Mardi Gras Costume
There just aren’t that many opportunities throughout the year to wear a costume. The most costume intensive time of year is Halloween and some people will wear a St. Patrick’s Day costume, but the closest runner up to Halloween is Mardi Gras. The obvious time to wear a Mardi Gras costume is during Carnival in New Orleans or other cities that have huge Fat Tuesday celebrations and parades such as Mobile and Galveston. But what if you can’t get to these cities for Mardi Gras? And what if you have some great Mardi Gras costume ideas but no place to wear them? Then the solution is to throw your own Mardi Gras theme party for a chance to wear your costume. (Of course, if your only chance to wear a Mardi Gras costume is at Halloween then you can be assured that you will stand out in the crowd!)
Your costume could be as simple as just choosing one of your favorite Mardi Gras masks or dressing as French royalty from the French Revolution period of the 18th century. Marie Antoinette was a very popular queen during her reign and dressing in her style is a fun and classic choice for Mardi Gras today. Costumes can be store bought or home made or a combination of the two. You could buy a simple costume and embellish it yourself. Whatever you want to do is up to you. Mardi Gras isn’t about following rules but having a good time.
One easy way to dress in the Mardi Gras spirit is to buy Mardi Gras beads. No matter what you wear – whether you have a full costume, just a mask or your regular everyday clothes you’ll have to have beads! Especially if you are throwing your own Fat Tuesday bash, beads are one of the most essential Mardi Gras party supplies. No Mardi Gras celebration or party is complete without beads.
Another way to costume yourself for Mardi Gras – and this includes buying a costume or putting together your own outfit – is to combine the Carnival colors of purple, gold and green. These three colors together equals Mardi Gras in an instant. Everyone will know you are celebrating Mardi Gras when you are decked out in those three colors. Now just because there are certain color schemes and costumes associated with Mardi Gras does not mean you have to dress that way.
On Mardi Gras day in the French Quarter you will see people dressed in a wide variety of costumes. You will see the classics as mentioned above as well as people dressed as animals, super heroes, fairies, pirates and buccaneers, parrots, jesters, devils, angels and whatever else you can imagine.
As with most costumes you may need to add extra accessories such as masks as mentioned before. Other accessories include wigs and feathered boas. Your costume may include just one accessory or all of them! A good rule of thumb is if your costume includes a wig and a mask then you should get the stick mask so you don’t have to deal with trying to fit it over your wig. Just about anything goes for Mardi Gras and that includes what you do (or do not) wear!
And if you are throwing your own party obviously you can dictate the dress code however you wish. It can be very fun to wear a traditional or classic costume that immediately brings to mind Mardi Gras during Carnival in New Orleans or at your party. But if you’re in the mood to wear something else then that is more than ok!
The only “rule” concerning your Mardi Gras costume is to figure out what will be the most fun for you and go with that! Scroll through the Costumes page for ideas. Also check out the video below for costume ideas.
No matter what you wear on Mardi Gras (whether in your own town or in New Orleans/the French Quarter) you’ll be set with plenty of Mardi Gras beads and a cool Mardi Gras mask. Of course, a big part of the fun of Mardi Gras is that you get to do and wear whatever you want! Itchin’ to wear your favorite super hero costume again? Miss being a fairy? It’s all good for Mardi Gras!
