If you aren’t from the Tampa Bay, FL area you probably don’t have a clue what Gasparilla is. When I first moved to Florida I didn’t either, until friends of mine, that at the time attended USF, brought me with them to my first ever Gasparilla, four years ago.

“The Gasparilla Pirate Festival is a large parade and a host of related community events held almost every year since 1904 in Tampa, Florida celebrating the apocryphal legend of José Gaspar, a mythical Spanish pirate who supposedly operated in Southwest Florida in the early 1800s.” (Google)

People all throughout Tampa, especially the ones who live close by the parade near Bayshore Boulevard, decorate their houses in pirate decor. Wreaths are a huge decor staple that people buy or make themselves, filled with black and red ribbon, beads, and skeleton heads. So basically, Tampa goes from Christmas decor straight into Gasparilla decor within a matter of weeks until mid March.

This weekend we attended our second Children’s Gasparilla Parade (last year was our first) which is the first parade of the season. Ashley Home Furniture (a sponsor of the parade along with Chick-fil-a) had my babies and I attend on their behalf along with a few other Tampa bloggers and their friends and families!

We started the day meeting up with one of my mommy friends and her little girl. Then attended a kid’s pre parade party on our way towards Bayshore. Once we reached our bleacher seats, my son Sebastian started getting into the swing of things. One of the main activities of the parade is catching the beads being thrown off the floats. The kids go crazy for this. Sebastian was to young last year to understand that concept, but this year he was so excited and actually caught one and he freaked out! Jumping up and down, yelling “YAY.” It was a moment I’ll truly never forget. After that, he would just hold his hands out in hopes of catching another. I ended up giving him a few. He loved seeing the trucks, police cars/motorcycles, and firetrucks that came down as well.

The parade was filled with excitement and tons of kids in costumes. We didn’t last that long because I had Bianca, my now four month old, with me. The babies were so tired by the time we left though that Sebastian didn’t even give me a hard time leaving.

All in all we had a great time, lots of fun for both my kids and I. A special thanks to Ashley Home Furniture for having us! Can’t wait for next year, especially with the kids being a bit older.

I ran a Giveaway on my social media this week leading up to the Children’s Parade. The chance for a mommy to win two tickets to attend the Gasparilla Children’s Parade on the Ashley Home Furniture Float! One of my followers and her daughter won and had the absolute best time! It was their very first time attending the parade as they had just moved to the area. I felt very confident in my choice and so happy they enjoyed themselves.

Until we meet again Gasparilla. . .

Sincerely,

YYM