DIY: Costume Ideas for Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Fat Tuesday, is a celebration which will be taking place on February 16th of this year. Mardi Gras is celebrated openly every year all over the country although it is based in New Orleans, LA. Whether you live in New Orleans and plan to attend one of the events or you live somewhere else and would like to celebrate it in your own way, this is your complete guide to three different costume ideas that you can enjoy doing in the comfort of your home. These are all inexpensive do-it-yourself ideas that will create a special bonding time for your family as you enjoy learning about this cultural experience.

Idea 1: DIY Mardi Gras Mask

Materials You Will Need:
scissors, glue, hot glue gun, markers, wooden sticks, feathers, glitter, kabob sticks, and cardboard

Directions:
1. The first thing you will need to do for this activity would be to print out this template for your mask. Go to the link below to print out this mask.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/t.asp?b=m&t;=http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/mardigras/bmask3.gif
2. Glue your mask onto any type of cardboard. You can get your cardboard from a cereal box, a sheet of cardboard, or even a shoe box.
3. Once your mask has finished drying onto the cardboard, cut around the eyes and the outline of the mask. By doing this your mask will be sturdy and won’t fall apart easily at all.
4. Use your hot glue gun to glue a kabob stick onto either the far left or far right side of the back of the mask.
5. Use Mardi Gras colors (purple, green, yellow, silver) to color you mask however you want it. You can combine colors or you can do one solid color for your mask.
6. Use feathers and glitter to add a special touch to your mask.
7. Now you are finished making your own mask! Make sure you take pictures of it so that you can remember it! Also share it with your friends and family.

See also How to Read a Sewing Pattern

Idea 2: DIY Mardi Gras Shirt

Materials You Will Need:
plain shirt (either purple, green, yellow, white, or black), Mardi Gras stencils (links in directions), fabric paint in Mardi Gras themed colors, fabric glitter paint (optional)

Directions:
1. The first thing you will need to do is decide what color you want the base color of your shirt to be. Once you decide this you can go and purchase it at your nearest Walmart for anywhere between $3-$6.
2. The next thing you need to do is decide what kind of stencil you want on your shirt . You can choose to have more than one stencil on your shirt if you’d like to. There are a few different free stencils I have found online that you can use.
If you want a joker / jester head on your shirt click on the link below:
http://z.about.com/d/diyfashion/1/0/e/L/-/-/jester_stencil.jpg
If you want a woman’s mask click on the link below:
http://z.about.com/d/diyfashion/1/0/c/L/-/-/mardi_gras_mask_stencil.jpg
If you want a regular Mardi Gras mask go to the link below:
http://z.about.com/d/diyfashion/1/0/g/L/-/-/mardi_gras_eyemask_stencil.jpg
If you would like drama masks click on the link below:
http://z.about.com/d/diyfashion/1/0/j/L/-/-/Drama_Masks_stencil.jpg
3. Once you have decided which stencils you would like to use, grab your fabric paint so that you can trace the stencils and start designing your shirt for the way you want it to be.
4. After you have finished with you stencils and decide that your shirt looks the way you want it to, take a picture so you can remember this day forever!

Idea 3: DIY Mardi Gras Beanie

Materials You Will Need:
any colored plain beanie (available at Walmart for $4), 1/2 yard purple fabric, 1/2 yard green fabric, 1/2 yard of yellow fabric, silver glitter hair spray, hot glue gun, hot glue gun sticks, scissors, gold bells

Directions:
1. The first thing you need to do is visit Walmart and pick up a plain beanie, and the fabric. For this you won’t spend more than $10.
2. Once you have your fabric, use your scissors to cut up the fabric into thin, long rectangular strips. Make them small enough to where they are about the width of your pinky finger and the length of your middle finger.
3. Once you have cut all of the fabric into strips, it is time to warm up your hot glue gun.
4. Start gluing the colored fabric strips into random places all over the outside of the beanie. Once all of you beanie is covered by the fabric strips,make sure they are all secure. If you still have some fabric strips left over, try to glue those into random places, it will only make your beanie better!
5. Now pick random strips that you will tie your bells onto. Use the bottom of your strands to tie the bells onto.
6. After this is all done, take your silver glitter hair spray and spray it onto the entire cap where all the strands are. Spray as much or as little onto the strands.
7. Let it dry, then put it on and take pictures!

So here you have it! You have three inexpensive do-it-yourselff costume ideas for Mardi Gras. Now you can dress up and be festive wherever you end up celebrating this event at! Enjoy your holiday and look around for more of my inexpensive do-it-yourself holiday craft ideas!

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