Mardi Gras at Zeta
So we threw a Mardi Gras party at the house, and it was a blast.
This was my first party as the new Zeta House Community Steward since arriving in late December 2025, and I wanted it to make a splash. The idea first came to me a few months ago and I floated the idea of having a live jazz band to some friends involved in the UT Austin School of Music, and their answer was unanimous: You need Genesis. So I spoke with her, and hired her immediately.
I knew I couldn't throw it on Mardi Gras itself becuase, well... its a Tuesday. The Saturday before was Valentines, so that wouldn't work, but how about that Friday? Well it was the 13th, and I thought, how perfect! Let's lean in to that famous New Orleans Voodoo Charm.
We decked out the house in purple, green and gold, hung string lights in the yard, set out the charcuterie, set up the bonfire, helped the musicians set up with their instruments, stuck a coin in our King's Cake, strapped on our best (read: cheapest available on Amazon) masquerade masks, made my uncle Chispy's sangria... and by the time we finished blowing up the last baloon, friends started arriving.
An hour later, Genesis and her friends starting playing for us as we relaxed around the bonfire. We had a singer, a trumpeter, and an upright bass set up on the back porch under the string lights, and we kept the doors open so the music just drifted through the house. The trumpet under warm lights, the bass humming, her voice carrying through the yard... it made everything feel slower and richer and a little romantic.
Afterwards, we cut the King's Cake and crowned our Master of Mischief for the night. And of course it ended up being a friend of mine, the lead singer of a local band. He leaned into it immediately, fully embodied his role, wore the crown like it was ordained, and then (this is my favorite part!) wore it to their show the following week. I'm still waiting for pictures...
The jazz trio is what really made the whole night feel transported, though.
People kept floating between the kitchen and the porch, drinks in hand, half listening to a story inside and then getting pulled back out by the music. It stopped feeling like Zeta and started feeling like someone's backyard in NOLA.
We had tarot readings going in one corner too, which I love because it subtly derails normal party conversations. Someone pulls a card and suddenly they're talking about life cycles and reinvention and risk instead of quarterly goals. It just adds depth. Whether you believe in it or not doesn't matter! It was really fun.
We told some ghost stories by the fire as we roasted marshmallows, and the best storyteller won a lucky gris-gris bag.
The whole night was so much fun. Just jazz under string lights, a coin hidden in cake, a mischievous frontman claiming his title, tarot cards flipping over on a wooden table, smoke from the bonfire in everyone's hair, and a house that felt genuinely alive for a few hours.
That's that voodoo that I like to do...
... so well!
More to follow!
-- Christina
Zeta House Community Manager