Mardi Gras Mambo -1yr- Decorate Your Ride

My daughter turned one in January of last year. I was trying to think of a fun party idea that would be easy to do. Then it hit me. Living in Louisiana a HUGE event is Mardi Gras, so why not have a Mardi Gras party.  We decided to have our own parade with our own krewe and my daughter would be the queen of the parade.

I designed the invitation myself in Photoshop. It was purple background with some stars and mardi gras masks all over. I put a picture of my daughter with Mardi Gras beads on and framed it with pearls. At the top of the invitation it said Laissez les bon temps rouler" which means let the good times roll. The wording of the invite said. "A royal afternoon of Mardi Gras Revelry awaits you on January 17 2009. The Krewe of Petites Amis requests the pleasure of your company to celebrate Queen Shea turning 1. The parade rolls at 2pm at (location) Be sure to wear your Mardi Gras attire or costume."

We named her krewe Petites Amis because it means little friends.  It would be easy to decorate since the colors of Mardi Gras are purple green and gold. I got a purple table cloth and found some mardi gras plate and napkins. We had beads on the table and doubloons and masks decorating everything.

For food I had some traditional cajun food. We cooked gumbo for the adults and for the kids I had fried some fish. We also had finger foods sandwiches and chips and cookies.   For the cake what we did was we had a small traditional cake for my daughter to dig in. It was white and in purple it said Happy Birthday Shea. It had some decorations on it in yellow and green. The cakes for everyone else to eat was king cake (which is the traditional cake for Mardi Gras) We had two different flavors for people to try. 

Activities for the kids included them decorating their own Mardi Gras mask with glitter and sequins. We also had some Mardi Gras tatoos for them to put on. I made cupcakes for the kids to eat if they didn't want king cake so I put those outside and let them decorate them themselves.  

The big hit of the day was the parade. We had told all the kids that were coming to decorate a bike wagon something as their float for them to ride. We also told them to dress up in costume. All the kids were so excited.  They all came dressed and ready. I had made bags for each of the kids full of beads for them to throw. We live on a one street subdivision so we blocked off part of the street and all the adults stood on the side of the street while the kids rode up and down throwing beads. We decorated my daughter's power wheel's car with a sign that said Queen Shea and gave her a wand to wave. She was at the front of the parade.  

We dressed my daughter in a purple green and gold tutu. She had a black onsie on that we painted and it had a crown in purple and gold on the front and the back we decorated it with a wand. All the kids came in costumes and even the adults dooned their Mardi Gras attire.  For goodie bags the kids received things that they would catch at a parade. They got beads cups a stuffed animal a beach ball and other little trinkets.   It was a great day throughout and our little girl had so much fun that day. That was all that mattered.  "