Returns Fat Tuesday 2025
March 4th

6:30-9:00pm

All-inclusive tickets: $75/person or $140 per pair
A table for six only $400!

2025 TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

BOOK YOUR BABYSITTER NOW

The Play Professionals at Children’s Museum of Illinois reshape a portion of the museum into a slice of New Orleans, complete with the sights, sounds, and tastes from a night out on Bourbon Street. Enjoy authentically prepared food paired with a selection of beer and wine along with live music, games, raffles, and of course BEADS… all included in your ticket and all aged up appropriately for an adult crowd.

The hours may be “weeknight early” but the vibe is definitely late night!

BITES FROM THE BAYOU

Jeremy Morris and The Box – Decatur wowed our crowd with mouth-watering offerings at 2024’s event. Catfish Etoufee, Cajun Cornbread, Gumbo (complete with vegetarian options) Red Beans & Rice, AND a Beignet Bar with your beignet made fresh on the spot!

BIG EASY BEVERAGES

Our top-notch selection of beers and wines is included in your ticket price, and in 2024 came from Famous Wine & Spirits. Lucky Singh and his team expertly paired the selection of beverages to the night’s menu.

BITES FROM THE BAYOU

Jeremy Morris and The Box – Decatur will return with more mouth-watering offerings for this year’s event. Joining last year’s returning Catfish Etoufee, Cajun Cornbread, and Gumbo (complete with vegetarian options) will be Red Beans & Rice and a Beignet Bar! Last year’s menu was talked about for weeks after–if you experienced it, you know. We can’t wait to experience it all again with new favorites waiting to be tasted!

BIG EASY BEVERAGES

Our top-notch selection of beers and wines, included in your ticket price, come from Famous Wine & Spirits. Lucky Singh and his team expertly pair the selection of beverages to the night’s menu. If you’re someone who enjoys learning more about why one beer/wine pairs better with something than an other, or about the spirits themselves, we’ll have one of the Famous fellas on hand to “talk shop.” We are, after all, an educational facility!

NOTES OUTTA N’AWLINS

The Sidewalk Stompers are a Traditional Jazz band that were back with another ’round of their unique repertoire of rags, blues, and novelty tunes that date from the early 1900s. King Oliver’s New Orleans Creole Jazz Band (a young Louis Armstrong played 2nd cornet!) inspires their song arrangements and band instrumentation. They always add a truly authentic soundtrack to the evening!

2024 also featured

There is only ONE combination that opens the box!

The game is simple: Inside Lucky’s Lock Box is a hand-selected (and VERY nice) bottle of bourbon along with some additional items from Famous Wine & Spirits. There is only ONE correct combination to the lock box. Buy combination and see if it opens!

Punch out some prizes!

The game couldn’t be simpler: punch through a “wall” and pull out a prize! Each punch is $20 BUT the prizes hidden behind the wall run anywhere from $20 – $100. The ’24 edition of our Punch Wall was unofficially dubbed “the Booze Wall” as the shelves were stocked with celebratory adult beverages. Happy participants all around!

amazing artwork!

Three area artists took inspiration from Louisiana/New Orleans and created some amazing pieces that we auctioned off, with proceeds directly benefitting your Children’s Museum and its mission.

PIC - Auction - Phil Murillo - Mardi Gras 2024 - Website

Phil Murillo – mixed media on canvas, custom frame

PIC - Auction - Luke McNeely - Mardi Gras 2024 - Website

Luke McNeely – acrylic on canvas, framed

Annette Russo – Handbuilt Ceramic Alligators, 13 in. and 5 in.

Alec Goss -Two 3”x5” framed mini prints

ONE-OF-A-KIND RAFFLE

We were SO excited about this amazing raffle, presented as part of the 2024 Mardi Gras.

The winner won a delicious five course meal for six guests in the dining room of the historic Culver House, prepared exclusively by Jeremy Morris and The Box-Decatur with wine pairing by Jack Kiley of Downtown Decatur’s gK9.

The Culver House is an historic hundred-plus year old home that, thanks to the continuing work of the The Historic Decatur Foundation, has been renovated into a beautifully maintained space full of classic Decatur character. A beautiful evening with perfectly paired food and drink!