MARDI GRAS PARTY IDEAS
Colours – purple green and white
From a red hatter:
Each King Cake comes with a
plastic baby. At a party, the King Cake is sliced and served. Each person checks
their piece to see if it contains the "baby." The person who gets the
baby becomes "King"; for a day, and bound by custom to host the next
party and provide the King Cake!
During Mardi Gras, almost everyone dresses in costume- maybe as a Mardi Gras Queen? (Have a mask making party first! - perhaps a contest for the best or most outrageous mask?)
A three layer cake-either white cake with each layer dyed purple, gold, or green with white icing and sprinkles on top OR white cake with alternating colored icing between layers. (Green and yellow inside and purple icing covering the outside or vice versa)
Goodies can be placed in clear cellophane and tied off with purple, gold, & green curly ribbons.
Purple, gold, & green is the color scheme, so get decked out with balloons, streamers, and confetti!
For a more formal party, make centerpieces from beads, doubloons, and feather masks
Make street signs from famous French Quarter locations such as Bourbon Street and Jackson Square to hang throughout the house.
Over the bar or drink station, hang a Pat O’Brien’s Sign
Costume contest
Trivia contest-Ask questions pertaining to New Orleans, Mardi Gras, and Louisiana. Questions can be based on history, geography, or tradition! (SEE BELOW FOR IDEAS)
Games:
Pin the hat on the Queen
(bal masque, tableau ball)
A masked ball in which scenes representing a specific theme are enacted for the entertainment of the club members and their guests; krewe "royalty" is traditionally presented during the ball.
(French)
The fatted bull or ox, the ancient symbol of the last meat eaten before the Lenten season of fasting; a live version was presented in the Rex parade until 1909; a papier mache' version appeared in 1959 and continues as one of Carnival's most recognizable symbols.
The absolute leader of each Carnival organization.
From the Latin carnivale, loosely translated as "farewell to flesh"; the season of merriment in New Orleans which begins annually on January 6, the Twelfth Night (the feast of the Epiphany), and ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday; the Carnival season leads up to the penitential season of Lent in which fasting replaces feasting.
The King, Queen, maids, and dukes of a Carnival organization.
A large warehouse where floats are built and stored.
Aluminum coin-like objects bearing the krewe's insignia on one side and the parade's theme on the reverse; first introduced by Rex in 1960 and created by New Orleans artist H. Alvin Sharpe; doubloons are also minted and sold in .999 silver, bronze and cloisonne'.
FAT TUESDAY
Fat Tuesday is also known as Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent: it is a day of merry-making and carnival, as in New Orleans, often marking the climax of a carnival period.
A souvenir, given by krewe members to friends attending the ball, normally bearing the organization's insignia, name and year of issue.
(plural)
Naphtha-fueled torches, traditionally carried by white-robed black men; in the past century, flambeaux provided the only source of nighttime parade illumination.
A printed request for attendance at a Carnival ball; in the 19th century, many invitations were die-cut and printed in Paris; today, most are printed in New Orleans; invitations are non-transferable and it is improper to ever refer to them as "tickets."
An oval, sugared pastry that contains a plastic doll hidden inside; the person who finds the doll is crowned "king" and buys the next cake or throws the next party; the king cake season opens on King's Day, January 6, the feast of the Epiphany. Nearly 500,000 king cakes are annually consumed in the metro New Orleans area during the Carnival season.
The generic term for all Carnival organizations in New Orleans, first used by the Mistick Krewe of Comus which coined the word in 1857 to give its club's name an Old English flavor.
French for Fat Tuesday, the single-day culmination of the Carnival season.
Groups of black men in New Orleans who portray American Indians and are magnificently outfitted with handmade beaded and feathered costumes; this Carnival custom dates to the mid-19th century among the more renowned tribes are the Wild Tchopitoulas, the Yellow Pocahontas and the Wild Magnolia.
Inexpensive trinkets tossed from floats by costumed and masked krewe members; among the more popular items are krewe-emblemed aluminum doubloons, plastic cups and plastic medallion necklaces.