Carnival Hooky
A Day to Forget
Have No Care, Do No Work on Carnival Hooky
About Carnival Hooky
Carnival Hooky is a sacred observance of that most unholy tradition, blowing off work. There are exactly eight days until Mardi Gras, and absolutely no one is getting anything done between now and then. Today we accept this truth (offered without justification). Responsibility is canceled. You’re playing hooky! Once upon a time, hooky meant sneaking to the food court and hoping no one called your mom. Now you’re an adult, and that means industrial-grade hooky: a last-minute plane ticket, a solo road trip to nowhere, a two-hour breakfast with no phones, a matinee in another city, a day that ends with stories that make your coworkers squint in disbelief. And if you’re not planning to go full Carnival feral this year, you still owe yourself a break. If you can’t muster the courage to ditch work (we know, 17 sick days in 2 months is pushing it), rope in a few coworkers and ditch together. That’s called an offsite.
Ways to observe
(A) Low effort
Call in, or just disappear. Take yourself out to breakfast. Order something with powdered sugar. Read a book until the guilt fades.
(B) Recommended
Plan a mini escape: a nearby city, a museum binge, a secret lake. Dress better than usual. Eat better than usual. Let no spreadsheet enter your field of vision.
(C) High effort
Book a same-day flight. Rent a convertible. Buy tickets to something that starts in two hours. Spend the day somewhere impossible to justify. Take pictures. Post about it 6 months later.
Inspiration
Remember yesterday’s solemn decree to ditch responsibility? Consider this its immediate sequel. Your head is pounding, your body’s still swaying to the bossa nova you left playing all night, and the memory of that ‘one last’ brunch martini is hovering like a low cloud. Good news: you’re not going to work today. Not because you’re heroically protecting your mental health or leaning into some grand life philosophy, but because you simply don’t feel like it. With Carnival only eight days away, no one can be expected to focus.
Some of you—I can barely contain my disappointment—will insist on going to work. That’s fine. (Not really, but whatever.) The rest of you will go to the beach, wander through shops, or set off on a beautiful day hike. Maybe you’ll waste an hour in a record store or have the kind of lunch that arrives in courses you never ordered. There’s no script. By nightfall, you should find yourself thinking yesterday’s shambling brunch marathon might be worth repeating.
Adornments
Watch
Thelma & Louise (1991)
A modern road-movie classic. Thelma & Louise portrays two friends who take off on what was meant to be a girls’ weekend only to end up fugitives. The finale is an act of joyous rebellion—at least that’s what you’re supposed to think. I just found it sad.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
High school senior Ferris Bueller skips school for a day of wild freedom, famously declaring, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Dazed and Confused (1998)
It’s the last day of school in 1976. Richard Linklater’s nostalgic ramble follows jocks, nerds, stoners and freshmen on an odyssey of joyously pointless freedom.
Listen
Carnival Time by Al “Carnival Time” Johnson
This raucous 1960s R&B song is a New Orleans Mardi Gras anthem. A good tune if you’re cultivating a certain “shut up and dance” energy.
Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen
The pulsing piano and Mercury’s ecstatic vocals will make you feel invincible.
Share
Eat Beignets. In New Orleans.
For those committed to the full Carnival Hooky experience, skip not just work, but town. Taking a cue from our high-effort activity above, book a same-day flight to New Orleans and head straight from the airport to Café du Monde. A quick Uber drops you near Jackson Square, where the scent of fried dough and powdered sugar hangs in the air.