IslandMix

If you had to choose, which would you choose. Cut back on some fetes so you can afford to play mas. or go to all the fetes and skip mas?
I think I would cut back on some fetes. Last year Eyes wide shut and uwi splash could have been missed
Taken from Saucy's blog.
Have you noticed that almost EVERY SINGLE Carnival fete on the calender for 2008 takes place in January? The early Carnival season is just insane, I mean for those of us who live in Trinidad the reality is that in order to enjoy a fete every weekend, your December paycheck has to support that venture if you did not budget ahead of time. For Carnival lovers Christmas is most likely going to take a back seat this year! I have made the decision that my list of people getting presents will be VERY short, and I have already done my Christmas shopping to be honest. Thankfully I do not go wild over Christmas having to redecorate the entire house, or stock the cupboards with enough food to last two months; for me Christmas is really a time to relax before the hectic pace of Carnival, and not an excuse for excess.

My goal is to pay off the balance of my costume at the end of November, I already have my footwear therefore my main expense after mas will be the fetes I choose to attend. The philosophy on paying for fetes still stands for 2008; I am not looking to break the bank on going to all the fetes. In my opinion once I am playing mas the list of fetes I actually go to is pretty short, complimentary tickets not withstanding. Who can afford the cost of a costume these days AND the prices of all those fetes? So I am looking at the list of allllll these fetes for 2008, plus a few new ones on the Calendar and I am overwhelmed with choices!

For those of you arriving in Trinidad solely for Carnival your decisions are fairly easy seeing that most people arrive a week before Carnival when the pick of fetes are at the prime. The staples for many at that time being Eyes Wide Shut, Bacchanal Wednesday, UWI Splash, Beach House, Salybia Fete, Girl Power, Insomnia, Breakfast Party and Lara Fete. On the other hand the feteing season for us locals starts on January 1st with Soca in Moka, followed rapidly by QRC’s Outta de Blue, UWI All-inclusive, Amnesia and Hilarian’s fete, all the big guns that attract hundreds of people.

At the moment the only fetes I know I will be going to for sure will be Salybia Fete and the Breakfast Party, in addition to Panorama which is a genre of feteing all in itself. I cannot confirm any of the others since there are way too many fetes in January and I am not going into debt in order to attend all of them as many are all-inclusive at an average of $350.00TT per person, and I have to multiply every fete ticket by two. With both costume and fete prices steadily rising something has got to give, and I wonder how persons who are working for minimum wage in Trinidad can afford all these fetes and still play mas with just two more paychecks before Carnival, not to mention CHRISTMAS!

So the question for both local and foreign based Carnival lovers are, how many fetes on average do you plan on attending for 2008? Which fetes are on your “must do” list? Will the price of costumes and fete tickets affect your feteing habits and have you made contingency plans for the very short fete season for Carnival 2008 in terms of affording all the fetes you hope to attend? I am very interested in others approach to the dilemma of all these choices of fetes in January so feel free to leave a comment!

Honestly, I would play mas. Sometimes the fetes you realize you coulda skip them. And i agree 'bout Eyes Wide Shut & UWI. No big ting and I comin from the States. After a time how much Machel ya could take? I like trying new tings every year so next year ah going "Break Biche". Ah reaching early so ah going Soka in Moka, Army Fete and other I neva attended. I liked the Country Club parties this year and the lil concerts at the Normandie Hotel. BUT i'd rather play mas. I cyah imagine sitting home watching the bands on TV! Mas is whole day, 2days and yuh does see everybody! As much as I does party here if I had to choose I playin' MAS!!!!!!!!!

I feel want to try the "Break Biche" too. Yeah I party a lot at home too.

Not to say yuh have to be in every fete but to me once yuh traveling from abroad yuh may as well do the thing right and the round of fetes leading up to mas as the culmination is just how its meant to be. If I couldn't afford to do all I wanted to do I'd just stay my ass home. Now if I make the choice to cut down on fetes cause is other things I want to do w/ my time before mon & tues then that's different.

FETE, FETE AND MORE FETE, I bun enough sun on a Carnival Monday and Tuesday to last a lifetime. After 2005 and I waiting by the hospital for 3 hrs and at the mouth of the savannah for another 3, I done play mas. Nearly get a freaking heat stroke.

lol

if i can't do both i refuse to go, i'll rather keep meh tail here and go another time.

I have certain fetes that I want to go to...and unless there is a good damn reason I doh need everybody leaving me behind and going (and my family WILL!) and leh me tell yuh...I am normally the one leaving THEM!

That being said...I would be pretty damn sad to miss playing mas while my cousin dressing up in she costume and walking out de house...not to mention de rest ah meh family does go set up shop by 7am by de savanah and I not into de spectating thing...so...needless to say carnival is an experience...fetes AND mas...not one or de other...

What she said!!

i would say play mas....there is no other experience like it
waking up carnival day, putting on your pretty mas costume..pretty up yuhself to go down the road..jumping with friends and strangers
fetes will always be there...mas isn't so often