Celebrating Mardi Gras at Home

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One of my absolute favorite things about having lived in Louisiana is Mardi Gras. I love the parades, the costumes, king cake. I love it all. When we moved to Columbus, the phrase I would see shared every Mardi Gras —  “everywhere else it’s just Tuesday” felt like it was about to be very real and personal to me.

Mardi Gras dress

And while I know we will, for the first time, have to actually go to school on Fat Tuesday, I’m determined to bring some Mardi Gras fun to my house for my kiddos and not have it be “just Tuesday.” So here are some ways you can join in the fun.

The Food

The Main Course

For Mardi Gras day (March 1 this year), we will eat some traditional Louisiana cuisine to bring the feeling home. My kids love gumbo and jambalaya, so we will eat one of those. I’ve linked great and traditional recipes if you want to try your hand at either of those from scratch.

jambalaya

Kids’ involvement in the cooking process is entirely up to you, as you know best what their age and maturity level allows. My kids love to help mix and stir the pot. My oldest helps chop vegetables with supervision.

Even if your kids are too small to help with the cooking, eating something new is something all ages can enjoy!

If you’re pressed for time, you can always use a mix by Jambalaya Girl (also available on Amazon) or order out. Way Down Yonder and Creole Kitchen both came highly recommended to me for traditional Cajun cuisine (full disclaimer – I haven’t had a chance to make my way to either…yet!)

Dessert: King Cake
Making king cake
My little helper punching down the dough after the first rise.

One of my favorite parts of Mardi Gras is king cake. While there is great debate about the best king cake in Louisiana,  we ate only homemade king cakes last year! They’re so good and a fun project to do with the kids. I used this recipe from The Cajun Ninja.

Pro Tip: Before you get started, preheat your oven to 170. As soon as it comes to temperature, turn it off. Then, when it is time for your dough to rise, let it rise in the oven. It’s likely too cold right now for the dough to rise properly just sitting on your counter.

king cake

Don’t feel comfortable making homemade bread, or just don’t have the time? Resch’s Bakery makes a great traditional king cake that definitely reminded me of king cakes I would get in Louisiana!

The Crafts

Mardi Gras Masks

Mardi Gras masks are a big part of Mardi Gras parades. Kids love coloring and decorating their own masks. You can print a template here.

This can be as low-key or as extravagant as you want…you can simply let them color their masks, or you can let them go crazy with glitter glue and decorations.

making Mardi Gras decorations

There are also lots of free printable Mardi Gras coloring pages if you want to expand this beyond just a mask.

Shoebox Floats

This is a much more hands-on activity and does require a good degree of preparation. This is a classic Louisiana elementary art activity to make your own Mardi Gras float. For this activity, you will need:

  • A shoebox with a lidMardi Gras shoebox float
  • Hot glue gun
  • Assorted decorations of your choice
  • “Riders” (any toy your child loves)

First, wrap the box and lid separately in the wrapping paper. Attach the lid to the side standing up like so:

Then, help your child decorate the float however you please. Each year, every Mardi Gras parade has a different theme and floats are decorated accordingly. You could go with traditional Mardi Gras colors like we did, or you could decorate your float to match a theme.

Other Ways to Celebrate

We will also bring in the Mardi Gras feel with traditional Cajun music, including “Mardi Gras Mambo.”

We will wear our purple, green, and gold and wear Mardi Gras beads to school, and my kids will probably do a “parade” around the living room for our entertainment.

We may be 1,000 miles from New Orleans, but we are bringing the party home with us. And you can too!