Just because you're not in New Orleans doesn't mean you can't celebrate Fat Tuesday! Our Mardi Gras party ideas will help you throw a bash that's fun for all ages.
The Best Mardi Gras Party Ideas for a Family-Friendly Bash
Updated Jun. 03, 2024
Mardi Gras is a fun holiday with vibrant traditions and delicious Louisiana-inspired cuisine, so why not get your friends and family together for a Mardi Gras-themed party? Even if you’re hundreds of miles away from NOLA, you can still host a Mardi Gras bash that will bring the celebration to you.
How to Throw a Mardi Gras Party
You’ll need festive decorations, party games and a spread of delicious food.
How to Decorate for Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras is known for its bright, tricolor decorations. The traditional Mardi Gras colors are purple to symbolize justice, green to symbolize faith and gold to symbolize power. Any themed party will decorate using this color scheme.
Here are a couple fun decorating ideas:
- Place purple, green and gold balloons around the party area.
- Use a metallic backdrop as a makeshift photo station.
- Set any color-changing smart lightbulbs to purple and green.
- Look for a Mardi Gras piñata at your local party store.
- Use one of these Mardi Gras DIY centerpieces to decorate your table.
Don’t forget the staple of any good Mardi Gras event: bead necklaces. The metallic necklaces are a staple at Mardi Gras parades, and your family will love layering them on.
What to Serve at Your Mardi Gras Party
Once you have your Mardi Gras decorations squared away, it’s time to plan the menu. Good food is an essential for Mardi Gras—after all, it literally means Fat Tuesday!
Your menu will vary depending on whether you’re hosting a brunch, mid-afternoon party or nighttime soiree, but you’ll probably want to serve up some New Orleans-inspired recipes to pay homage to the event’s cultural roots. This could mean heaping platters of beans and rice, bowls of jambalaya or gumbo or a delicious seafood dish! Here’s a list of our best recipes for Mardi Gras to give you inspiration.
What about a Mardi Gras dessert? In addition to foods like beignets or cupcakes, you simply have to serve a traditional New Orleans king cake—it’s a Mardi Gras staple. King cakes typically have a swirl of cinnamon inside and a sweet glaze over top, and it’s tradition to bake a tiny baby figurine into the treat. Whoever ends up with the baby in their slice is supposed to have a year of good luck and prosperity—and in many circles, they’re also responsible for hosting the party next year.
Of course, Hurricanes are the unofficial drink of Mardi Gras, but if you’re hosting a party with kids, you can opt for a big pitcher of virgin Hurricanes for everyone to enjoy. If you aren’t in the mood for a Hurricane, the adults can enjoy these other classic Mardi Gras drinks.
Fun Mardi Gras Party Activities for the Whole Family
You can keep the party going all day—or night—with these fun Mardi Gras games and activities:
Mardi Gras Mask Decorating
Masquerade masks are another staple of the holiday, so why not create a mask-decorating station? You’ll need plain masks and decorating supplies like paint, glue, glitter (if you dare) and Mardi Gras-colored feathers. Kids and adults will have a blast creating fun masks to wear during the party.
Scavenger Hunt
Another way to get everyone involved in the festivities is with a selfie scavenger hunt! You can purchase scavenger hunt instructions or create your own list of mandatory selfies—in the photo booth, with the King Cake baby, wearing at least 10 necklaces, etc. At the end of the party, the person who completed the most selfies gets a prize to take home.
Pin the Mask on the Jester
You can put a festive twist on the traditional party game of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” by purchasing or printing a cutout of a Mardi Gras jester. Your guests can take turns getting blindfolded and spun around, and then they have to try to get the jester’s mask onto his face.
With these Mardi Gras party ideas, you’ll be able to put together an unforgettable bash for your family and friends. Just don’t be surprised if it becomes an annual tradition!
Desserts Perfect for a Mardi Gras Party
Mardi Gras King CakeWhat is king cake? Although it's called a "cake," this famous Mardi Gras dessert is more of a sweet bread—think cinnamon roll meets coffee cake. Regardless of its name, it's absolutely delicious! To switch things up, swap out the almond cake and pastry filling for cinnamon sugar and cream cheese or fruit and nut fillings like raisins, apples, cherries or pecans.
Bananas Foster SundaesIt's said that this dessert was created at Brennan's Vieux Carré Restaurant on Bourbon Street as a way to use up excess bananas. The dish is often made tableside with a technique called flambé where rum is lit on fire in an impressive performance. We skip the theatrics with this dessert and make it on the stovetop—no fire extinguisher needed to enjoy this tasty treat.
