goexplorethecrazyYAYYYY IT’s CARNIVAL TIME
Mardi Gras is one of the most popular celebrations in North America, people from different places travel and reach New Orleans to celebrate and have fun at Mardi Gras. This season is all about the crowd of people having fun, parades, floats, music, dance, and is like a big festival for almost two weeks. This is very huge with thousands of people on the streets, this usually falls in February through March every year. If you really wanted to experience real New Orleans, yes, you are at the right place, start here to learn more about Mardi Gras.
Every day of this season will have any number of large parades at-least one for sure. Mardi Gras festival is French practice which is being held from ages. People show interest to dress in purple, gold and green colored attires. The crowd really goes crazy to collect beads from parades and you see beads of different colors on every individual in the city during this season. Each parade will have their unique set of trinkets to toss and people try hard to catch them and take home as souvenirs.
Tips for visitors:
Be specific when you have limited time to spend:
Plan your visit after checking the mardi gras parade schedules for the year and try to be part of important parades like Endymion, Bacchus, Orpheus, Muses (women club), Rex (King of Carnival), etc.
View more pictures in Gallery
Plan 2 months prior:
Don’t wait on planning your trip until January as it gets tough finding stays in the city during this season. Every Hotel/Dorm will have a mandatory minimum night stay for reservations during Mardi Gras.
Be an early bird:
If you are desperate to participate/enjoy a biggest parade or float please make sure you reach any location of parade route before 2-3 hours to get a good spot, though parade routes look empty they fill up hardly in 10-15 minutes, all the roads through which parade passes will be crowded with locals and visitors.
Pick your spot:
Plan your stay very close to downtown that way you will be able to cover the most number of parades. I used to stay on St Charles which is a really good place during this celebration as every parade passes through here.
Dress Up:
Plan to dress in purple, green and gold which symbolizes justice, power, and faith respectively to blend in ( Mardi Gras colors). I have included a great selection of Mardi Gras decor including masks, shirts, etc here: CLICK ON IMAGE TO PURCHASE
Shop more accessories and essentials to celebrate Mardi Gras season
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Enjoy Go-cups:
As it is legal to have alcohol on New Orleans streets you notice to-do (only plastic) cups in everyone’s hands, they usually get their drinks filled from bar to bar during and in between parade to parade.
Network coverage:
Cellphone signal coverage can be tough as the network lines are overloaded.
Toilets:
OMG! really scary, crowded and very unclean – no comments though. You will find public restrooms on Canal street, Lee circle, Lafayette square, St Charles and Tchoupitoulas.
Be secure:
St Charles Avenue, canal street, bourbon street, french quarters are really crowded and it’s even hard to navigate through. Make sure you don’t carry any valuable items with you during these parades. No wallets/money in your back pockets. Be sure your children don’t get too close to the floats.
Carry on Items:
Bring a bag to put all the treasure you caught and take back home. Be prepared to jump to catch beads but don’t reach the ground to pick from, someone can put their foot on. Don’t get into tug of war.
Weather forecast:
Be prepared for outdoors. I prefer layered clothing. Comfy shoes on but I cant assure you they will be new as is at the end of this trip.
Read this to learn more about what all can be done in New Orleans where you are here 🙂
Great Blog….this interests me to visit New Orleans now.
Thanks a bunch!!
Why to wait? Mardi Gras falls in February next year, 2020. You will have lots of fun, i can assure you 🙂