How it works
Mardi Gras bubble letters on one sideways sheet, Mardi above Gras, about 1.8 times as tall as the words on one line. Fredoka keeps a white ring in the d and both a's. Nine letters make a nine-sheet banner.
Read the full guide
A party door and the day's other names
After your first print, open Mardi Gras words in bubble letters. Happy / Mardi / Gras and Mardi / Gras / Party greet a door. Fat / Tuesday, Shrove / Tuesday and Pancake / Day head a calendar or a pancake breakfast, and Carnival / Season the weeks before. Laissez les / Bons Temps / Rouler and Let the / Good Times / Roll fill a banner.
A parade, a king cake and the colors
A Krewe is a club that stages a Parade. Riders on Floats toss Throws, Beads among them, to a crowd that shouts Throw Me / Something, / Mister. A Second / Line follows a Brass / Band. King / Cake hides a small plastic baby; its finder buys the next cake or hosts the next party. Masks, Masquerade and Costumes label a craft table, Purple / Green / Gold a color chart.
- A third line shrinks the letters: Happy / Mardi / Gras prints about a third smaller than Mardi / Gras in Fredoka, and smaller still in Baloo 2.
- Masquerade, ten letters on one line, prints smallest of the row, about half as tall as Mardi / Gras.
Questions and answers
How do you draw Mardi Gras in bubble letters?
Pencil Mardi on one line and Gras under it, with wide gaps. Round every stroke into a fat outline, keep a ring in the d and both a's, curl the G, then rub out the pencil and color in purple, green and gold.
What does Mardi Gras mean?
It is French for Fat Tuesday: the last day of rich, fatty food before the fasting season of Lent. In the United Kingdom the day is better known as Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday.
When is Mardi Gras?
On the day before Ash Wednesday, 47 days before Easter, so the date moves from year to year. In New Orleans the Carnival season that leads up to it begins on January 6.
What do the Mardi Gras colors mean?
Purple, green and gold were first named as the colors of Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1872. Twenty years later the krewe that chose them said they stand for justice, faith and power.
What does laissez les bons temps rouler mean?
Let the good times roll. It is a Louisiana French phrase, a word-for-word translation of the English one, often heard in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast where Mardi Gras is celebrated.