Quick! What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about
New Orleans?
Well,
if you're a Disneyland nut like me (and you probably are, or you
wouldn't be reading this blog), you immediately think “Square”
and then start singing “Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)” and/or
“Grim Grinning Ghosts” until they throw you out of Macy's. But
beyond that...there are still a lot of answers. New Orleans is one of
the most culturally distinctive cities in the United States, if not
the
most. Everyone knows what kind of music (jazz, particularly the
Dixieland variety), food (gumbo and jambalaya, to start with), and
religion (Voodoo) comes from there. But no matter where your
interests lie, there's one thing that's certain to make your New
Orleans Free Association Top Ten, and that's Mardi Gras.
It
wasn't until fairly recently that this holiday caught on anywhere
else in the U.S. I blame Protestant dominance—Protestants don't
observe Lent* and hence have no need for a last-ditch hedonistic bash
before the austerities commence. As general hedonism has become
fashionable in the modern day, Americans of all stripes will take any
excuse they can get for a drinking party, but all the same, Mardi
Gras has been indelibly stamped as a New
Orleans
tradition. Wherever in the country you live, when you decide to throw
a Mardi Gras party, you're sort of committing yourself to serving
shrimp and mint juleps and playing jazz.
But
that doesn't mean you can't put a special spin on it. In this, the
first of (hopefully) many Kidnap
the Magic
project ideas, I'll instruct you, fellow Disneyland fan, in how to
make your Mardi Gras party not just a taste of New Orleans, but a
taste of New Orleans Square.
* An alternate hypothesis is that they observe Lent all year-round.
Granted,
it's a subtle difference, New Orleans Square being basically a
spot-on replica of a neighborhood within its namesake city. Unless
you want to lean heavily on the two big rides (which I don't
recommend, as they are more suitable for other holidays) or hang a
Club 33 sign on your front door, there's not a lot you can do to make
it clear to your guests that this Mardi Gras party has a Disneyland
flavor. A Disney
flavor, certainly—Princess Tiana decorations are pretty easy to
find—but there's so much
more to Disneyland than just the connection with Disney movies.
But
I'm getting ahead of myself. Most
of your decorations and theming can be pretty off-the-shelf. It's
always Mardi Gras in New Orleans Square! Except during Christmas,
when...
...when it's still Mardi Gras, kind of. Wow.
But
in any case, your local party supply story is not a bad place to
start. Most of them carry items specific to Mardi Gras in season, and
the biggest ones—like Party
City—carry
a smaller selection year-round, for the convenience of people who
like to plan their bashes well
in advance (or who just have no regard for the calendar).
Decorations
The most important item on your shopping list is beads—those shiny
metallic beads that are usually labeled “Mardi Gras beads” no
matter where and when they're sold. Get as many of them as you can
justify on your budget. You want to be able to hand out at least a
couple to each of your guests, as well as having lots more to drape
over every available surface as decoration. Tables, shelves, stair
railings, doorknobs, should all be dripping with beads. A typical
retail price is a few bucks for a dozen 30-inch necklaces, so it
might be wise to order in bulk. The standard Mardi Gras colors are of
course gold, green, and purple, but these beads come in all different
colors, and it's perfectly appropriate to use them all. Think about
variety in the sizes and shapes of the beads and the lengths of the
necklaces too. At Disneyland, I often see people wearing the ones
that are faceted like disco balls. Any particularly large or gaudy
ones should be saved as wall or balcony decorations. You can also
raid your Christmas decorations for the long bead garlands (assuming
you have any) and hang them in big looping patterns, or create a
faux-bead curtain in a doorway.
What else can be used to decorate? As you peruse the Mardi Gras
section of your party store, you'll see a lot of masks and crowns
and fleurs-de-lis and harlequin figures, but go easy on these, and if
you do use any, go for the more Baroque-style ones rather than the
cheap plasticky ones. New Orleans Square is a classy place, after
all. On the other hand, you should probably have an assortment of
masks to give your guests as favors (along with the beads), and these
can be the cheaper kind for the sake of your pocketbook. Confetti is
common for any party, but I don't recommend it unless you're really
into the idea of cleaning it up afterward. Instead, scatter fake
coins on the tables—metallic plastic or foil-wrapped chocolate,
according to your preference. Let your guests pocket as much as they
want and your clean-up will be done for you! For a taste of opulence,
swatches of shiny or sparkly fabric in the Mardi Gras colors can be
used as tablecloths, curtains, or just interesting accents. Check the
remnants at any large fabric store—they will usually be marked down
from the usual price-per-yard by 50% or more.
