Make a hurricane: Residents of New Orleans (Nola to the locals) really love their alcoholic drinks, so much so that drive-through daiquiri shops serve up all types of frozen boozy concoctions. In fact, pulling right up to the window and driving away with an icy beverage is the norm in The Big Easy. Besides drinking while driving, folks from Nola are also quite fond of stumbling down the street clutching giant, colorful glasses of an elixir commonly known as a hurricane.

While visitors and residents alike drink it all year round, at no time is it more popular than during Mardi Gras. A mixture of rum, vodka and fruit juices, this drink is a refreshing way to celebrate the end of hurricane season (and is possibly a forerunner to your being the recipient of a lot of Mardi Gras beads.) If you’d like to try it at home, try this recipe.

Bake a king cake: Biting into a tiny plastic baby while eating cake may or may not be your idea of a great time, but during Mardi Gras, having someone do so is essential to the success of the celebration. A figure of a baby is baked right into the cake, and whoever receives it in their slice is the “king” of the party. Some people also consider it a responsibility to host the next one.

This tradition has a long history, and both Pagan and Christian beliefs are represented in the mix (no pun intended). Pagan folks would bake a bean into the cake, while Medieval people generally favored a bean and a pea to represent the king and queen of the party. Eventually, the pea was replaced with a baby figurine to represent the Epiphany. This Christian-based tradition is the one which endures during Mardi Gras today. To bake your own king cake, check out this recipe.

Must-have masks: It just wouldn’t be Mardi Gras without a wide selection of colorful masks to wear. The back story of people wearing masks during this huge party and similar celebrations, like Venetian Carnival, is quite interesting. As you can imagine, throughout most of history the elite classes such as nobility, statesmen and the super wealthy often wanted to hide their identities while engaging in untoward activities (nothing like today, right?). The wearing of masks allowed them to behave pretty much however they wanted without anyone knowing who was behind the raucous behavior.

This tradition has endured today and has extended to Mardi Gras. The making of masks begins at least a year in advance, but you can find out how to make simpler version at home here.

Celebrate history: As with nearly every current holiday we observe in the United States, Mardi Gras has a long, rich and detailed history which dates back to ancient times. Some identical elements of Mardi Gras can be seen in Pagan celebrations such as Lupercalia. Delving into the story of Lupa (for whom Lupercalia was celebrated) and her wolf sons Romulus and Remus in itself would provide many hours of historical fun, but if you want to follow the evolution of Mardi Gras, you have to first follow the transition from this Pagan celebration through the eventual changeover to Roman Carnival, which reached France during Medieval times.

It was then brought over with French explorers to the U.S. sometime just before 1700, and it took root near what is now New Orleans, where it has lived on robustly to this day. You could spend a lifetime researching the entire history of Mardi Gras, but if you want to learn just a bit more, check out this great article.

Make a float: Feeling really ambitious or have a lot of extra time on your hands? If so, why not go all out and make a miniature Mardi Gras float? Of course, the floats you see parading down the streets of the French Quarter are enormous and incredibly elaborate, but you can make your own mini-version right at home. If you’re throwing a Mardi Gras party, this would be the perfect item to really wow your guests. This version doesn’t look too difficult. If you end up going the distance this way, be sure to send us pictures of your results!