How to Plan a Trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras (2024)
Are you wondering how to plan a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras? I’ve got you covered.
One of my favorite girl’s trips ever was Mardi Gras in New Orleans. New Orleans in general is a fantastic destination but visiting during Mardi Gras brings it to the next level.
This guide to Mardi Gras will help you plan your vacation including a Mardi Gras bucket list, what to pack, and a quick guide to the parades.
My closest college friends and I take an annual girl’s trip to a destination in or around the United States. We’ve visited Cabo, Las Vegas, Whistler, and other great places.
Most recently, we visited New Orleans for Mardi Gras. It was so fun to wear crazy outfits, explore the city, see the parades, and experience the amazing culture.
If you are planning a trip to Mardi Gras, this guide is for you. For more tips on visiting New Orleans, be sure to check out my complete guide here.
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What is Mardi Gras?
Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday turned cultural festival that celebrates the time between Christmas and Lent. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is celebrated with purple, yellow, and green décor, large parades, and delicious food.
This celebration is also known as Carnival, which is celebrated in many countries around the world in a slightly different way. For the purposes of this guide, I will focus on Louisiana and how to vacation in New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
When is Mardi Gras?
Mardi Gras translates to “Fat Tuesday”, which is when the celebration culminates. Fat Tuesday is the first Tuesday in March and falls before the Catholic holiday, Ash Wednesday.
Although Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of celebration, Mardi Gras season is celebrated in New Orleans for all of January and February as well. If you are looking for the biggest party, plan to vacation the weekend before Fat Tuesday, into Fat Tuesday itself.
For slightly smaller crowds, but still a great experience, I recommend visiting anytime in February. I visited over Presidents’ Day weekend and felt that it was the perfect balance between festivities and reasonable crowds.
Mardi Gras Bucket List (5 Things to Not Miss)
In addition to everything you need to experience during an ordinary New Orleans vacation, these 5 items are musts on your Mardi Gras activity bucket list.
1. Catch Mardi Gras Beads on Bourbon Street
There’s a widespread rumor that you have to do revealing things to earn beads at Mardi Gras. While some men still buy into this idea, you can easily get beads for just having a fun and energetic personality. People and business will throw beads from the balcony levels all throughout Bourbon Street.
It’s a Mardi Gras right of passage to get someone to toss you a pair or two of beads (and its not hard). If someone asks you to flash them for beads, keep walking because you will soon find someone willing to toss you a pair for a quick cheer with your arms raised.
At the beginning of our trip, we were all desperate for beads, getting super excited for each pair we found.
By the end of the trip, we had a giant bag full of extra beads that we got from balconies and parades.
2. Hand out Beads on Bourbon Street
Conversely, if you too end up with a surplus of beads, the best activity is to pay it forward and toss some to other people on Bourbon Street.
Many bars have upper levels with small balconies overlooking the streets. I liked finding the most enthusiastic and festively dressed people to toss my beads to.
3. See a Parade
The parades are an absolute highlight of Mardi Gras. The parades are put on by organizations, called Krewes which plan, prepare, and execute parades the months leading up to Mardi Gras.
The parade schedule changes every day, so use your phone for a quick search of the schedule and routes.
The parades consist of marching bands, dancing groups, and large, elaborate floats. Volunteers throw beads and other swag off the floats.
It was a fun game trying to collect the unique items such as stuffed animals, bubble wands, hats, and boas that were tossed from the parades.
Be sure to cheer loudly and dress festively to support the hard-working volunteers that are putting on each of the parades.
4. Eat a King Cake
When I arrived in New Orleans, one of my local friends bought us a King Cake to share at our Airbnb. While I’d seen this treat before and understood its relevance to Mardi Gras, I underestimated how tasty it would be.
Kings Cake is a baked dough with a cream-cheese frosting and purple, green, and yellow decorations. It tastes like an unrolled cinnamon roll with a thick layer of frosting.
Inside the cake is a small baby figurine. The tradition states that whoever finds the baby is responsible for buying the next cake.
5. Dress up in a Ridiculous Outfit
The final item on this Mardi Gras bucket list is to dress up in a fun and festive outfit. Mardi Gras is a time to layer on all your purple, green, and yellow clothes, accessories, and beads.
It’s so fun to dress up and see others dressed up as well. The following section goes into more detail of what to wear to Mardi Gras.
What to Wear at Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras is the perfect time to wear ridiculous outfits and costumes. The main colors of Mardi Gras are green, purple, and yellow/gold.
Focus on clothing items in those colors, then layer on a bunch of accessories. The above graphic shares great ideas for what to wear to Mardi Gras that are all shoppable here.
During the day, I wore a green, purple, or gold body suit with jeans, purple sneakers, and a boa or some beads.
At night, I dressed up a bit more with flashy pants such as faux leather or metallic joggers with a bodysuit, face jewels, a boa, lots of beads, and other fun accessories.
When deciding what to wear to Mardi Gras, simply focus on wearing the theme colors and being comfortable, and you will look great!
Check out my ultimate Mardi Gras packing list or Mardi Gras outfit ideas for men for more outfit ideas.
Guide to Mardi Gras Parades
One of the biggest parts of visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras is seeing the amazing parades and floats.
Parades are put on by Krewes which are social organizations that plan, decorate, and execute all of the parades. Each parade is run by a different Krewe and has a slightly different theme.
During Mardi Gras, parades run throughout the afternoon and evening, all over the city. The main parade route follows Canal Street, but there are other routes through the French Quarter and other neighborhoods.
To plan for the parades, look up the schedule and routes with a simple google search. The schedule changes day to day, so its important to look up the plan for the days of your visit.
Parade routes are often around 2 hours long, so plan your location along the route accordingly. I recommend targeting the middle of the route because there will be less crowds than at the beginning, but the performers will still have energy.
As the parades go by, cheer on the participants, put your hands in the air to catch some beads, and enjoy the hard work that went into putting the parade on.
While the parades change day to day, some of my favorites were by the Krewe of Cleopatra and Krewe of Barkus (which features dogs). If you notice these parades during your visit, be sure to check them out.
Key Takeaways of this Guide to Mardi Gras
Hopefully by now this guide to Mardi Gras has convinced you to visit New Orleans during the celebration.
If you takeaway anything from this guide, remember to check off the 5 items on the Mardi Gras activity bucket list.
Pack your craziest Mardi Gras gear, then enjoy the fun and festive environment of New Orleans.
Related Posts:
- Epic New Orleans Girl’s Trip Guide & Itinerary For First Time Visitors
- What To Do In New Orleans In The Winter | The 10 Best Tours & Activities
- Best Places To Eat In New Orleans French Quarter
- What To Wear To Mardi Gras
- Mardi Gras Outfit Ideas For Men – What To Wear To A Mardi Gras Party Or Parade
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