Beautiful floats decked out in bling, costumes adorned in purple, green and gold and colorful bead necklaces flying around the streets. These are all aspects that can be seen at the annual event in New Orleans, La. called Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, refers to the Carnival celebration beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany and concludes on Ash Wednesday. This year, Tuesday, March 5 marks the date of this famous festival and people come from all around country to celebrate in New Orleans. But you do not always have to travel to the home town of Mardi Gras to celebrate it.

All around the country, major cities hold their very own Mardi Gras celebrations for their citizens. Days or even weeks before Mardi Gras, hundreds of people gather in their city to start celebrating, partying and eating with family and friends. Here in Texas, many cities hold amazing festivals for this season.

Staying in the city, Houston holds plenty of fun activities for all ages. In Town Center Park at Kingwood, a Mardi Gras festival will be held with live music from Keyun and Zydeco Masters, a kids zone, craft vendors, and a plethora of food trucks. This will be taking place March 2 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. For the kids, there will be a Masquerade Ball at The Czech Center Museum from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 2. Tickets are $5 for adults and free for kids 12 years old and younger. Then for the adults, they can participate in the 3rd Annual Mardi Gras Pub Crawl which costs $3.95 for the early birds and takes place also on March 2.

Moving out of Houston, other close by cities have their own celebrations for Mardi Gras. An hour down south in Galveston, they hold the 3rd largest Mardi Gras Carnival festival. This huge event attracts around 300,000 people every year. Their fun festivities begin a few weeks before Mardi Gras on Feb. 22, like many other cities, and ends on March 2. All around the city, you can find various things to do.

One of the most popular Mardi Gras activities are parades and in Galveston there are over 15 parades that take place at all times of the day.  These iconic marches contain beautiful floats that are adorned in the signature Mardi Gras colors, purple, green and gold, intricate costumes that performers wear, and fun little activities like throws. This is where people standing on their floats will throw trinkets into the crowd. Other events include concerts, laser shows, balcony parties, and masked balls.

Celebrating Mardi Gras is an unforgettable experience no matter the city you live in. There will always the amazing parties, colorful parades and timeless traditions.