Mardi Gras Trivia for Kids
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49 free Mardi Gras Trivia for Kids trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Mardi Gras trivia for kids is a fun, easy quiz for players aged around 8 to 12 who want to know what all the beads and king cake are about. The questions cover what 'Mardi Gras' means, why it always falls on a Tuesday, the purple, green and gold colors, the krewes that build the floats and toss the throws, Zulu's painted coconuts, the baby in the king cake, the parade for costumed dogs, the giant shoe float and the Cajun chicken chase. There is a little history too: the French explorers who first celebrated it in Louisiana in 1699, why Mobile, Alabama claims the oldest party, and how New Orleans made it a state holiday. It also looks at Carnival around the world, from pancake races in England and masks in Venice to samba in Rio, orange-throwing in Belgium and 'Alaaf!' in Cologne. Everything is family-friendly, and every answer comes with a short explanation that adds one more fun fact. Grown-ups can try our main Mardi Gras trivia (brainpickle.app/quiz/a/mardi-gras) or the hard version (brainpickle.app/quiz/a/hard-mardi-gras). Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does 'Mardi Gras' mean in French?
Fat Tuesday
Fat Tuesday is the last chance to feast on rich, fatty foods such as eggs, milk and cheese before the Lenten fast begins the next day.
Q 02Mardi Gras can land in February or March because its date is counted back from which holiday?
Easter
Easter moves with the spring full moon, and Mardi Gras always falls 47 days before it, so the party can land anywhere from February 3 to March 9.
Q 03New Orleans opens Carnival season on January 6 with a walking parade honoring which famous Frenchwoman?
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc is called the Maid of Orléans for freeing that French city from a siege, and New Orleans honors her as its unofficial patron saint.
Q 04What are the three traditional colors of Mardi Gras in New Orleans?
Purple, green and gold
Purple, green and gold were first announced in 1872, when citizens were asked to drape their balconies in the three colors; nobody wrote down why they were picked.
Q 05On Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras, the King of Carnival traditionally arrives in New Orleans how?
By boat
By boat: the king first landed from the Mississippi River in 1874, and the riverfront arrival was revived in 1987 as the centerpiece of Lundi Gras.
Q 06Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans are free to watch, so who pays for a krewe's floats and throws?
The members themselves
The members themselves fund each krewe and buy their own throws, so nobody needs a ticket: locals call Mardi Gras the 'Greatest Free Show on Earth'.
Q 07Which is the oldest krewe in New Orleans, first parading in 1857?
Comus
Comus, in full the Mistick Krewe of Comus, rolled out torch-lit floats on a story theme, setting the pattern that later New Orleans krewes followed.
Q 08In 1871, the first recorded gifts to a New Orleans Carnival parade crowd came from a masker dressed as whom?
Santa Claus
Santa Claus, a masker with the Twelfth Night Revelers, handed out presents to the crowd, and the custom of tossing trinkets from parades dates from that procession.
Q 09Which hand-decorated prize is the most sought-after catch from New Orleans's Zulu parade?
A coconut
A coconut, hand-painted and glittered, set the fashion for signature krewe gifts, and others followed with decorated purses, shrimp boots and genie lamps.
Q 10Which krewe chose the official Mardi Gras colors for its first parade in 1872?
Rex
Rex, whose monarch is the King of Carnival, asked citizens to hang banners in the three colors, and twenty years later a Rex parade gave each one a meaning.
Q 11Most Mardi Gras beads now come from China, but early glass ones were imported from which other Asian country?
Japan
Japan supplied hand-strung glass beads, as did Czechoslovakia, until cheaper and tougher plastic necklaces pushed them out in the 1960s.
Q 12A king cake traditionally has a tiny figurine or bean hidden inside representing whom?
The Christ Child
The Christ Child, the baby the three kings came to honor, is what the figurine stands for; most are plastic now, but some are porcelain.
Q 13A king cake is linked to which Christian holiday celebrating the visit of the Three Kings?
