Mardi Gras is one week from today: Wednesday, March 4. Put on your sparkly beads and get on your dancing shoes! I’ve put together a Mardi Gras songs for kids playlist so you can have a dance party right in your living room. Because New Orleans culture is a blend of French, Canadian, American, and Carribbean cultures, you can hear those influences in its music. The music heard during Mardi Gras celebrations is no exception.
I’ve put together a YouTube playlist of well-known Mardi Gras songs (plus some other cool ones) for you:
If you’re looking to add songs or CDs to your music player, here are some that my Louisiana friends recommended:
You can’t go wrong with the classics in Mardi Gras Dixieland Jazz Of New Orleans. You can’t go wrong with Louis Armstrong, Muggsy Spanier and other jazz greats.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans by Professor Longhair, one of the pioneers of New Orleans rhythm & blues. His influence can be heard in Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John, among many others.
Putumayo Presents curates fantastic music collections that kids will enjoy. However, I enjoy them as much, if not more, than my kids. World Playground: A Musical Adventure for Kids has music from all over the world, including “Mardi Gras Mambo” by Buckwheat Zydeco.
I hope I’ve inspired you to bring some Louisiana Mardi Gras celebrations into your home. I’ve convinced Jaxson’s preschool teacher to hold a celebration and I plan on baking my mini king cakes to bring to his class. Maybe I’ll bring a Mardi Gras picture book to his class too. Don’t forget to buy some Mardi Gras beads. It’s never Mardi Gras unless you’re wearing beads around your neck, on your wrists, well, you get the idea.
We’re pretty excited about it in our home, especially since we learned that Smithsonian American Art Museum is hosting a Mardi Gras Family Festival this Saturday, March 1st! It’s free and open to the public.
Will you celebrate Mardi Gras with me this year?
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I'm from Mobile, AL so I love seeing folks from home post pictures from the balls and the parades. Brings back good memories of childhood. Thanks for keeping the kids involved in Mardi Gras. We took the kids down a couple of years ago, and they loved it.
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Louis Armstrong has always been one of my favorites. I remember when i was in New Orleans last, a few blocks away from the hotel we stayed in was the Louis Armstrong park… I've never been down there for Mardi Gras but it is on my bucket list.
This is VERY fun! I'm going to do something special with Ayva, and include music. Thanks for inspiring me to do something a little out of the box with my baby girl!
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