How to Be Safe During Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a time of celebration and frivolity, not a time to take your personal safety for granted. It's also not a time to relax basic prohibitions on drinking and driving, or leaving your friends to party with strangers you just met.

Instructions

1. Go together with friends you know and trust. Make a pact that no one wanders off: you all attend Mardi Gras events together and you all leave together. That way each of you can tend to the personal safety of the others.

2. Keep your drinks covered. Most Mardi Gras regulations require beverages to be in plastic containers. Keep the lid on your plastic container. When you aren't taking a sip of your beverage, secure the lid so nothing gets added to your beverage without your knowledge.

3. Leave your purse and your wallet in your hotel safe. Secure your money in a belt worn under your clothing to prevent pick pockets from benefiting from your inattention.

4. Stay in touch with your friends and have specific meeting times and places. Mardi Gras is huge and nearly everyone gets lost at some point. Knowing when and where to meet up again will help you stay safe.

5. Keep kids attached to you. The crowds can be overwhelming, and nothing is more terrifying than missing children. For small children, use harnesses to prevent them from wandering. For older ones, use cell phones or walkie talkies to stay in constant contact.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't leave anything important or valuable in a car, especially if your car is obviously a rental or has out-of-state license plates.