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Published: February 10th 2007
Our first king and queen
We had a king and queen of the hour. They were chosen by drawing names. They had the power to make people do almost anything during their one hour reign. My apologies. In the interest of getting something on the blog, I have decided to skip putting pictures on for now. I will get them on in a few weeks. Now for some party info!!
Most of you know us…We can’t go a year without our Mardi Gras party. I know I promised a few of you that I would come back to have it in Austin. I apologize. We thought it might be fun to share our Mardi Gras tradition with our new found friends.
One of the great things is that we had it at a local (western food) restaurant. The owner, Hank, is from Chicago. All I had to do was decorate. All the cooking and cleaning up was done by the restaurant. I found some great decorations. You all will get to see these when we get back. Instead of cheesy plastic fringe, I now have beautiful fabric in green, purple, and gold.
I went the fabric market to have a dress made. I found some great silk fabric in Mardi Gras colors. With help from my friend June, I designed what I thought would be a great dress. It was a
Dave's staff
It was fun to share our traditional party with the Chinese. Everyone seemed to have a great time! total flop. It looked like a huge sack. I managed to salvage it somewhat, but I think it turned out to be just a crazy dress for a crazy party. Not at all what I envisioned. Alas, it is only a dress.
Ironically, finding Mardi Gras beads was a bit tough. Even though they are made in China, they are not readily available to the public. Makes sense, no one here uses them. I found a great alternative…There is an organization here called the Jin Hua foundations. It provides education for disabled parents and their parents. They have a vocational program to teach cottage industry arts and crafts skills. I hired them to make the beads for me. They turned out great! I got to choose the colors and styles of beads. We kept with the purple green and gold.
I had many friends who helped me decorate. They gave me great ideas. This year, to chose the king and queen of the hour, we decided to set up a lucky draw box (our version of the drawing of names out of a hat). Since we were having a king and queen, they needed thrones. Debbie and Kathy
Queen Shanthi
Shanthi made everyone put on her wig and have their picture taken with her. Smile Steven! spent time creating the most incredible thrones. I also found the best scepters. They had a little on/off switch that when turned on, caused the top of the scepter to spin with lights. If you turned it on the other direction it also played the theme song from Beverly Hills Cop.
My other friends, June, Shanthi, Lilien and Debbie were a huge help. We covered the tables with feather boas, beads, buttons (for coins), and masks. I also made up cards that explained the history and meaning of Mardi Gras.
The food was as close to my regular menu. We did include a pretty good gumbo along with shrimp, grilled chicken, potatoe salad and the requisit veggie and cheese trays. They also made king cakes. It was one of the best we have ever had.
We had about 100 people attend from around the world. In addition to the Dave’s Chinese staff, we also had friends from the US, Australia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and England. I am sure there were some from other countries.
Our Kings’ and Queens’ of the hour took their roles seriously. We told them that they got to rule the party. Whatever they
Dave and Arch
We had a great mix of Dave's staff and the expat community in TEDA. said, we were to do. A couple of the queens took this role seriously. Queen Shanthi made some people wear her wig and have their picture taken. One other queen required people to dance.
All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time.
It was great to share this with our friends here and I was able to get great new decorations for the future.
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Mardi Gras man
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Mardi Gras: Made in China
www.mardigrasmadeinchina.com Where beads are made in China!