Mardi Gras has come and gone, but if you still want to play dress up -- or, especially given the balmy temperatures, dress down -- or you just want to see people who do, you'll want to be at the DC JCC tonight, March 7. This will be the venue's third annual gay-focused party celebrating Purim, "the holiday where you're supposed to drink a lot," says Justin "I'm A Fast" Lerner, who organizes this "Masquerade & Mischief" event for the JCC's Kurlander Program for Gay & Lesbian Outreach and Engagement.

Technically, Purim celebrates the Jews who were spared execution by Persian leader Haman in biblical times. Purim customs the world over include drinking wine, wearing masks and costumes, and just general public merriment. Technically, the holiday is to be celebrated this Tuesday, but the DC JCC's event features "a gay twist," as Lerner puts it -- and you can't have a gay twist on a Tuesday! So tonight starting at 9 p.m., gay men and women will take liberties reenacting the Purim spiel, there will be a costume contest, and the DC Kings are set to perform. The best part: The $12 cover includes food and open bar, so you can eat and drink to your liver's (dis)content -- or at least until midnight, when you'll have to find another nearby liver spot.

This year's event will be held in the JCC's gymnasium, the better to hold court. Some 200 people are expected to show up, and you don't have to be gay or Jewish to partake. You don't even have to dress up. Though if you just come as you are, don't be surprised if a Sultan or a Moses admonishes you....