Mardi Gras Birthday -3yr- Decoratte Coconuts

MARDI GRAS BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR A THREE-YEAR-OLD  The invitations said Laissez les bons temps rouler, because Kelley is turning three!  We printed them on Mardi Gras card stock, and mailed them in purple envelopes.  I thought about putting a colored feather in each envelope, but I didn't have any feathers at the time. 

Guests were instructed to come in costume.  When the guests arrived, they were offered beads to wear and plain white masks to decorate.  One of Kelley's favorite babysitters, Heather, painted our guests little faces.  Parents had to make do with Dixie beer, white or red wine and Barq's root beer. 

We turned our family room into a party palace with green, gold and purple balloons, and garlands of green, gold and purple foil stars.  We made a parade of Kelley's vehicles and dinosaurs in front of the fireplace; we decorated the trains and put beads around the dinosaurs necks.

We accompanied all this with our version of a classic New Orleans mix:  jazz by Dr. Michael White and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Cajun music by Dewey Balfa, and (of course) the completely uncategorizable Neville Brothers. 

Our activities continued the New Orleans theme.  In the spirit of our favorite Mardi Gras parade prize -- the Zulu Krewe's painted coconuts we had the children decorate coconuts with glitter glue, yellow and purple feathers, and foil stars.  We also found Mardi Gras pictures on a party website to color, and offered tragedy/comedy mask stickers.  We put all this on a wardrobe-sized cardboard box covered with a Mardi Gras paper tablecloth. 

Children bored with crafts could play a bead toss game with Mardi Gras go cups for targets.  And of course we had Mardi Gras food.  We cut up muffalettas into small squares stuck together with green and gold toothpicks, and surrounded them with multi-colored goldfish. 

Our guests ate with Mardi Gras paper plates, cups, and napkins, and purple plastic forks.  Kelley's cake had green, yellow and purple frosting and ribbon, and a frosting mask.  We put our party favors in green, gold and purple bags:  regular beads, shiny beads, doubloons, and feathers.  Oh, and the coconuts fit in the bags, too.  I had tied slipknots in the balloons ribbons so the children could go home with a balloon with the ribbon around their wrists.