Mardi Gras Party Ideas

 

 

 

Ideas for a Mardi Gras theme birthday party.  Lots of different ideas for Mardi Gras games, invitations, decorations, party games, activities, food, favors and much more! Great kids Mardi Gras party ideas for all ages! 

Mardi Gras Party Invitation Ideas

Write the information on the back of masks and ask guests to wear them to the party. 

Attach a small colorful invitation to Mardi Gras beads and send to guests. 

Glue feathers and glitter to blank colorful cards. 

Ask guests to dress in costume and give a prize for the most original one.

 

 

 

 

 

Mardi Gras Party Decoration Ideas

Great colors are combinations of deep purple, blue, gold, green and touches of black. 

Outside the venue hang Mardi Gras beads from the branches of trees and bushes. 

Place a sign in the front yard that says "Welcome to New Orleans!" . 

Cover the front door with Mardi Gras themed wrapping paper or a large banner.  

Make or buy colorful pinwheels and stick them in the ground about 2 feet apart along the walkway. 

Place a green or purple carpet that is long and thin leading up to the doorway and decorate the outside of the door to look like a giant gold Mardi Gras mask. 

Hang stings of beads from the entrance that the guests will have to walk through to get into the party.  

Decorate the kids party table in bright festive colors.   

Mardi Gras beads can also be used to wrap around napkins for a napkin ring.

 Lay lots of Mardi Gras bead on the party table, hanging over candelabras and around the party area. 

Mardi Gras is over the top so use large masks on the wall and anything gold and glittery.  

Set out lots of glow in the dark necklaces, glow sticks and bracelets for the kids to wear. 

Decorate the bowls and dishes you use to serve food with the glow in the dark necklaces by placing them around the bowls. 

 

 

Mardi Gras Icebreaker Game

Bead Exchange
Give guests 3 strings of Mardi Gras beads when they enter the party.   The beads need to be all the same color for every guest ... different then what you have decorated the party room with to avoid cheating. Choose three words that the guests are not allowed to say during the party and write them on a poster or white board where everyone can see them. 

 

When you give the guests their beads tell them that for the whole party they are not allowed to use those three words.   Some good words to choose are the birthday child's name, beads, fun, etc.   If a guest is caught saying one of the 3 words then the person who caught them gets to take one of their strands of beads from them.  Play for the whole party and at the end of the party the guest with the most beads wins a prize.  

 

 

Find great Mardi Gras party supplies on Amazon

 

 

 

Mardi Gras Activities

The making of a Parade
Give birthday guests each an empty shoebox and let them decorate it to look like a Mardi Gras float.  Set out paints, foil, feathers, beads, etc. for them to decorate their boxes with and then give a prize for the most creative.  (These can also be used as Goody / Loot bags to hold their party favors at the end of the party.)

 

Face Painting
Transform the birthday guests with face paint.  Set up a station and have an adult paint the kids faces to look like animals or simply paint on fleur de lies' or stars. Use our great homemade face paint recipes for this fun Mardi Gras activity!

 

Mardi Gras Glam
Set out lots of fun things that the kids can get dressed up such as colorful plastic fedora hats, feather boas, big sunglasses, king and queen crowns, wigs, masks, joker hats, beads, etc. 

 

 

Mardi Gras Party Games

 

Carnival Style Mardi Gras Games
Make the Mardi Gras party extra special with some carnival style games. 
We have some great  carnival games listed that are easy to put together and fun for all ages.  Have an adult dress up character and make balloon animals as they wait in line for the games. 

 

 

Mardi Gras Piñata
Make the piñata extra fun by adding a small plastic baby to the prizes inside the piñata.  Whoever finds the baby gets an extra prize! Make your own pinata using our paper mache recipes and instructions on how to make a pinata a few days before the party. 

 

 

Mardi Gras Treasure  Hunt
Before the party buy and hide lots of gold coins around the party area or outside if the weather permits.   Have guests search to find as many gold coins as they can.  Let them turn them in for prizes after the hunt.  If the party will be held at night a fun game is to do the Treasure Hunt with flashlights.  (You can also hide a few small plastic babies that can be turned in for special prizes. )

 

 

Mardi Gras Limbo
Turn on fast music and have two people hold a long string of Mardi Gras beads for the kids to limbo under.  When a player is out have them take the place of one of the people holding the beads so everyone gets to play. 

Sleepover games -  Sleepover / Slumber party games

 

Party Games for all ages - Birthday Party Games

 

Party games for tweens -  ages 10, 11, 12

 

 

 

 

Mardi Gras Party Food Ideas
King Cake
Large sugar cookies (let guests decorate them with purple, gold and green icing)
Fruit trays or fruit skewers
Cheese and crackers
Chocolate fountain - strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels, etc. for dipping

 

 

Mardi Gras Party Favor Ideas
Mardi Gras Beads
Masks
Small bottles of Bubbles in solid colors of purple, gold and green
Chocolate foil covered coins
Fleur-de-lis jewelry
Purple, gold and green nail polish

 

Goody / Loot Bag Ideas
Hurricane glasses
Colorful bags or Chinese containers

 

 

Mardi Gras Fun Facts

Mardi Gras is also called Fat Tuesday and refers to the events or Carnival type celebrations which begin on or just after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three King's Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is  French and is translated "Fat Tuesday".   Fat Tuesday refers to participants eating rich and fattening foods before they participate in the ritual fasting of Lent.

Mardi Gras Traditions

Some traditions for Mardi Gras are: wearing costumes and masks, dancing, elaborate parades, etc.  

All signs point to the 1st Mardi Gras celebration in the US happening on 3/3/1699.   French explorers landed in Louisiana and called the area Point du Mardi Gras.  The area they landed near was the current New Orleans, Louisiana.   As time progressed other French settlements began to also mark the holiday with masquerade balls, street parties and large feasts.  

The Spanish banned the celebrations after they took over New Orleans.  The bans were lifted when Louisiana became a state in the year 1812.

In a Mardi Gras celebration in 1827 students paraded in costumes and danced in the streets mimicking the type of Mardi Gras parties they had witnessed in Paris.  10 years later the city of New Orleans recorded it’s first official Mardi Gras parade.  

Some customs from the Mardi Gras parades entail throwing strings of beads and trinkets, decorating floats for the parade, wearing masquerade masks and eating yummy King Cake.

The King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition that was brought to New Orleans in 1870 from France.  The King Cake is oval and a cross between French pastry and coffee cake.  The King Cake is decorated in green, purple and gold.   A small plastic baby is baked into the cake and whoever finds the baby is expected to host the next party and bring a King Cake to share.