Build Buzz, Bring the Beads: 6 Ideas for a Fat Tuesday Office Party

Unexpected office parties have a wealth of benefits: they can boost morale, encourage social bonding, and deliver a spontaneous message of employee appreciation. If your workplace could use a dose of fun and festivity in the waning days of winter, tomorrow marks a perfect opportunity… Fat Tuesday!

Although Fat Tuesday is traditionally associated with religious observances — a day of feasting before the forty-day fasting period of Lent, leading up to Easter — it’s become a culturally beloved day of celebration, especially in New Orleans. Embrace the spirit of Mardi Gras and invite your employees to indulge in a little feasting at the office… it may be just the jolt your workplace needs.

Naturally, a Fat Tuesday office party will be a little tamer than the celebrations on Bourbon Street, but the important thing is to emphasize the theme of a little indulgence. Consider it a day to honor guilty pleasures, but without the guilt! Just don’t forget to provide some plastic beads, glittery masks, and a fun-loving spirit to liven up the office for the day.

And, of course, the centerpiece of any workplace celebration is the food! Here a few ideas to bring a little Fat Tuesday fun into the office lunch room:

1) Start the day with doughnuts! Deep-fried dough has been an integral part of Mardi Gras celebrations since the times of the Roman Empire: a way to use up butter, sugar, and fat before the restrictive days of Lent. In New Orleans, they eat pillowy beignets; in Polish communities, jelly-filled paczki is popular . At your office, any doughnut will do!

2) For a very low-maintenance Fat Tuesday surprise, stage a mid-morning coffee break. Serve hot coffee with chicory (like they do at the famous Cafe du Monde) or classic New Orleans-style iced coffee with lots of milk. Paired with a few slices of traditional bread pudding (bourbon sauce optional), employees will know this is not a typical coffee break!

3) Serve a Cajun twist on traditional box lunches. Instead of deli classics, go for muffaletta sandwiches or shrimp po’ boys; swap out the cole slaw or pasta salad for a corn-and-sausage side dish known as corn maque choux. For dessert, include pecan pralines instead of the predictable chocolate chip cookie.

4) For a full catered meal, pull out all the Louisiana stops: red beans and rice, sausage-stuffed gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, crawfish pie… in short, a Fat Tuesday meal fit for the king of Mardi Gras.

5) To keep it simple, invite all your employees into the office lunch room for a slice of colorful king cake. This round cake is dusted with purple, green, and gold sugars, the traditional colors of Mardi Gras. In Louisiana, many offices have a king cake on hand every day from shortly after Christmas until Fat Tuesday — as tradition goes, the person served the slice with a plastic baby hidden inside has to buy the next one.

6) To truly embrace the indulgent spirit of Fat Tuesday, stage an office happy hour at the end of the workday! Serve up New Orleans-inspired cocktails, like Sazeracs or brandy milk punches, or supply beloved Louisiana beers from Abita Brewery.  Pair the beverages with Cajun and Creole-inspired appetizers, like barbecued shrimp, crab maison, oysters Rockefeller, andouille sausage, and crawfish dip. Festive favors like beads, masks, and crowns will make this an office party to remember!

No matter how you choose to celebrate, your office will benefit by embracing the buzz and energy of Fat Tuesday! The office delivery and catering experts at Waiter.com can help you pull off a last-minute Mardi Gras soiree, and you’ll benefit from the boosted morale and office buzz until Easter.