Fat Saturday Celebration With The Elderly

Since we really love New Orleans we chose to create another theme day for the parents.  We could not be with them on Fat Tuesday, so we brought Fat Saturday to their home.

It started with a mailed invitation during the week describing the date, time, and theme of the day.  The invitation was on a piece of regular copy paper. Next, I used Microsoft Word to just add purple and black lettering with the pertinent details of the day.  Then, I added some stickers from the craft store with a New Orleans theme to complete the look.  Folded, addressed, and mailed, this invitation was sent to them at the beginning of the week so they could have several days to look forward to the day.

The night before the celebration I made a big pot of hot and spicy chicken and shrimp gumbo from a recipe that came from Chef Jon Besh. Click HERE to view the recipe:  Now, I love to cook so I was willing to follow the recipe. If you don't have the time or wish to take a shortcut, Zatarain's gumbo mix works well to achieve the effect, too.  I added cornbread muffins and bloody marys with shrimp to cap off the menu to match the theme.

The final touch was to bring a handful of beads we caught during the actual Mardi Gras from the year before along with a couple of party favors.  As you can see, they played along well and really go into the spirit of the day.

The best part of this event was that we could prepare all the food the day before and that we really only had to transport one pot with the gumbo in it.

 Simple, quick cleanup, and portable! Our parents never had to leave home but they were transported to Louisiana by the created environment.