Celebrating Mardi Gras at Home

Mardi Gras, which is also known as Fat Tuesday, can be traced all the way back to medieval Europe and is celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday with music, parades, picnics, floats and more. 

This at-home Mardi Gras guide offers you some NOLA-style recipes, crafts and activities to introduce your kids to the holiday. So, what are you waiting for? Check out all the fun to be had this Mardi Gras and throw your own spectacular celebration at home! 

The food 

As with any good celebration, your Mardi Gras party needs a bit of yum — and this holiday is a perfect way to introduce your kids to New Orleans-style recipes. 

You can find five recipes from the Big Easy in this roundup including crab andshrimp etouffee, sausage jambalaya and, of course, King Cake. 

Fat Tuesday in Michigan also means it’s time to put away a paczki or two, and while you can get some of these Polish-inspired desserts at most local grocery stores, you won’t beat the fresh paczkis offered at these local bakeries.

Want even more recipes to try? Delish offers more than 20 Mardi Gras food recipes and Southern Living features more than 30. 

The activities 

Mardi Gras is often associated with the colors purple, green and yellow, which represent justice, faith and power, respectively. 

Families looking to celebrate Mardi Gras at home can start by decorating their home in these colors. Fleur de Lis and festive bead necklaces are also a fun tradition that kids will love. 

Once you have your home decorated, you can teach your kids more about the holiday, and keep them entertained with these fun craft and activity ideas. 

• Watch The Princess and The Frog. It’s set in 1926 New Orleans and we’ve found plenty of Mardi Gras-inspired activities that go along with it. 
• Make a Mardi Gras mask. In the beginning, masks were worn during Mardi Gras to help the wearer escape class constraints and masks are still worn today to add to the excitement of the holiday. 
• Make some Mardi Gras slime. Kids love to make slime and this recipe from Premeditated Leftovers incorporates the traditional colors of the holiday. 

Or, if you have older kids, you can also consider running in the annual PaczKi Day run in Hamtramck. This year’s race takes place on Saturday, February 18, the weekend before Fat Tuesday. 
Enjoy!