Family Fun in New Orleans

I have to admit that New Orleans has been on my personal travel list for a long time, but I just never got down to the Big Easy to check the box. While planning our summer 2021 Family trips, I knew this was the year to make it happen. Despite being 8 months pregnant in the peak of summer, it was a trip to remember! Just make sure to take a neck fan and you’ll be fine!

I got to work researching Kid friendly fun in New Orleans, and the options were limitless. I narrowed down enough sites and sounds for a fun filled 4 day trip.

But First, Where to Stay in New Orleans?

There are several hotel and short-term home rental options in and around the City of New Orleans. We ultimately chose The Jung and it was great. During this trip we decided to all stay in the same room, which we rarely do anymore. Suites and adjoining rooms are our typical jam, but we gambled on a single room, and it worked out.

The Jung, located on Canal Street, was near most of the action. The Quarter is a lovely walk or quick ride away.

The Rooms were well appointed, spacious, and the bathroom was great. Truly my only gripe was the housekeeping service, which was just a product of the time. In summer 2021, most hotels were not providing daily cleaning service, so I’m not too upset about it. Overall, it was a great stay.

SIX FUN THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS IN NEW ORLEANS

Trust me, this list is not exhaustive by a long shot, but it would take several more trips for us to experience all the fun New Orleans has to offer. Have no fear, the list I’ve put together below will allow you to experience the best of the City while providing great fun and culture for your littles.

1. Gators, Wild Boar, and Egrets Oh My – Kid Friendly Swamp Tour

There are several wonderful tours to choose from outside of New Orleans, but we settled on Cajun Encounters. They offer a larger flat bottom boat with overhead coverage, or a smaller boat with no coverage. We went for the larger boat. I was 8 months pregnant at the time and I also suffer from motion sickness, so the bigger the boat, usually means the better.

The Tour lasts about two hours and has the coolest boat captains. Talk about funny! I think my kids were belly laughing most of the time. They’ve got the tours down to science, so you are guaranteed to see plenty of gators, wild hogs, racoons, and a variety of beautiful botany. It’s both fun and educational, which is always our personal goal as parents.

2. Become a Main Character in the Story at City Park: Story Land Park

If your kids enjoy reading as much as mine, they will love Story Land Park at City Park. The fun comes to life even more if they’re familiar with the classics. They can explore the world of peter pan, three little pigs, the little mermaid and so much more. Story Land Park is a free area of the park, where the kids can run free and have a blast. Make sure to cool off by grabbing a snow cone from City Park Snoballs. This excursion is perfect right before heading back to the hotel…they will run out any extra energy from the day and be ready to collapse after a good shower. I mean parents need some of that down time, right?!

3. Reflect and Learn at The Whitney Plantation

Again, one of our personal goals for every trip we take is to make sure our children are learning something about the culture of each destination. The Whitney Plantation delivered tenfold. Not only did our littles learn so much about the history of enslaved people (including children) in Louisiana, so did my husband and I. The Whitney is the only New Orleans area plantation with an exclusive focus on the lives of enslaved people. You could easily spend several hours here and still yearn for more.

4. Get Behind The Scenes At Mardi Gras World

What are thoughts of New Orleans without thoughts of Mardi Gras?? If you want to see behind the scenes of Mardi Gras, including the creation of all the coolest floats, you definitely want to add Mardi Gras World to your list. The kids will get to learn all about the history and protocols of Mardi Gras, and even have a taste of King Cake. Mardi Gras world was definitely a hit for my littles.

5. Retrace Historical Steps

One of my twin daughters had about a year long obsession with Ruby Bridges. She read several books about her and even chose her as the subject of one of her school assignments. Imagine her excitement when we surprised her with a trip to William Frantz Elementary School, the school Ruby Bridges, as a 6 year old black student, integrated. She was able to get pictures with her statue and retrace the very path Ruby Bridges so bravely walked as a young girl. What made this even more special was that Ava was just a year older than Ruby was when she changed the world. It was great to connect Ruby as a “character” in history with a real location. It’s worth getting off the tourist path to check this out.

6. Eat All the Yummy Foods

What’s a trip to the Big Easy without eating every delicious thing you can get your hands on??? From Cajun cuisine to seafood to our favorite Ethiopian to famous beignets, we ate it all! These are all the restaurants we enjoyed:

Each restaurant was delicious. I’ll have to say my personal favorite was probably Brennan’s. We had a delicious upscale brunch with delectable rabbit and gulf fish. Words do it no justice.

As I stated above, it would take several visits to experience all that New Orleans has to offer, but these 6 things will be sure to bring smiles to the faces of the entire family. Explore and enjoy!

To see all of our New Orleans pictures, follow us on instagram @upupandadams

Happy Travels!