best to visit before Christmas or after with kids

My husband and I are bringing our 3 granddaughters, ages 8, 12 and 15, to New Orleans in December. We had planned on bringing them for five nights starting December 27th thru New Years, but my daughter-in-law said she heard from a co-workers that the days leading up to New Years eve are comparable with Mardi Gras with drunkenness, nudity, etc. Obviously that%26#39;s not the atmosphere we want for 3 young girls. So now we are considering coming the before Christmas, arriving December 22 and departing on the 27th, and avoiding the New years madness. Can anyone confirm if this is true about the party atmosphere in the days before New Years Eve, or is that primarily just on Bourbon Street and the rest of the city would be OK for kids?

best to visit before Christmas or after with kids

New Years is nothing like Mardi Gras and I wonder whatever these coworkers had been listening to...either time would be fine...its just that the hotels do fill up for new years and of course do charge quite a bit more. There will be partying on Bourbon Street in the evening so avoid Bourbon Street...and remember these are %26#39;tourists%26#39; acting up...the fireworks display over the river is spectacular. Check out any %26#39;papa noel%26#39; specials at the hotels and many restaurants have %26#39;revillion%26#39; meal (price fixed) during December..and there are many special events going on leading up to Christmas.

best to visit before Christmas or after with kids

thanks Cajunyank, I am relieved to know that either time will be fine. I had been looking forward to the fireworks display! The co-worker said that there were a lot of rowdy people in their hotel who were in town for the bowl game on New Years....so you are right, it would be tourists causing trouble! I don%26#39;t plan on taking them on Bourbon Street at night regardless of when we are there, unless it seems to be an extremely quiet night with not much going on, or we might possibly have to use Bourbon Street to get to a restaurant that we are going to. Thanks again!

Cajunyank%26#39;s right - the partying on Bourbon Street is pretty rowdy around Sugar Bowl time, but the rest of the area is fine.

I don%26#39;t think anyone in their right mind would bring young kids down Bourbon Street at all, whether it be day or night. Some of the things on the posters and in the T-shirt shops could have you answering some uncomfortable questions from the little ones.

We went to NO during the Thanksgiving week and it was packed since they were having some type of football game. YOu had to wear a wrist band to enter the hotel but I can tell you that the people in the hotel were just as scary as the ones outside and this was a Marriott on Canal St. I have to say that I was not impressed with NO. Bourbon St is definitely not my cup of tea and the rest pretty much looks like Charleston, SC to me so I prefer to go to Charleston instead which is closer anyways.

The football game on Thanksgiving weekend is the ';Bayou Classic'; between Southern and Grambling Universities. The wristbands are controversial, some will say that there are racial undertones, since the hotels don%26#39;t have a consistent ';wristband policy'; for events that attract large crowds.

There will be plenty for you and your granddaughters to see and do regardless of which dates you visit. As cajunyank stated, the Papa Noel rates and revillion meals are worth checking into! If the girls are into ballet and/or philharmonic, there will be performances of ';The Nutcracker'; accompanied by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (4 performances) over the weekend before Christmas at Tulane University. The city really gets dressed up for the holidays, and it%26#39;s a great time to visit!

Thanks all, I feel very relieved now and we will probably just go with whichever dates work out best for their parents...if they don%26#39;t want them gone on Christmas Day then we will just come after Christmas as originally planned.