Mardi Gras Celebration - Decorating

Happy Mardi Gras!

This is our first year celebrating Mardi Gras, so we've been doing some research!

Mardi Gras already has its own signature colors of Purple Green and Gold, so the color palette is already set as far as decorating, and each color has a special meaning. 

- Purple for Justice
- Green for Faith 
- Gold for Power.

Purple can be a difficult color to work with. Finding the right shade is quite a task, and it can be nearly impossible to find other items to match!

One way to get around this is to find items made by the same company, or from the same line, so that they least match each other. 

We made sure to do this with our tablecloth and napkins. Having that one consistent base to work with really helped pull the look together.

Our decorating goal for the dining room is to design the buffet and the table so they look like they are meant to be together. We want them to compliment one another instead of competing for the spotlight.

Here we have the buffet covered in a purple tablecloth, and the dining table is covered in a gold tablecloth with purple napkins placed diagonally as place mats to give the table a harlequin pattern. 

It brings the exact same color from the buffet to the table so they stay harmonious without weighing down the entire room with two dark purple table cloths.


We went with the literal metallic gold as opposed to introducing yellow accents. We did this mainly in the form of gold charger plates, gold platters, gold flatware, gold tablecloth, and an assortment of gold beads and baubles to simulate over-sized Mardi Gras beads (mostly Christmas decorations...sshhh!! don't tell anyone!!)

Once again the dollar store saves the day with lots of awesome inexpensive bead necklaces to drape from every available surface. 

They had lots of other cute items as well, such as our cute little masquerade masks.

We've even wrapped beads around the napkins instead of napkin rings so guests can join in on the fun and wear them if they'd like.

We've draped beads from the candlesticks and on the pedestal in the centerpiece.

With the decorating complete, we can focus on our Mardi Gras feast!

The plan as of now is to make Monte Cristo Sandwiches -- probably using a copycat recipe of the recipe used in The Blue Bayou Restaurant in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. 

We're also planning to make King Cake for the very first time -- or a modified version of king cake, just as long as it has the traditional colored sugar.

UPDATE: We made  the King Cake and the Monte Cristo sandwiches, read more about it here;

Check out our King Cake HERE!
Check out our Fat Tuesday Monte Cristo HERE!


I made the colored the sugar for the King Cake myself for the very first time -- so fun and easy I should blog about it! -- except the whole blog would be;

1 - put some sugar in a ziplock bag

2 - add a few drops of food coloring

3 - shake-a, shake-a, shake-a

4 - the end

Maybe if we are lucky we'll be able to score some Packzki this year. Though it's not traditional New Orleans Mardi Gras fare, it is a traditional Fat Tuesday food.

I'll update this post with how it all turned out! Until next time, Happy Mardi Gras y'all!

Check out our adventures in making a King Cake HERE!
Check out our Fat Tuesday Monte Cristo HERE!