Mardi Gras Party

This year marked the 8th time we have thrown a Mardi Gras party.  We were really nervous going into it having invited somewhere around 80 people.  I know, it's obnoxious.....but we felt like we should invite everyone who had shown up in years past and our circle of friends continues to grow so the guest list has grown as well.  We ended up with about 45-50 people here including our out of town guests; Meilina, Eddie (who decided the week before to fly out), and Josh (who bought his ticket on a whim the day before!). 

We started with this:

And transformed our basement into this:

Of course we had all of the essentials needed to bring New Orleans to Naperville:

We spent ALL day cooking.  On the menu: king cake, crab cakes, chicken cakes, shrimp & grits, muffalettas, blackened catfish poboys, boiled shrimp, sausage, red beans & rice, and pasta jambalaya.

The food got rave reviews (phew!) and I believe them because almost everything was gone at the end of the night.  We had so much fun with everyone....that is, once we were finally able to sit down and take it all in.

 

Despite a successful party and a good time, I think that was the last one for a while.  It was just way too much work and has gotten too big.  Meilina and I were both up early and had everything cleaned up and packed away before lunchtime.  The thought of digging it all up again, even a year from now, just isn't appealing at all.  Maybe we'll go to New Orleans for the real thing instead.