Epiphany
It is eaten right through Carnival, from Epiphany until Ash Wednesday.
Q 21Mardi Gras Indians are famous for what?
Elaborate beaded suits
Elaborate beaded suits, sewn by hand, can take a full year to finish, and they honor the Native Americans who sheltered people escaping slavery.
Q 22On January 6, the costumed Phunny Phorty Phellows announce Carnival's start by riding through New Orleans on what?
A streetcar
A streetcar carries the masked Phellows under a banner reading 'It's Carnival Time!', and whoever finds the baby in the king cake on board is crowned for the year.
Q 23Which Alabama city claims the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, from 1703?
Mobile
Q 14A traditional New Orleans king cake is baked in which shape?
A ring
A ring of braided dough is the classic form, and before tiny plastic babies took over, bakers hid a bean, a pecan or a coin somewhere inside it.
Q 15Which Mardi Gras parade has dogs in costumes as its participants?
The Krewe of Barkus
The Krewe of Barkus grew out of a TV weather anchor's fan-club meeting, and its costume themes have included 'Welcome to the Flea Market' and 'Jurassic Bark'.
Q 16The all-female Krewe of Muses has a signature float shaped like what?
A giant red high heel
A giant red high heel lit by fiber optics carries the year's Honorary Muse, while the riders hand out glittered shoes that parade-goers beg for.
Q 17Which super krewe's parade, among the largest in New Orleans, ends inside the Superdome?
Endymion
Endymion lives by the motto 'Throw 'til it hurts', and its riders toss millions of beads, cups and trinkets before rolling into the stadium for a party.
Q 18Which krewe, founded in 1968, is known for crowning a celebrity as its king, starting with Danny Kaye?
Bacchus
Bacchus put entertainer Danny Kaye on its throne in 1969 and rolled out enormous floats, launching the age of the 'super krewe'.
Q 19Which singer and pianist helped found the Krewe of Orpheus in 1993?
Harry Connick Jr.
Harry Connick Jr. started Orpheus with his father, then New Orleans's district attorney, and it became the first super krewe to let men and women ride together.
Q 20Night-parade crowds traditionally reward the flambeaux, who dance with flaming torches, by tossing them what?
Coins
Coins, once small change and now often dollar bills, are tips for the twirling; the torches were needed to light parades before electric street lights.
Mobile was then the capital of French Louisiana, and its settlers held their first Mardi Gras fifteen years before New Orleans was even founded.
Q 24Which wrapped snack is a favorite parade throw in Alabama's oldest Carnival city?
MoonPies
MoonPies are such a local favorite that the city rings in each New Year by lowering a giant lighted one at midnight.
Q 25Each year New Orleans's mayor hands the King of Carnival which symbolic gift for Mardi Gras Day?
The key to the city
The key to the city goes to the king on the eve of the big day, giving him playful 'rule' over New Orleans until Mardi Gras ends.
Q 26In Cajun country's Courir de Mardi Gras, costumed riders chase what animal for the gumbo pot?
A chicken
A chicken is often thrown into the air by the farmer, and the riders scramble to catch it after singing and begging for ingredients for that night's shared gumbo.
Q 27In Britain, Pancake Day is the everyday name for which day on the church calendar?
Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday was the last chance to use up eggs and butter before the Lenten fast, and turning them into pancakes was the simplest way to do it.
Q 28The day after Mardi Gras, many churchgoers receive a cross of ashes where?
On their foreheads
On their foreheads: the ashes are made by burning palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday.
Q 29Lent, the season that starts right after Mardi Gras, is described as lasting how many days?
40
40 days recalls the time Jesus spent fasting in the desert; Sundays are left out of the count, so the season really covers 46 days on the calendar.
Q 30The word 'Carnival' is thought to come from a Latin phrase meaning what?
Remove meat
Remove meat, from 'carne levare', points to the meatless weeks of Lent that follow; the popular story that the word means 'farewell, meat' is a folk tale.