Celebrating Mardi Gras at home

Every February, hundreds of thousands of people make the trek to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras, the festival that begins at Epiphany and culminates on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. The festival includes parades, copious amounts of eating and drinking, and general revelry 24 hours a day. But not in 2021 – the city has clamped down on the event, banning parades and closing off a portion of the French quarter from February 12-17.

“If you’re looking to come to New Orleans thinking you’ll be in crowds, drinking, hanging with people in the streets, that’s not happening. So don’t come,” says New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. This isn’t the first time Mardi Gras has been called off: over its 150+ year history, the celebrations have been canceled 13 times for events such as the yellow fever epidemic, although the city heroically held the festival just a few months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

Although you can’t (and shouldn’t) go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year, it’s easy enough to bring the festivities into your home. Throw some beads on the lampshades, organize an impromptu pet parade, and most importantly, make some delicious food and drink. Bake a king cake, fry a batch of beignets, or whip up a big pot of gumbo. And don’t forget to shake up a hurricane cocktail (one from The Spruce is pictured above).