Wanna ride in a 2025 Mardi Gras parade? Get an early bird special!

Every year you say to yourself: “One day, I’m going to be in a Mardi Gras parade.” But you’re not sure exactly how to do it. Well, in some cases, it can be pretty easy.

In some parading organizations, you just sign up online, pay your dues, buy your throws and wait for the next Carnival season. In other cases you have to apply online, then wait to see if you’re accepted, then you pay your dues. For other krewes, you have to be recommended by a member.

But here’s the thing to know. The sooner you sign up the cheaper it is. Several krewes have early bird specials. The closer to Carnival 2025 we come, the more it costs. Here are some examples:

The Krewe of Freret—At this writing, you have about 12 hours to take advantage of the popular co-ed parade’s pre-Ash Wednesday reduced dues offer. Sign up today and the cost is $595. Tomorrow the cost rises to $675.

Spartan Society—Until August 31, 2025, dues to join the co-ed group are $525, plus a first-time costume cost of $46. After that the dues rise to $625.

ALLA—The early bird rate to ride in the 2025 parade, named for Algiers Louisiana, is $425 through June 1.

Some krewes don’t begin considering new members until later in the season. The Krewe of Pontchartrain opens forms on Feb. 15, Femme Fatale opens on April 1, and Cleopatra opens on April 15.

For more information about how to get a spot on a float or a place in a marching club, read the updated story below, originally published in August 2024. Some details and prices may have changed.

The hundred-dollar walking clubs

The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus, which parades on Jan. 20, is open to Star Wars devotees and any other sort of sci-fi freaks, for that matter. The “early nerd” cost to become part of the casual, costumed walking club is a mere $42 (a nod to the sacred number in Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”). Until Aug. 31 anyway, and then the price goes up to $62. Later in the season, the price goes up to $82, then $100 until parade day.

Chewbacchus is just one example of the do-it-yourself foot parades that take place early in the Carnival season and tend to be less costly than the major float parades. Last year, you could join Krewe Boheme for $100, or $75 if you sign up before Sept. 1.

Go East, young woman

It costs $35 to apply for membership in the Krewe of Nefertiti, New Orleans East’s only Carnival parade, which rolls early in the Carnival season. For those who are accepted, the cost to participate begins at $600 for nonmember riders, and rises to $1,200 for member riders. Applications are taken until the day of the parade.

Recommendation required

With the slogan “Join the Femmenation,” the all-female Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale, is seeking new riders. According to the krewe website, the cost of membership is $500, plus $1,250 for a place on one of the krewe’s 25 floats, a costume and ball tickets. Recommendation by a current member is required.

Following along with the music

All it costs to be among the 1,000 members of the musically inclined Krewe of Freret “is your undying enthusiasm for carnival and ability to give your all to the citizens of New Orleans and her tourists,” according to a spokesperson. Plus the riding fee of $675 and a commitment to buy a minimum of $250 in Freret-branded throws. “We are more egalitarian — young, old, native, transplant, etc.,” the spokesman said of the krewe.

Room at the round table

The Krewe of King Arthur, is currently accepting members for Carnival 2024 “until all spots have sold out.” The cost to ride with the 2,400-member, coed club that started in 1977 is $600, which includes a classy, embroidered float costume. The early-bird rate of $400 expired in mid-April.

Speaking of medieval: The website of the brash and bawdy coed Krewe of Tucks, welcomes the public to apply for membership, but does not reveal the cost.

No vacancies

At this writing, the 1,130-member Krewe of Muses, which parades on Feb. 8, isn’t accepting new members. Period. As the website of the popular all-female group, founded in 2000, states: “We’ve had a tremendous interest in the Krewe over the last 20 years and, consequently, our nonriding membership continued to grow faster than riding spots became available.” If you were able to join, it would cost you $900.

The all-female Krewe of Iris, Carnival’s largest parading group, is also full.

It’s not what you know …

There are usually a few precious spots available to men on the gargantuan, glittering floats of the Endymion superkrewe, which rolls through. But you can’t just fill out an application and start flinging beads, and beads, and more beads. According to krewe captain Dan Kelly, “you have to be proposed by a member.” Endymion did not reveal the cost of membership.

The same is more or less true of the Uptown superkrewe Bacchus, which, where individual float lieutenants arrange for new membership. Bacchus also does not reveal the cost of membership.

The rude and ribald Krewe du Vieux, which parades early in the season, relies on its many subkrewes, such as the Krewe of Drips and Discharges, to manage membership. According to a krewe representative, KDV is almost full, “but there’s always some turnover.”

“If they’re interested in joining,” the KDV spokesman said, people should “find out who among their friends is a member and find out the status of the subkrewe.”

The purple, green and gold rates

The venerable, coed Krewe of Mid-City, is seeking new members. The costs vary. For the 2024 season purple rider packages cost $535, which covers “your ride, costume, and admission to the Pre-Parade Breakfast and Mass.” Green rider packages cost $1,775 and include “the Platinum Bead Package.” Gold rider packages go for $2,090 and include the “Enhanced Platinum Bead Package.”

It’s complicated

The Krewe of Orpheus, presided over by jazz crooner Harry Connick Jr., takes to the streets on Lundi Gras night. Orpheus offers a one-time opportunity to ride in the spectacular parade for $1500. Thereafter, a $500 initiation fee is required to become a krewe member, at which time the cost to ride drops to $1100. Unless you want to ride one of the signature floats like The Leviathan or Smokey Mary. Then the cost goes up an unspecified amount. The Orpheus website includes a telephone contact number for information, (504) 822-7200.

Going the Veterans Memorial Boulevard route

Carnival doesn’t end at the parish line, of course. There are many suburban parades to consider. The 21-float Centurions parade, in Metairie, is open to new members. Emphasizing its coed membership, last year the parade charged $375 for individual members and $650 for couples. Riders are not required to buy throws from the krewe.

Wouldn’t you like to know?

Established way back in 1872, Rex is New Orleans’ oldest parading organization, and membership is — we’re told — a prize in certain strata of Crescent City society. So how does one join the 400-plus gentlemen of Rex? Unfortunately, we have no earthly idea, and we’re confident that we shall never know. Asked to elucidate on the membership process, Rex’s public relations spokesman wrote: “As a private organization, we do not comment on things of that nature.” Rex rolls on Mardi Gras morning. According to a trusted source, the cost to ride with the King of Carnival in 2024 was a paltry $750.

The websites of the Krewe of Thoth, Krewe of Hermes, Krewe of Proteus, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, and others, do not include membership information. And never mind getting on a float — you can’t even get on Le Krewe d’Etat’s website without being a member.

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