I
said earlier that you shouldn't lean too hard on Pirates of the
Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, but go ahead and hint
at them. Create a pirate's treasure display on an end table—get a
wooden chest from a craft store, fill it with more beads, coins
(definitely use the plastic ones for this purpose), and shiny fabric,
and jam a miniature Jolly Roger in the pile. Drape another end table
with black
fabric and set out your most Gothic candlesticks and a vase of lilies
or black roses (artificial, of course). Disney has been coming out
with some great Haunted Mansion knickknacks in honor of the ride's
45th
anniversary, and some of them are awesomely subtle:
I'm not saying you should go out and pick up a bunch of potentially
pricey merch just for party decorations (unless you want to), but if
you already have any of these, or have been waiting for the right
excuse to get them, they're perfect to round out your New Orleans
Square environment.
While we're on the subject, there are lots of specific aspects of New
Orleans Square you can recreate in miniature. Ever gotten a souvenir
parasol from that one cart (or do you have a parasol from elsewhere)?
Hang it on the wall, or open it up and use it in a corner display
with silk flowers and ribbons. Line the top of a bookshelf with
colored bottles and bundled herbs. Make a table centerpiece using
miniature flags—American, French, and Spanish. If you're handy with
Photoshop, convert some good photos of New Orleans Square shop and
restaurant signs into high-quality graphics, print them on sticker
paper, affix to sturdy cardboard such as the back of a notepad, and
hang them up in appropriate locations. Here are a couple for the
buffet table to get you started!
Food
Speaking of those buffet tables, you'll have your work cut out for
you when it comes to deciding what nosh to serve. The breadth and
depth of the menu will depend on whether you're planning to have a
full meal or just snacks, but either way, you're not lacking for
options by sticking close to the food available in New Orleans
Square. If you want to go traditional with gumbo and jambalaya,
consider serving them in hollowed-out sourdough bread boules. If that
sort of thing is too exotic for your guests' palettes, consider
getting some new friends. Kidding! The menu at the French Market is
mild while still having some Southern flair; my favorite is the
herbed grilled chicken (served with mashed red potatoes and steamed
seasonal veggies).
If you really want dead-on accuracy, it turns out Disneyland recipe
recreation is a thing. Here are the actual recipes for three New
Orleans Square fan favorites:
(Special note: If you decided to make the beignets, and you have done
it correctly, there should now be a giant golem made of powdered
sugar lumbering around your kitchen. Pacify it if necessary by
reading from the Talmud.)
If cooking from scratch is more involved than you had planned for or
you just intend to serve snacks rather than full entrees, at least
include a shrimp platter with a spicy dipping sauce. You might also
order or make one or more “edible topiaries” of pineapple, green
and purple grapes, green apple slices, honeydew melon cubes, and
blackberries. Fill a bowl with some of those chocolate coins you
scattered and drape a bead necklace around it.
As for drinks, a simple substitute for the mint julep is
lemon-limeade with a hint of mint extract and/or a few bruised mint
leaves added to the pitcher. You can also serve alcohol without
breaking theme, since the one venue in Disneyland to have alcohol on
the menu, Club 33, is located in New Orleans Square. Keep the wine
bottles in one section of the table and maybe add a Club 33 logo to
the area, using the above instructions for making signs.
Music
No
guesswork here—New Orleans-style jazz and zydeco are both heard
around New Orleans Square, and both are pretty easy to come by. If
you really want to reproduce the Disneyland environment, the good
people at Mousebits have made the Riverfront
area music loop
available for free download via Bittorrent. Other music played in the
area is commercially available and therefore off-limits for
downloading by the Mousebits code of ethics, but you can still find
the song lists in the discussion forums and assemble the loops that
way. Some of the live jazz bands that have played in New Orleans
Square over the years, such as the Side Street Strutters and Bayou
Brass Band, sell their recordings via their websites (and failing
that, there's always Amazon and eBay).
As an aside, while you're out shopping for beads, more beads, and
additional beads, you may come across some Mardi Gras-themed “Drew's
Famous Party Music” CDs. Avoid these. Perhaps as a result of
confusion between Mardi Gras and the directly related but culturally
distinct Carnivale, they tend to mix Latin music in with the jazz. If
you dig that sort of thing, I won't try to dissuade you, but you
should know it will throw off your theme. I've never heard “Hot Hot
Hot” being played in the French Market.
By
the same token, since it is Disneyland
you're trying to evoke, go ahead and throw the soundtrack to The
Princess and the Frog
into the playlist if you like. The songs in that movie constitute a
pretty good cross-section of musical genres native to New Orleans and
the surrounding regions.
And
that about wraps things up. You can plan some games or other
activities if it floats your boat (and the boats of your guests), but
Mardi Gras is one of those “pure party” holidays where the point
is to eat, drink, dance, and let your troubles take a hike for a few
hours, and appropriate decorations, food, and music are all you
really need to make it a success. So fling those beads, mix those
mint juleps, and laissez
les bons temps rouler!
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