gras beads (cheap long strands of colorful beads that can be purchased at any party store) on hand.

During Mardi Gras, each parade and sometimes each float throws different items, besides beads. These items include Mardi Gras themed plastic cups, small dolls, small nerf footballs, decorative coins and the Zulu parade throws hand-painted coconuts. Other small souvenirs are thrown as well.

Mardi Gras goers tend to dress up in random costumes so make your party costume themed. In the true theme of Mardi Gras, throw an "anything but clothes" party and tell guests they can wear anything but clothes to your party.

A Mardi Gras Feast
New Orleans is like its own country with a unique culture and to go with it, a unique menu. For breakfast or dessert, whip up beignets (a French doughnut) and top them with lots of powdered sugar. Serve beignets with chicory (a strong and bitter coffee) or café au lait (espresso with steamed milk). New Orleans is known for decadent breakfasts like eggs benedict, eggs sardou, and piles of French toast.

For an afternoon or evening gathering, think crawfish (they are smaller than shrimp but they taste like crab). Crawfish gumbo, crawfish jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, or just simple boiled crawfish. For a real treat make authentic NOLA turtle soup. Don't forget a side of red beans and rice. Red beans and rice is traditionally served on Mondays in New Orleans. For an authentic New Orleans dessert, there is only one item - bananas foster. Bananas foster was first served at Brennan's Restaurant in the French quarter.

To make it officially, you must have a king cake. The yellow cake tastes like a dry sponge with pure sugar on top (purple, green, and gold sugar of course). The cake is baked with a small naked plastic baby inside and the person to choke on the baby is said to be the king of Mardi Gras.

For drinks, just have lots of alcohol. To make it more authentic serve warm cheap beer in Mardi Gras themed plastic cups, but personally I believe that tradition can stay in New Orleans. For non-alcoholic beverages serve sugary fruit punch.

Party Activities
The main activities at Mardi Gras are drinking, watching parades, drinking, yelling at floats, drinking, and flashing for beads. While those actions might work in New Orleans, there are some better options for your party.

Mardi Gras Cups: Buy a stack of paper or plastic cups and allow everyone to decorate their own cup for the party. You can do the same with masks.

Bead Collector: Throw Mardi Gras beads all around the house. Let the guests collect as many beads as possible collecting them in their clothes, not around their neck or in their pockets. The person who can hold the most in their clothes, wins.

Make Your Own Float: Split the attendees up in groups and give each group the same materials to create a float. Make the groups show off their floats in a parade around the house.

Face Painting: Painting your face Mardi Gras is popular during the festival.

Any party that is fun and helps people lower their inhabitions has a little Mardi Gras in it so have fun and let loose.