01
Four things before you pick Mardi Gras dates
Two are the city's published rules and two are the arithmetic.
- The line that moves
- $324Rooms, per head, is the biggest and most volatile line in a New Orleans weekend and the festival calendar is what moves it
- Roping off space
- ProhibitedThe city prohibits ropes, tents, canopies and screens on the route at all times. This is the thing groups plan to do
- Four hours
- The earliestPersonal items must not be placed on the public right of way earlier than four hours before a parade starts
- The date moves
- Every yearCarnival is tied to Easter, so the dates shift. Check them against the wedding calendar before agreeing anything
02
Bring the bachelorette party for Mardi Gras, or avoid it
There is no middle version. A group that books New Orleans during carnival without intending to has booked a different city.
03
What Mardi Gras changes, and the rules on the route
Why the economics invert, what the city prohibits, and the practical version if you go.
A Mardi Gras bachelorette party is the one case where this site's New Orleans recommendation does not carry over. The reason we rate that city is a specific structure: a night out at about a hundred and forty-seven dollars a head, one of the lowest of any destination here, because many Frenchmen Street clubs do not charge a cover. Carnival does not change that number so much as make the rest of the weekend expensive around it.
The Mardi Gras bachelorette party rooms line is what actually moves
Accommodation is about three hundred and twenty-four dollars a head on this site's New Orleans estimate, which is the largest single line and the one the New Orleans page identifies as most volatile. The festival calendar is the specific thing that moves it.
So a carnival weekend is not a slightly more expensive version of the same trip. It is a trip where the biggest line has been reset, and everything this site says about New Orleans being a cheap destination was said about the other fifty weeks.
You cannot rope off a parade space, and a bachelorette party often plans to
This is the most useful thing on the page. The city prohibits enclosures of all kinds used to enclose a public area along the parade route: tents, canopies, shelters, screens, ropes and spray paint, at all times.
A group of eleven arriving to find a spot together will naturally think about claiming one, and that is exactly what is not allowed. Plan instead to arrive early enough that you do not need to, and accept that the group may not stand in one block.
The four hour parade rule, and what happens overnight
Personal items must not be placed on the public right of way earlier than four hours before the start of a parade, and must not block intersections. Anything left overnight is disposed of.
That rules out the plan of sending one person ahead the night before. Four hours is the window, one person can hold it, and the rest of the group arrives later.
Parade ladders, if the bachelorette party is bringing one
The city's rules are specific: ladders must be structurally sound, no taller than six feet and free-standing, they must be placed at least six feet back from the street curb, and they must not be fastened together.
Also prohibited at all times along the route: open flames, gas or diesel generators, upholstered furniture, scaffolding and platforms, mylar balloons, confetti guns and unattended coolers. The unattended cooler one catches groups who leave things to go and find a bathroom.
The Mardi Gras dates move, which is a planning problem
Carnival is tied to Easter, so the dates shift from year to year. A group agreeing a weekend from a wedding calendar can land on it by accident, which is the version of this page that matters most.
Check the specific dates before agreeing anything, which is the same instruction this site gives about the Phoenix Open, Coachella and CMA week. Those all roughly double rentals, and this is the largest of them.
If the bachelorette party is going anyway
Book the house first and much earlier than usual, before the sixteen week arc this site normally recommends, because the constraint is supply rather than price. Then treat the weekend as one paid anchor a day and no reservations that depend on crossing the city, because crossing the city is the thing that stops working.
And be honest with the group about which trip they are on. A guest who booked expecting the food and the walkable evening and arrived into carnival is a guest who paid a premium for something she did not want.
Ropes, tents, canopies and screens. Prohibited at all times.
The city's ruleAnd the plan groups make
4
Hours, the earliest anything goes down
Nothing on the right of way before then. Nothing left overnight survives.
NOLA Ready states that personal items must not be placed on the public right-of-way earlier than four hours before the start of a parade and must not block intersections, and that items left overnight will be disposed of. It prohibits ropes, tents, canopies, screens and spray paint along the route at all times, along with open flames, generators, upholstered furniture, scaffolding, platforms, mylar balloons, confetti guns and unattended coolers. Ladders must be no taller than six feet, free-standing, set at least six feet back from the curb and not fastened together.
04
Mardi Gras bachelorette party, answered
Whether to go, what it costs, and what the city allows.
Is Mardi Gras a good time for a bachelorette weekend?
Only if carnival itself is the point. If the bride wants New Orleans for the food and one of the cheapest nights out in the country, this is the wrong week to get them.
Move the weekend by two weeks and you get the destination this site prices at about nine hundred and eighty dollars a head.
How much more does a Mardi Gras bachelorette party cost?
We have not priced a carnival weekend separately. What we can say is which line moves: rooms, at about three hundred and twenty-four dollars a head normally, is the largest and most volatile line and the festival calendar is what moves it.
The night out itself can stay cheap, because many Frenchmen Street clubs still do not charge a cover.
Can we rope off a parade spot for the bachelorette party?
No. The city prohibits enclosures of all kinds along the parade route including tents, canopies, shelters, screens, ropes and spray paint, at all times.
Arrive early enough that you do not need to, and accept the group may not stand together in one block.
How early can we set up on the parade route?
Personal items must not be placed on the public right of way earlier than four hours before the parade starts, and must not block intersections.
Anything left overnight is disposed of, so sending somebody the night before does not work.
What are the Mardi Gras ladder rules?
Structurally sound, no taller than six feet, free-standing, placed at least six feet back from the street curb, and not fastened together.
Scaffolding, platforms and upholstered furniture are prohibited outright.
What else is prohibited on the Mardi Gras route?
Open flames, gas or diesel generators, mylar balloons, confetti guns and unattended coolers, all at all times along the route.
The unattended cooler rule catches groups who leave things behind while somebody goes to find a bathroom.
When exactly is Mardi Gras?
It moves, because carnival is tied to Easter. Check the specific dates against your wedding calendar before agreeing a weekend.
This is the most common way groups end up here by accident, which is the expensive version of the mistake.
If the party is going, what should we do differently?
Book the house first and much earlier than the sixteen weeks this site normally plans to, because the constraint is supply rather than price.
Then one paid anchor a day and no reservations that depend on crossing the city, because crossing the city is what stops working.
05
What to read next
The city in the other fifty weeks, how to judge a package, and the calendar warning in general.
06
Where this comes from
The route rules are the city's, quoted rather than summarized.
What the figures are
Every cost on this page is a Revelwick editorial estimate for a group of about nine over two nights. It is a starting point for a budget conversation rather than a quote, and prices move, so check the current price before you book anything.
Verified
The parade route rules are published by NOLA Ready, the City of New Orleans: the four hour limit on placing personal items, the prohibition on ropes, tents, canopies, screens and spray paint, and the disposal of items left overnight.
The ladder rules are from the same source: no taller than six feet, free-standing, at least six feet back from the curb, not fastened together. Open flames, generators, upholstered furniture, scaffolding, platforms, mylar balloons, confetti guns and unattended coolers are prohibited at all times.
Estimated, and ours
The nine hundred and eighty dollar estimate, the three hundred and twenty-four dollar rooms line and the hundred and forty-seven dollar night out are the same figures the New Orleans page uses.
We have not priced a carnival weekend separately and will not estimate one. Saying that our own recommendation for this city does not carry over to this week is ours.
Stamps
- NOLA Ready