Shrove Tuesday, also known as Fat Tuesday, this year is 17 February, 2026, that’s the last day of Mardi Gras before Lent starts on the Wednesday.
Yes Mardi Gras is all about the Easter calendar and in New Orleans they celebrate the build up the lent like no other place on Earth!
Mardi Gras parades will be rolling for five days prior, culminating with the final event on Tuesday. There are one or two major parades a day for five days leading up to Shrove Tuesday.
Last year I was dressed up like an Oompa Loompa and standing on a float throwing beads, plushy toys, plastic cups and all manner of tat to the hordes along the road. And no, no one flashed their boobs. In fact it was very family-friendly. That’s because we were no where near Bourbon Street!
It was an experience like none I’ve ever had. It was a full twelve hours for me and all of us involved in the parade and I loved every minute. You can see my pics in this post.
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I was with the Orpheus krewe (crew!) and there were about 25 individual floats in our parade, each blaring music and each with their own bags of throws. Each float also has a toilet onboard! Not that I used it. I just dehydrated myself.
Some parades have highly sought after throws and the true fans know exactly where to stand, when to scream for a thrower’s attention, how to catch them and how to take the loot home.
There are thousands and thousands of people lining the parade route, so this post will help you get your head around it if you’re a first-timer like I was – thrown in the deep end!
Things to know before you go to Mardi Gras
Firstly, the parade does not actually roll through the French Quarter. The streets are way too narrow for that, but as the quarter is closed off to traffic, you can wander along the streets, catching throws from the balconies above during the mardi gras period. It’s a fantastic time to take photos too early in the morning with no cars parked along the narrow streets.
The roads are closed all around and through the French Quarter. We were staying on Canal Street and the taxi from the airport found a way to get us as near as possible and we walked with our luggage for about two blocks, through cordoned off fencing when security let us pass.
Consequently, don’t think you’ll be able to catch any type of transport to or from the parades. Especially if you plan to get across Canal Street and into the French Quarter itself.
If you do need a ride, you’ll need to walk away from the main route and then call your Uber and they will be able to weave around the wide perimeter to get you as close as possible from the other direction. It’s organized chaos!
There was super tight security in 2025, as that terrible act of violence had occured on New Year’s Eve just a couple of months earlier. I would expect you’ll find the same this year.
Where to stand to catch the Mardi Gras loot
In fact, you can even join in by getting tickets to one of the balcony parties. Check out Bourbon Street Balcony Rentals for tickets.
We rolled out of the Mardi Gras Museum building about 6pm but then waited for nearly an hour as the floats ahead of us began their slow, walking-pace procession. We were told not to start throwing until we turned onto St Charles from Napoleon Ave.
They generally all follow the same route (one day was changed due to weather conditions). Floats start rolling on Tchoupitoulas, turning right onto Napoleon Ave then turning right down St. Charles past some beautiful homes in the Garden District, towards downtown before making a right-hand turn onto Canal Street towards the river, then a final right turn off Canal and along to the Convention Center.
You’ll find lots of folks with their sun chairs and trolleys and suitcases to take home all their loot, setting up hours earlier.
Don’t worry about not being on the front row either. The floats are two levels high and I never threw anything to the people standing in front. I couldn’t see them!
What to take with you
If you plan to make an afternoon/night of it, you’ll probably want some portable chairs and a loot bag. Take water and some snacks and plan to be there for several hours if you want to see the entire krewe roll by.
If you have kids with you, bring some games for them to play on the closed off streets for the hours that you wait for things to get under way. There are touts selling souvenirs and light up gidgets to keep kids occupied.
You’ll also see natty ladder-chairs that some enterprizing grandad probably built originally and now you can buy them to perch all the kids up high enough to see the action – and maybe catch a throw or two.
Because the throws don’t begin – in earnest at least – until the parade rolls onto St Charles, I would say go up the top end of St Charles near Napoleon. The best stuff tends to go first, although we did keep some of the special stuff to eke it out.
Canal Street is chaos, and I know this from being a watcher on one of the other parades, as well as onboard. Entire stacks of plastic cups were being hiffed out – with force I might add, when about 10 cups smacked into my arm.
By this point any throws that are left are not the best ones. But if it’s colourful plastic beads you’re after, you’ll find them by the barrow load.
By the time the floats turn off Canal towards the Comvention Center, where a black tie dinner and party was underway, the throws we had left were only beads. Millions and millions of beads.
I would also say, if you don’t catch a flying necklace and it hits the ground, it will break. Sooo many broken beads and so much plastic trash for the sanitation crews who come in each night to get the streets spick and span to start all over again tomorrow.
Tips for catching the throws
Bring a net. I’m not joking. One of the most entrepreneurial things I saw from the top level of my float was a person holding a big net and a sign for we throwers to aim for. Genius, because aim we did!
Make eye contact with the thrower. That way you stand a good chance they will project it straight for you. Then a thumbs up or a mouthed thank you is really nice. It’s exhausting throwing this stuff for hours!
Don’t let the beads hit the ground. If they do they will most often break.
Oh and shout all you like, but don’t expect the krewes to hear you. My husband was standing, as we’d arranged, on the corner of Napoleon and St Charles as I was going to throw something to him. But I couldn’t find him. He could see me however and was shouting so much the folks around him joined him. MEGAN they screamed. I heard nothing. To be fair I was standing in front of the amplifier blaring our hits and could barely hear my throwing mates alongside me.
Where to stay during Mardi Gras
Ideally you’d rent a house on St Charles. That would be my top suggestion. I met a couple of women who’d driven from Ohio with a group of friends. They were smack dab on the parade route, they had beach chairs, and could pop back inside for toilet breaks and to refresh their Yeti cups. Be prepared to pay silly money however.
We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street (the Garden District side) and had bought the VIP passes which meant we had access to their viewing grandstand out the front. This is a great idea if you don’t want to wait for hours for the best views and don’t mind about catching too much of the loot.
Click here for rates on the Sheraton >
Otherwise, I’d stay in the French Quarter – but not on noisy Bourbon Street. You’ll spend most of your days in there, eating, shopping, catching throws, taking photos of the amazing character of this part of NOLA, especially without the cars.
I have picked out seven great French Quarter hotels in this post that I have stayed in, or gone through for a look.
Read more of my New Orleans posts
My next visit to the Crescent City will be my 10th. Here are a few other posts I’ve written and keep updated to help you find some fun things to do there.
My ultimate guide to things to do and see in New Orleans
How to have a wonderful Christmas in New Orleans
My 4 favorite music venues/bars in New Orleans
How to spend one day in New Orleans – if that’s all you’ve got!