Are you celebrating Mardi Gras this year? Keep with true Mardi Gras tradition – celebrate in style with these Mardi Gras decorating tips and turn your home or office from “nothing new” to New Orleans!
I adore Mardi Gras! It’s a spectacular celebration that boasts amazing food, incredible decorations, and impressive parades that are truly a sight to behold.
Mardi Gras is celebrated around the globe. While Mardi Gras festivities vary from city to city, New Orleans has earned itself a reputation for hosting some of the largest and most extravagant Mardi Gras events in the world.
While only a few of us will be fortunate enough to travel to New Orleans this season, there’s no reason we can’t celebrate in our own way at our homes and offices! I’ve put together a few quick decorating tips to make your Mardi Gras celebration one to remember.
Mardi Gras Colors
If you want to embody the true spirit of Mardi Gras, make sure you surround yourself with the colors green, gold, and purple! Ribbons, masks, and streamers are just perfect for this – but I’ll explain more about that in a moment.
I want to first tell you a bit more about why Mardi Gras colors are green, gold, and purple. They weren’t just chosen at random! They were hand-picked by Rex, the New Orleans “King of Carnival” in 1892.
Rex chose the color green to represent faith, gold for power, and purple for justice. If you notice, Louisiana State University’s colors are gold and purple. That seems like more than just coincidence to me!
Mardi Gras Decorations And Ornaments
There are a few things to remember when hanging decorations and ornaments for Mardi Gras:
Incorporate lots of beads into your décor. This phenomenon was introduced many years ago when Rex, the aforementioned “King of Carnival,” would throw expensive handmade glass necklaces into a crowd.
You also want to use plenty of vibrant, colorful masks. Make the masks yourself to add a dash of your own style and personality. Keep them plain, or decorate your masks with feathers and beads. The choice is yours!
Don’t be afraid to dive in with some confetti and feathers to make things extra-festive.
Tune Into Some Mardi Gras Music
Stick to New Orleans Brass, Zydeco, or Swing Music. Using apps like Spotify, iTunes, Rhapsody, or YouTube, prepare your Mardi Gras playlist in advance, before any party or celebration.
Need some song ideas? Try: “When the Saints Go Marching In” by Louis Armstrong, “New Orleans Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton, and “Heebie Jeebies” by Louis Armstrong. These songs will undoubtedly have your guests inspired to dance, clap, and move like never before!
If you want to take your party to the next level and already know how to play a brass instrument, now is the time to show off your skills and bring your party to life!
What About Mardi Gras Food?
Typically, Mardi Gras food consists of Cajun-style dishes, like Creole Crab Cakes and Oysters Bienville. Of course, no Mardi Gras celebration is complete without a festive King’s Cake.
King’s Cake is only available to buy during the Mardi Gras season. It’s made of cinnamon dough, topped with icing or sugar, and usually is colored green, gold, and purple.
What really makes this cake interesting is that every King’s Cake has a small plastic baby hidden inside of it. The one who finds the baby in their slice of cake must either buy the next King’s Cake or host next year’s Mardi Gras party!
You can also try a New Orleans-style Muffuletta. It’s Southern-style sandwich made using salami, ham, and cheese. Then, you top it off with an olive, garlic and herb mixture for added flavor. Yum!
With all this delicious food, I now understand why they call Mardi Gras “Fat Tuesday!”
Other Mardi Gras Tips
This year, Mardi Gras falls on February 9th, meaning it’s not too far off from Christmas. If you still haven’t taken down your tree, use this to your advantage and decorate it in gold, green, and purple ribbon. Then, top it all off by hanging masquerade masks from the branches. Your guests will love it!
Have any Mardi Gras decorating and celebration tips of your own? Let us know in the comments.
I like how you mentioned the incorporation of beads into your Mardi Gras decorations. I never realized the significance of the beads in relation to the celebration. My cousin loves to throw parties and has talked about throwing a Mardi Gras party before. Considering to use these ideas could be very useful to her.