Mardi Gras Kids Cooking Camp at Big Easy Kitchen: King Cakes & Po'boys for Young Chefs

At the heart of the French Quarter lies a hands-on Mardi Gras cooking camp created for kids who want to taste and make New Orleans. The Big Easy Kitchen: Mardi Gras Kids Cooking Camp runs at 524 St. Louis Street, New Orleans, LA 70130, and packs a five-hour day of po'boy building, King Cake decorating, and culinary stories that ground carnival traditions in flour, spice, and citrus. Young chefs ages 9–17 work at stove-side stations under attentive instructors from the New Orleans School of Cooking. The scene includes child-sized aprons, recipe pamphlets to take home, and communal tables for decorating King Cakes. Key features of the experience: hands-on assembly of BBQ shrimp or roast beef po'boys, step-by-step King Cake icing and decoration, and lessons on Mardi Gras color meanings—purple, green, and gold—woven into the cooking. The kitchen itself is a learning stage: burners, baking trays, and a spread of local ingredients like Gulf shrimp, chicory coffee notes, and sweet sugar for the iconic cake. This camp stands out because it translates city rituals into practical skills. Kids learn timing, knife-safety for basic tasks, and how recipes reflect New Orleans history. The activity highlights local culinary culture—a living classroom where food, music, and parade lore intersect. It's also a social day: limited to 16 participants, each child receives lunch, lemonade or tea, and a New Orleans School of Cooking apron to keep. What makes this a unique visitor experience is proximity to the French Quarter's historic streets. After class, families can step outside onto St. Louis Street and feel the old neighborhood—streetcar routes, wrought-iron balconies, and the Mississippi's nearby pull—adding context to the recipes learned inside. The King Cake segment doubles as a cultural primer: students learn the baby tradition and the color meanings that guide Mardi Gras celebrations. Practical details: the program runs about five hours and costs $125 per day. It's ideal for kids who can stand and focus for cooking shifts, and who are curious about regional foodways. The camp balances structure and creativity—measured lessons, safety-first instruction, and plenty of room for decoration and play. Enrollment is open to children ages 9–17, with a 16-kid group size that keeps instruction personal. Check-in is at 524 St. Louis Street; instructors provide recipe pamphlets to take home. At $125 per day, this one-day camp is a compact, culture-rich way to introduce young cooks to New Orleans' flavors and traditions and memories. Families visiting New Orleans will find this camp a memorable way for young travelers to engage with local culture beyond the parade route. It's a hands-on, daytime alternative to touring—one that leaves guests with recipes, an apron, and the confidence to recreate a small piece of New Orleans at home.