Today is Mardi Gras! Also known as Fat Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday. It’s celebrated all around the world before Ash Wednesday and is seen as a way to indulge before the start of Lent. The holiday is most celebrated in New Orleans and their celebrations reach a grand scale every year; parades, masquerades and parties will be happening across the city right now.

It would be great if we could all visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras as it is the hub of the celebrations but there are still lots of things you can do at home to get involved and enjoy the day. Get all your family and friends together for a party or even a small get together and use these ideas to help get in the spirit of Mardi Gras…

Dress up – you don’t need to go crazy, you could just wear the Mardi Gras colours of purple, gold and green but you definitely need the beads! Beads are an iconic part of the Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. You can buy Mardi Gras beads from lots of fancy dress shops and there will be plenty to go round for today.

Make your own masks – all you need is some feathers, sequins and glitter (which you can get from any craft shop) and away you go! You could even turn it in to a competition to see who makes the most elaborate mask and have a prize for the winner if you’re enjoying Mardi Gras with friends and family.

Watch the parades on TV – as much as we know you’d love to travel to New Orleans to see the parades in real life, it may not be possible at the last minute so why not get cosy in your own home and watch the parades on TV; the media coverage is normally fantastic so you’ll feel like your there!

Cook some Cajun-style dishes – it won’t feel like Mardi Gras without some traditional Cajun food! From catfish po’boys to jambalaya, Creole crab cakes to oysters beinville, you’ll find loads of different recipes online for some great Cajun dishes.

Bake a Kings Cake – no Mardi Gras celebration is complete without a Kings Cake to finish the day off! They’re easy to make and great fun to decorate so it’ll be a great activity to get the kids involved with. We’re sure plenty of our UK users will be making pancakes this evening as Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day!

Finally why not decorate your house with the Mardi Gras colours for the day? Beads, balloons, ribbons and masks will be easy enough to pick up from craft shops or fancy dress shops and won’t cost you much at all.

Do you have plans for today? Are you going to a parade? We’d love to know what you’re all doing to celebrate Mardi Gras so please leave us a comment below…