- I went to my first Mardi Gras ever,
and I'm still alive to talk about it.
(upbeat electronic music)
I think New Orleans is crazy
on a random Tuesday in the fall,
so I was a little hesitant to bring the kids
to experience Mardi Gras.
But I brought the expert.
Elise assured me that we could have
a family-friendly Mardi Gras
in her hometown of Metairie.
This was the kids' first trip to New Orleans
so they were really excited.
Michael was a little confused.
(beep) Michael, what is Mardi Gras?
- A fun place!
- He thinks Mardi Gras is a fun place.
He thought we were going to
some sort of theme park or something.
I was like, I hope he's not disappointed.
- But he ended up having a great time.
(Michael screaming)
- I think he might have had
the most fun of any of the kids.
From experience, I knew one of the first
obligatory stops we had to make
was Cafe du Monde for beignets.
(beep) Ready one, two, three, cheers!
(Michael exclaims)
- I was excited when you told me
that there was a Cafe du Monde in Metairie,
because she said, we are not
going to the French Quarter during Mardi Gras.
So I thought we would miss out
on the whole Mardi Gras experience, but--
- Listen, kids or no kids,
I'm not going to the French Quarter for Mardi Gras.
I can have fun other places.
- (beep) These are the best beignets
I've ever had in my life.
- That was the beginning of the trip that let me know,
hey, it's okay.
You don't have to go down to Bourbon Street
to experience New Orleans.
- The next place I wanted Nicole to go to was
the drive through daiquiri experience.
- Yes, that's what I'm talking about!
Yeah, there it is.
- [Nicole] DBC.
- [Elise] DBC.
- Bar and grill.
Let me tell you only in New Orleans
can you go through a drive through
to get alcoholic beverages.
They had all kinds of combinations.
We brought some back for the guys.
(beep) So I want two margaritas, one Long Island,
and one house special, no judgment.
I was not about to be drinking and driving, so,
y'all can chill out right there.
(beep) As long as you don't put your straw in it
it's considered closed container.
Genius!
(beep) Thank you!
It was just right to get the weekend going.
- So I wanted to warm her up,
with a little taste of a Metairie parade Friday night
before we headed out on Saturday.
- (beep) This is our warm up night to parades
and I am so lucky
to have this kind of entry way into Mardi Gras because
Elise's other bestie, Claire,
is our gracious hostess tonight.
Thank you for having us.
- Happy to have you.
- And it has been such a pleasure meeting her
because she's a top fan.
- I'm a huge fan.
- Okay.
She had a house on the parade route and that--
- That's a score.
- And it's all about the hospitality,
and the house warming
so you go in and there's counters full of food
and so, of course, I brought food to share
because I had to do something I felt like.
- I really think your Muffuletta dip was a hit,
'cause, I mean, you had these, you know,
natives commenting on how good your dip was, I think.
- That was why I was not going dare
bring a Muffuletta sandwich,
but I was like, why I can bring a take on that.
Recipe link below.
Friday night was a little more of a low key parade,
but it was still pretty wild.
- They got a lot of stuff.
- We're doing okay, but
we got a lot more loot to get.
- The kids absolutely loved it,
marching bands and the big floats and all the beads
and I think they finally got the phrase down,
throw me something, mister.
That's what you have to say.
(Nicole laughs)
Put your hands up and really, you know, sell yourself
'cause you're trying to get those beads.
- They were trying to be polite,
they were just like patiently waiting on their beads
and Michael had, you know, just kind of waved,
but he was getting overlooked
so either one of us would pick him up, you know,
and you just gotta follow it and
then finally they'll see you and hand you the big stuff.
- [Elise] My favorite part of the parades are the bands,
like I was so excited (laughs).
- [Nicole] She was trying to break out
some dance moves during those.
- [Elise] Well, 'cause, I mean, they're,
the marching bands are just so awesome.
- Yeah, I broke it down too.
The floats are gigantic.
Look at these floats.
My experience with floats are
like my college homecoming parade.
Mm-mm.
They were huge.
- It was a perfect night to get us ready
for the next day which was uptown
and those parades are generally much larger.
- I mean, it was a day of parades.
We were going to, at least, three.
We are about to take Mardi Gras on full force today.
Look at this, we got masks,
we got some beads already, we got fun shirts.
So here are some key tricks and trips
to getting through the day later.
Packing a backpack filled with snacks,
you know, the essentials.
Goldfish, granola bars.
I've also packed some peanut butter sandwiches
because you've gotta be prepared
and also it will save you money.
Kids, y'all ready?
- (All Kids] Yeah!
- Let's go.
So we headed uptown, which, you know,
is a little closer to the French Quarter on Bourbon Street.
But, like, still way--
- Way removed.
- Way, way away.
I'm proud to say
we did not see one boob
or one drunk person.
- No, really, we didn't.
- So I, you know, thought it was just going to be beads
and maybe some candy, but there is minimal candy.
When Michael found some candy
he immediately swooped it up and ate it.
By the end they were leaving some of the beads
just laying there on the ground.
- [Elise] They were becoming professionals.
- [Nicole] We got so much stuff.
- [Elise] Swords, stuffed animals.
- [Nicole] Footballs, frisbees.
- We got a pop socket.
That was crazy.
- We racked up.
After we made it through that perfect Saturday
we went back to Metairie for one more.
I thought the kids were going to be done
because honestly
I was about done.
(beep) I don't know how people do this
for two weeks at a time.
Two days is all I can handle.
But they were ready to go back for that one last parade.
But down came the rain.
(beep) (people talking)
Because it was raining, I think the audience,
maybe, count was a little down.
So the people were throwing whole bags of beads,
they were just getting rid of the stuff.
(beep)
Whatcha get?
A lot!
It was the best one of the weekend, definitely,
I can't believe people would do this on a rainy, rainy day.
- After all these parades, we just kept
dumping their bags into their own garbage bags.
At the end of the trip, you dump that out
we had to say, we had to sort it out,
we had to fight over who got what, who got the most.
But the loot was pretty impressive.
(beep) We have had a blast
and I'm just gonna end it by saying we came,
we saw, and we Mardi Gra'd.
Did y'all have fun?
(people yelling and clapping)
We weren't even 30 minutes out of town,
they're like, we're doing this every year.
I hope your parents are okay
if we kick them out again next year.
- What do you think, on a scale from one to 10,
how kid friendly do you think this Mardi Gras
that we experienced?
- This was 10 and a half.
I did not have to shield my kids' eyes, they had a blast,
we got great food, we met some new friends.
The whole experience was better than I expected, so.
I think we'll be back.
If you have any questions on how to do Mardi Gras
the family friendly way, comment below.
We'll put Elise on that.
I'd also love to hear of any suggestions you have
for future family friendly trips that we can take.
For more good times with us
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- Dang, she's good.
Like they say in New Orleans let the good times...
- Roll.
(upbeat music)