Bright colored masks! Spectacular floats! Strings of sparkling beads and a joyous celebration! This is Mardi Gras, and it could be a fabulous theme for your Quinceañera. In fact, your masked quinceañera dance could be the hit of the season, especially if your birthday falls during the winter months, and you would reign as princess!
Mardi Gras in French means “Fat Tuesday”, and refers to the practice of the last night of eating high-fat foods before the ritual fast of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. People from all over the world celebrate this event with parades, floats and merry parties!
Imagine entering your Quinceanero’s ballroom in a beautifully decorated float! It won’t be as large as the floats in a parade, but the float, on wheels and gracefully pushed into the ballroom by two of your chamberlains, is the perfect way to make a memorable entrance on this very special occasion.
If this sounds like the Quinceanero you’ve always dreamed of, here are some ideas for invitations, decorations, quinceanera gifts, your dress, and accessories.
- Invitations
Mardi Gras (or Carnival, as it is called in some places) is famous for exquisitely creative masks and fabulous costumes. Look up some examples of Mardi Gras masks online. You will notice that the predominant colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold. Purple represents justice, green is faith, and gold is power. Your invitation design can include a mask or you can create an invitation in the form of a mask. Give your masks more pizzazz with real feathers and a little sparkle! - Decorations
Choosing a Mardi Gras theme makes your decorating decisions easier because you have a ready-to-go color palette. Fill the room with bouquets of purple, green and gold balloons and scatter sparkling confetti on the floor. Centerpieces can be gold vases filled with purple flowers (and their green leaves, of course!). Add some gold glitter to the flowers and sprinkle purple, gold, and green bead strands around the base of the vase. Beads make a great party favor too! - Favors
Buy inexpensive Mardi Gras-style masks at a party supply store and place one at each location on your reception tables, so your guests can put them on when they arrive and get into the Mardi Gras spirit! Other favor ideas are antique finish card holders / photo frames and “Bourbon Street” lamp post card / photo holders. Bourbon Street is a popular spot in the French Quarter of New Orleans, LA, where the largest Fat Tuesday celebration in the US takes place each year. - Float
Building a small float is a project that will require the help of family and friends who have carpentry skills. Start with a design for your float, which should have wheels and be large enough to include a place to sit. Maybe you can have two beautiful swans on either side of the float, or maybe feature peacocks with real peacock feathers for a spectacular look! You may want to surround yourself with flowers or even pictures from a favorite movie or book. If you look at photos online of the Mardi Gras floats, you’ll see that when it comes to the Fat Tuesday floats, anything goes! - Dress
For a Mardi Gras themed event with a beautiful color scheme, choose a dress in one of three themed colors: purple, green, or gold. Whatever color you select, it can be accented with gold jewelry according to the color scheme. Think how majestic you would look in an elegant gold dress! - Accessories
Regardless of the color of your dress, complete your Quinceanera appeal with a sparkling tiara and scepter. Talk about a great entrance! There you will be, sitting majestically on your float as you enter the room. Your family and friends will be more than impressed with the event, from start to finish, and you will always have colorful and happy memories of your Mardi Gras Quinceanero! As they say during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, “Have a good time!” “Let the good times pass!