Fun PD requires very little effort- a fun theme is usually all it takes!

Students appreciate when a teacher puts forth effort, teachers appreciate it too! Best tip- ENLIST your go-getters.  Tell them ahead of time and ask them to go all out and be enthusiastic- their enthusiasm will rub off on others.

Here are some easy ways to do it (pick a few to try!):

• Easy King Cake recipe - it only uses canned cinnamon rolls and the yellow/green/purple sugar.  Easily doable.  If you were one of the lucky ones to receive a plastic baby- stuff it in a slice after it is done baking and before you ice it.  WARN everyone that there is a plastic baby inside.  Whoever gets the baby can win a jean pass, or a free cafeteria lunch, or something that costs nothing.  You can even reward them with a dubloon or beads!

• Mardi Gras Coffee Break- Community Coffee (local to La) has King Cake Coffee- it is so good, we can usually access it year-round.  I like to add whipped cream and cinnamon on top.

• Play Mardi Gras music as they are walking in- here is a playlist from YouTube.  

• Table cloths- grab three plastic table cloths in purple, yellow, and green.  Cut them into strips and use them as table runners- cheap but colorful and EASY!

• Mardi Gras Candy Bowls- several candies are wrapped in different colors- put together, they make a pretty great Mardi Gras decoration

  • Lifesavers- just put out the purple/green/yellow ones (save the other colors for other themes)

  • Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Kisses (purple)

  • Andes mints (green)

  • Rolos (gold)

• If you want more decorations, Oriental Trading has a donation request form- fill it out and purchase some Mardi Gras items.

• Fun Dress- tell the teachers it is Mardi-Gras themed and let them dress up that day for work- even if it is wearing a yellow, green, or purple shirt with jeans- 1) you’ve allowed them to have a little fun during the work day, 2) it makes for great pictures to promote on social media and your school websites. 

• Photo Booth opportunity: You can set up a self-photo booth with an ipad using the timed picture feature (or just have someone there to take pics using their personal phones)- hang several mard-gras colored table cloths up in the background (or use a green screen- but this takes more time to edit) and have fun dress-up items like boas, beads, crowns, hats, sunglasses, etc. You can even make photobooth signs using shish-ka-bob sticks and poster boards.  

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