Turtle Praline TartThis five-ingredient dessert looks like it took hours to make, but it actually couldn't be easier. The pie crust needs to be prebaked, but the remaining ingredients set up in the refrigerator to create a no-bake tart. Get ready to hand out the recipe, because this is one of those Mardi Gras desserts that gets gobbled up fast!
Bananas Foster on the GrillTaking this classic New Orleans dessert to the barbecue gives the bananas grill marks that look gorgeous when you bring this dish to the table. Just be sure to keep your bananas inside the peel when you slice them in half. The fruit will soften and turn mushy (in a good way) as it cooks, and it would be a real pain to turn the bananas without the peel providing a little structure.
Chewy Pecan Pie BarsNot all Mardi Gras parties involve sitting around a table. You might be up dancing or playing games instead. These pecan pie bars are perfect if you want a dessert that can move with your guests. They taste exactly like pecan pie, but they're handheld and easy to eat. Of course, you could serve them on a plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.
Springtime Beignets & BerriesThese deep-fried doughy delights get a burst of freshness when they're served with fresh berries. To customize the recipe for your Mardi Gras party, add purple, green and gold sprinkles to the whipped cream before serving. Or color the powdered sugar with decorating dust and dust the platter in three different waves.
Rum Raisin Creme BruleeCrème brûlée is a fabulous party treat because it looks like an elegant restaurant dessert (but it's pretty easy to make at home). Infuse those already fantastic flavors with rum-soaked raisins, and you have the perfect Mardi Gras dessert! You can use a handheld culinary butane torch to create the sugary exterior or pop the dishes under the broiler. (Just make sure you use a broiler-safe ramekin, of course.)
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Monkey BreadWe love monkey bread, but it's even more delicious when the dough balls are stuffed with chocolate and baked with bourbon-infused chocolate and caramel sauces. The homemade dough is light and fluffy, but it can be a little time-consuming. As a shortcut, use a couple cans of refrigerated biscuit dough instead.
King Cake with Cream Cheese FillingThis shortcut king cake recipe comes together in about 45 minutes, making it ideal as a last-minute Mardi Gras dessert option. The sugary cream cheese filling is packed with warm cinnamon, and the refrigerated crescent roll dough crisps up beautifully in the oven. Top it off with a few drizzles of colorful icing, and this one is a winner!
Candied PecansPecans are a quintessential part of southern cooking, and candying them in butter and sugar creates a light but flavorful dessert. Make sure you spread the pecans out in an even layer on the baking sheet before popping them in the oven, or they won't toast evenly. As a bonus, any leftovers can be used on a salad for lunch tomorrow.
Banana Bread PuddingIs bread pudding a breakfast or a dessert? Both! This recipe uses pieces of bananas to amp up the bananas Foster vibe, so it's a wonderful dessert for a Mardi Gras dinner party. We wouldn't be upset if it was served during a Mardi Gras brunch, either.
Berry-Filled DoughnutsA filled doughnut called packzi is one of the most famous Fat Tuesday snacks, so berry-filled doughnuts absolutely fit the bill for your next Mardi Gras dessert platter. There's no need to make the dough from scratch, either; you'll be amazed at how well refrigerated biscuit dough works here! By the time you dust them with confectioners' sugar, no one will be the wiser.
Margarita CakeExtravagant drinks are a big part of Mardi Gras, and this cake captures all the flavor of a margarita without any of the booze. If you can't find the frozen margarita mix called for in the recipe, substitute a can of frozen limeade or liquid margarita mix instead. Don’t forget to check out our collection of the best Mardi Gras drinks.
Praline CookiesThese cookies achieve the perfect balance between crisp bottoms and chewy interiors, and the pop of pecan flavor shines through with every bite. They taste incredible with the sugary icing, but we've also served them without it and didn't receive any complaints.
Bread Pudding with Bourbon SauceThis slow cooker dessert recipe is a lifesaver if you're struggling to get everything together for a Mardi Gras party. The bread pudding is completely hands-off, cooking in about three hours on low in the slow cooker, freeing you up to work on the event's other components. When it comes time to serve, bring the sauce ingredients to a boil, scoop the bread pudding into cups or bowls and drizzle on the sauce.
Banana-Hazelnut Pain Perdu DuetPain perdu is basically a fancy name for French toast, and this recipe combines some of our favorite Mardi Gras desserts into one dish. It has a cream cheese filling like king cake and brown-sugared bananas like bananas Foster. It could easily be served for brunch, but we love it for dessert, too.
Originally Published: January 28, 2020
