Celebrations will include lots of feasting -- when it happens just before Ash Wednesday 2025 - as the traditional religious rules for fasting take effect in preparation for Easter 2025.
This year, Fat Tuesday falls on Tuesday, March 4, 2025..
So get ready join in the celebration with traditional Mardi Gras foods and recipes, trivia and fun facts, and related resources around the Web for taking part in one of the year's biggest street parties.
Mardi Gras 2025 in the USA
The biggest party town in America will be ready to rock for the 2025 Mardi Gras celebration, and with bigger crowds expected in New Orleans this year.
A parade float passes by during a crazy and colorful Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.
Otherwise, across the country families and friends gather at home to party with colorful decorations, Mardi Gras beads, and lots of traditional food specialties. So, if you're a whiz in the kitchen, why not try shrimp jambalaya, spicy cajun shrimp, Mardi Gras King's Cake, and authentic New Orleans pralines for an authentic New Orleans mardi gras celebration!
Put the party to music with some sweet New Orleans jazz, or push 'play" on our Mardi Gras party music playlist just up ahead:
Mardi Gras party music playlist
DID YOU KNOW? Mardi Gras fun facts
Traditional masks provided
"cover" for Mardi Gras revelers.
• European countries in the Middle Ages first celebrated Fat Tuesday as a pre-Lenten blowout ahead of the solemn 40 days of fasting
• Masks were first adopted during the original celebrations to provide anonymity for those who really wanted to party hardy!
• Mardi Gras is often associated with New Orleans, but it was actually Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama which kicked off the U.S. celebration under French rule in 1703. Today, the original home of Mardi Gras celebrates every year in Mobile with live music, parades, and thousands of spectators.
• Worldwide, everyone still joins in the fun on the day before Ash Wednesday. The German Karneval, or Fasching, festivities in Cologne and Berlin get
pretty wild as well!. The Italians in Venice boast their own Carnavale while in France the Carnaval in Nice shows off the wackier side of the trendy Riviera scene. The biggest and loudest celebrations are, of course, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in New Orleans.
So, as they say in Cajun country ...
"Laizzez les bons temps rouler! " (Let the good times roll!)
Around the Web, learn more about Mardi Gras and Carnival customs and history with suggestions for food and drink, traditional Fat Tuesday recipes, rollicking party ideas and decorating themes for hosting your own Fat Tuesday party celebration...
Mardi Gras New Orleans - Featuring everything you always wanted to know including related party ideas, history and tradition, official Mardi Gras colors, recipes for king cake and more, photo gallery and live webcam together with general New Orleans tourist attractions, current parade schedule, tour packages, and where to shop for beads and other party paraphernalia.