Mardi Gras themed parties are one of the most popular party themes and are held in many countries. Although they are traditionally celebrated on “Fat Tuesday” or Shrove Tuesday, in fact a Mardi Gras themed party can be held at any time of the year.

Take a look at the following Mardi Gras party ideas to give you some inspiration for your next event.

1. As with any party you’re planning to throw these days, you should set up a Facebook group to invite all of your guests and keep them in the loop. This way everyone will be able to see who is coming and this usually increases attendance. This is because most people tend to log into Facebook every day, so they will often be reminded of their party.

2. Send out physical invites too! These can be in the style of a paper cut party mask or some fancy costume. Use a computer graphics program to help you with this.

3. The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. Your decorations should reflect these colors. The easiest things to get would be balloons and lots of them. You can also find tablecloths and paper plates in these colors at any specialty party store.

4. You should strive to dress as extravagantly and elaborately as humanly possible. Consider dressing up as monarchs of the past, crazy jesters, or evil clowns. However, the most popular way of dressing is always drag. Men dress as women and women dress as men. This is what tends to come to mind for most people when they think of this themed party.

5. The real purpose of this party is to gorge yourself and binge on everything you’ll borrow that starts the next day. So for food, you should eat all those things that you enjoy the most. However, traditional food tends to be gumbo, jambalaya, and seafood.

6. For drinks, it’s traditional to drink Bloody Mary’s! These consist of vodka, lemon, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and tomato juice. Be sure to drink them out of paper cups in traditional Mardi Gras colors!

7. The traditional music you should be playing would be Jazz and Blues, as popularized in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Create a playlist for your iPod ahead of time to make sure you don’t have to worry about music that day.