Out of curiosity...do they hand out alcohol at alternative Mardi gras parties like people hand out candy to the kids at the alternative Halloween parties?
Actually, we didn't do alternative Mardi Gras outreach parties. We went out in pairs and groups to distribute the gospel by ministering in word, song, skits, and tracts. Then, we met back up at the church from where we were sent out. And we prayed that God give increase to the seeds of His Word that were sown. I gave Mardi Gras Outreach as an example of timing. My point was that we had to have the outreach on the day when Mardi Gras was taking place. The day of that Mardi Gras was a day when the harvest was ripe. That means that it was an opportune time to share the Word of God with many who were lost.
Of course, if there was any such event held to deter people from Mardi Gras events, it would not be Biblical to pass out alcohol. That would ruin our witness.
I think your point paralleling alcohol and candy being served is a concern of mimicking the non-Christian event by serving these things. (I'm one of those Christians who perceives alcohol as not being God's will for His believers.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine
is a mocker, Strong drink
is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.)
Back to the point of your question...
If there was a Halloween party down the street from me serving candy but serving plates of barbecue, I'm not going to upset myself behind any likeliness of me serving barbecue too. If we are like the world in the way we dress (in modesty - let's say with some decent jeans) or in the way we eat something or drink something within our boundaries, that would be completely beside the point. In many ways, we are going to look like the world because the action of living is practical. (Again, refer to Colossans 2 and Romans 14)
Our point in Noah's Ark parties is to provide an event that glorifies Christ in the ways I listed.
You are obviously proud of yourself for the way you raised your children concerning October 31. That's a choice. I understand that. Noah's Ark parties are a choice. They are an alternative to going to movies, grandparents' house, or even to a church event, which is what I did for years, too. (I also just made the kids stay in the house one year.)
See our Christian life as this:
Through Jesus Christ, our liberty was restored to us in a way like Garden of Eden (but better with our testimony of being set free from our sins and entered into eternal life). As in that Garden there were many many choices of trees from which Adam/Eve could eat freely with one forbidden tree to not eat from, we also are free indeed. That's what Jesus told us. We are free from sin, free to live for Him (in a number of ways - song, dance, speech, festivities, conversation, private devotion, in eating, in drinking, in everything we do all to the glory of Christ). There is the broad boundary to freely live for Christ in whatever we do as long as we shun sin and use wisdom to shun the appearance of evil as well (1 Thessalonians 5:22).