New Orleans Mardigras

Where can you attend the biggest party of the year, dance in the streets and eat cakes filled with little baby dolls? New Orleans Mardi Gras is the time to let loose and really have a good time before the season of Lent begins. Lent, is the 40 days prior to Easter Sunday, and traditionally a time of fasting and thoughtful non-indulgence.

However, for anyone who has ever tried to give up anything from sugar on, there is always a feast before the famine. Mardi Gras is not a single experience or event. It is a wide variety of food, parties, music, and parades. Let us look at the food, you will enjoy appetizers such as Louisiana crab cakes and steamed crawfish. Drink some swamp punch. Spice everything up with cayenne pepper and "N'aw-lins" hot sauce. Finish with still warm from the oven beignet donuts with a cup of Chicory coffee.

When it comes to music, Mardi Gras has more than just classical jazz, you will hear everything from smoky rhythm and blues to Zydeco jazz. You might hear favorites such as "When the Saints Go Marching in." Many of the local parks have live entertainment, and parades filled with marching bands weave down the side streets of the French Quarter in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday.

The parties are one of the things that Mardi Gras is synonymous with Mardi Gras. Many of the "Krewes" who put on the parades of the Carnival also host masquerade balls. If you love to dress up, you will have great fun choosing your costume and partying late into the night. Many of these parties are private but some are open to the public, including a huge city sponsored event the night before Mardi Gras Day, hosted in Spanish Plaza. The event includes live music and fireworks. Do not forget to wear your mask though, that is the only cost of admission. At the parties, you will find king cakes, beads galore, resplendent costumes, and boisterous revelry.