With Mardi Gras right around the corner, I thought I would share our DIY theme at home. But, I also wanted to point out that although it is fast approaching, you can do this at any time! After all, this isn’t happening on Bourbon Street!
Are you familiar with the Mardi Gras celebrations? I was only vaguely familiar until last year when we decided we would continue our themes at home in 2021. I did know that it is a parade of some sort and that New Orleans was famous for it. But I did not know that historically speaking it is a celebration in connection with Carnival season and takes place the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The tradition is to eat fatty foods prior to the fasting that comes along with the season of Lent. It is also known as “Fat Tuesday.”
Of course, nowadays the celebration is a little different! The parties go on all over the world. This year it is on March 1. Since we never celebrated this, it required that I do some research regarding the tradition. I will say that I have ZERO interest in ever attending real Mardi Gras celebrations!! But it was fun to do our own thing. How about you? Any interest in going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras?
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Decorations
Instead of going to Mardi Gras, here are some ideas for how you can celebrate at home. It won’t require a big budget plus it is fun to break up your normal routine.
The colors of this theme were fun – purple, green and yellow (or gold). I enjoyed the decorating. We did have to buy some items from Amazon such as the feathers, which I personally felt were a necessity! But, I had to come up with a way to display them. After a few different versions, I liked them over the mantel to add some flare!
We have a lot of straight glass vases which came in handy too. I used some gold string beads from our Christmas decorations and some small Christmas balls that matched the colors to fill them. The swirls are re-purposed from Cinco de Mayo, another of our fun celebrations that you can see here in our Latin Theme Nights at Home. I just added purple ribbon to them.
Sitting on the hearth, we have of course lots of candles and a purple square vase from our own collection with a white and gold mask from a previous Masquerade Ball.
On one side of the fireplace, we have more tall vases with purple floating candles that we had. I just added green food coloring to the water to bring in more of the themed colors. I was patting myself on the back for this creative idea! Ha! This was my first time using the food coloring but did it again for some other themes after this. One was for our Penn State theme at home, that you can see in our Adventures for a Good Cause.
Next, since the tree was a new tradition in 2021, on the other side we have a Mardi Gras tree. I was a little late to the dollar store by the time we planned this, so I ended up buying the crowns and beer mug necklaces from Amazon. But this year Dollar Tree still had plenty of items even one week before! The feathers you see on the tree are a $1 boa from Dollar Tree wrapped around like garland. The masks hanging on the windows are also from Dollar Tree. Our lights were still up so it added to the ambience. As you can see, you can make a cute display on a small budget.
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By the way, you can check out all of our DIY Decorated Trees for All Occasions here.
Night Vision
If you have been here before, you know that my favorite photos of the decorations are usually those taken at night. But, of course it isn’t as easy to see everything. So I take both day and night shots.
Attire
This time I decided I would not request that my husband dress up. He was not disappointed to be wearing normal clothes. But, I did have to coordinate his shirt to the theme at least! And what Mardi Gras outfit would be complete without the traditional beads? He didn’t mind wearing them to top it off!
For me, this has to be the most fun of all of my dresses! I tried various options and nothing was working. Then I happened upon this dress from Macy’s. I got lucky! It had all of the colors in one. Now, would I wear this out in public, nope! But it definitely worked for this theme at home. Macy’s has many options for dresses, shoes, accessories, etc. for any occasion. Here’s a coupon for you. Happy Shopping!
Speaking of shoes! Purple and sparkly, what more could I ask for (well comfort would be nice!)! Although these aren’t the best quality, they are so cute and worked really well. If you are wondering, they have a 4” heel with a 1” platform!
It isn't Mardi Gras without a mask!
Date Night
Setting a nice dinner table is something I like to add to any theme or just a date night at home. After first doing a wine glass and mirror centerpiece for Christmas, then again for Valentine’s Day, I made another one for this theme as well. By then, almost a year into our themes, I should have been more original. But at least I switched it up some! The boa on the tree came with two pieces. So I cut the second one and stuffed into the wine glasses. Then added more candles, Christmas balls and beads.
Knowing I could use these colorful dishes again, I ordered the set from Amazon along with the matching bowls. They aren’t fancy, but they are decent quality. I ordered with our future outdoor meals in mind and plastic is best. But in the meantime, we used many times for our themes. The variety of colors was very helpful.
