Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans is Shrove Tuesday, 47 days before Easter, so it lands anywhere from early February to early March, and in most years the big parades roll in February. With children it is a better trip than its reputation suggests. Bourbon Street on a parade weekend is no place for them, and you don't need it: the big float parades run Uptown along St Charles Avenue, where local families set up folding chairs and cool boxes on the neutral ground, as the grassy central reservation is called here.
Carnival season opens on Twelfth Night, 6 January, but most of the big parades are packed into the last couple of weeks, with something rolling almost every night towards the end. The final two weekends are the busiest and the most fun. Check the official parade schedule before you fix dates, and book the hotel as soon as you have, because rooms for those weekends go quickly.
The ladder is a local institution, a stepladder with a box seat bolted on top so a small child can see over the crowd and reach the throws. The stretch of St Charles through the Garden District, roughly between Jackson and Louisiana avenues, is known for them. If you buy or borrow one, follow the rules. Ladders have to stand at least six feet back from the kerb and must not be strapped together, and an adult should stay right behind anyone sitting up there. Tents, grills and generators are banned along the routes, so carry only what you need, which with children means snacks, water, wipes and a bag for the beads.
Younger children cope best in daylight. Iris, an all-women krewe, rolls Uptown late on the Saturday morning before Mardi Gras Day, and it makes a good first parade. Days reach about 20°C, but nights fall to around 12°C and rain comes on about twelve days, so bring waterproofs and a warm layer if you stay out for a night parade, which can run late and turn chilly once the sun has gone. Pick one spot and stay put, and work out the route back to the hotel beforehand, because the streets near the routes close to traffic.
On a day off from the crowds, take everyone to Mardi Gras World, the Kern Studios workshop by the river where many of the floats are built. The guided tour walks you past giant figures and parade props, lets children try on costumes and ends with a slice of king cake, the ring-shaped Carnival cake sold by bakeries all over the city through the season.
Before every parade, agree on a meeting point nobody can mistake, a named street corner or a particular shopfront, and write your phone number on each child's arm in ballpoint.