The table is also set with a shiny gold tablecloth, coordinating placemats and napkins along with green accented water glasses, gold champagne glasses and more candles! All of which we had. So no additional expense.
Menu
Dinner
As with all themes, I researched themed foods. Since I am not a spicy food/cajun/creole food kind of girl, this was a little more difficult! Although not a surprise, gumbo is very popular and on many menu suggestions. Again, I just wasn’t interested. Somehow, I eventually happened on something called Yumbo Gumbo. It is a seafood gumbo and something we would eat! Is it traditional for Mardi Gras? I have no idea. But it had the word gumbo in it, so it was close enough for me! We love seafood.
So, our dinner was this delicious Yumbo Gumbo recipe, corn on the cob and rice. It was our first time having it and my first time making anything like it. We did substitute the okra for green beans because for one I really had no idea what okra was and two, I couldn’t find it at the two stores I checked. I googled a good replacement and green beans came up as one of the suggestions. Green beans are safe so I went with them.
Dessert
Once again my research provided so many options for dessert. Being the fantastic baker (sarcasm) that I am, I just wasn’t sure I wanted to attempt the traditional desserts like the beignet or the king cakes. Ultimately I am sure they would have tasted fine, but I knew the presentation would be lacking. Plus who knew how long any of these recipes would take me!
So, instead I went with a (form of) Louisiana dessert. This recipe for bananas foster sundaes was so easy and one of the best desserts we have had at home. We made again with the leftovers the next night!
As I have mentioned in other posts, I never thought I would need my food pictures for anything. So this photo is once again not the best. To that point, I do not have a picture of dessert, which is very disappointing!
Just a side note, I am not an affiliate related to the recipes. I just like to share if we enjoyed.
Let's Hear from You
Thank you for reading. We hope you enjoyed and that you feel inspired to have your own theme party at home. While I may tend to go a little overboard, feathers, beads and masks can round out your decorations! Add in a nice meal and you have an exciting date night at home!
Let us know in the comments if you have ever celebrated Mardi Gras. What did you do?
24 thoughts on “Mardi Gras Celebration at Home – DIY”
We did Mardi Gras at hoke last year and it was fun. I so loved reading this fun, colorful post!
To be honest I don’t really know much about what Mardi Gras is as we don’t have anything like that in the UK. But it’s so cool that you decorate and dress up for all of the occasions x
Cute! I love the idea of a mardi gras themed date night. Have to see if my husband is up for it.
Loving the Mardi Gras theme and what a wonderful theme for date night as well. The colour choice of purple, green and yellow looks perfect as well.
That is so cool! We never celebrated Mardi Gras but we’re down to join any celebration lol…Will plan something for this year for sure. Happy Mardi Gras.
Great read!
Wow! You really thought of everything. I love the decorations
As always, everything looks so fun, beautiful and festive! I especially love your dress and shoes, you look absolutely stunning!!
the colors are great, I like how you would still decor your tree with the new theme.
I am a huge fan of the Mardi Gras celebration. I am for sure going to have to apply some of these celebration tips to apply for a Mardi Gras date night at home.
This is adorable. I love Mardi Gras. I have not been giving it the proper attention.
This looks like so much fun! I’ve actually never decorated for Mardi Gras and it would be fun to start a tradition.
That sounds like such a fun idea. I’ve never been to a mardi gras celebration anywhere. This sounds like a good idea for when I have friends over.
how cute and how awesome! I absolutely enjoy the decor and how you handled it all! So chic! The menu looks very tempting as well
I love the Mardi Gras colors and your dress is stunning!
Those heels are to die for! I love them so much, what stunning statement heel! The decor is also soooo cute. The little tree is my favorite.
Such a cool idea for date night. I love your dress too!!!
I’ve never celebrated Mardi Gras and I honestly didn’t know much about it as well. But it looks like a really fun and festive tradition. I love the colours of your decorations!
well-loved the article and the way you went about organising Mardi Gras celebrations. What about the music element, you did not mention that. Loved your dress as well the shoes
Love your color theme and how nice that you pull this off! Glad that you guys had a great celebration and thanks for sharing with us!
I am stealing all your ideas and I will celebrate Mardigras next year. I never thought about decorating my house.
I’d love to have my own themed party at home. Thanks for the inspiration
Yay what a fun way to ge into the spirit and celebrate from home! I love your decorations and your dress is amazing!!
Laura x
Such a fun way to ring in the celebrations! I love how festive you made the space feel…looks like you had a great time!