Masqueraders fork out $5,000 - $15,000 to play Mas

[stikid09]

news
Carnival jumbies fork out $5,000-$15,000

by
Sharlene Rampersad
11 days ago
Sat Jan 05 2019

Are you will­ing to fork out be­tween $5,000 to $15,000 for Car­ni­val fetes and mas, us­ing your sav­ings and bor­row­ing if you have to? This is the av­er­age fig­ure mas lovers are will­ing to spend to en­joy the rev­el­ry this sea­son. In a Sun­day Guardian poll on Face­book, many Car­ni­val lovers said the sea­son can cost them from $5,000 up­wards—with an av­er­age spend of $12,000 to $15,000.

Some peo­ple dip in­to their sav­ings while oth­ers head to cred­it unions and banks for loans in or­der to have a good time for the Car­ni­val sea­son. The Car­ni­val sea­son, which has al­ready start­ed, will cul­mi­nate on March 4 and 5 with the pa­rade of the bands. It means to en­joy the long sea­son of rev­el­ry, mas lovers will have to dig deep­er in­to their pock­ets.

There are 45 new fetes added on for this Car­ni­val sea­son—bring­ing the cur­rent to­tal to 200.

There are 186 events be­fore Car­ni­val and 14 to “cool down” af­ter Car­ni­val. In Jan­u­ary, par­ty an­i­mals have a choice of 32 list­ed events—with eight fetes tak­ing place in the first week­end of the year. Twelve of those are new fetes.

The li­on’s share of the par­ty­ing will be done in Feb­ru­ary with 98 events tak­ing place on the short­est month of the year. On Feb­ru­ary 28 alone, there are 15 events planned.

In March, par­ty­go­ers can look for­ward to 76 fetes, with 14 planned af­ter Car­ni­val Mon­day and Tues­day. On March 1, which is Fan­tas­tic Fri­day, there are 23 list­ed events.

Car­ni­val lovers

Car­ni­val lover Rhi­an Ramkissoon said al­though his fete tick­ets and cos­tumes can amount to more than $20,000, he bud­gets him­self through­out the year and takes ad­van­tage of ear­ly bird spe­cials so he can af­ford it.

“I some­times try to not to re­mem­ber how much it costs,” Ramkissoon said with a laugh when asked about his ex­pens­es.

But af­ter a quick cal­cu­la­tion, he said his fete tick­ets for the sea­son are cost­ing him $14,890.

“That is for tick­ets alone but there are some events where if I get a com­pli­men­ta­ry (tick­et) I will go and if I don’t and I want to at­tend, I’ll buy the tick­et. But that price in­cludes all the ul­tra all-in­clu­sives that I want to at­tend.”

If he does not at­tend the all-in­clu­sives, Ramkissoon will spend $7,760. That does not in­clude the cost of his cos­tume in the band Lost Tribe which is $5,390.

He said in or­der to af­ford his love for Car­ni­val, he starts pay­ing for his cos­tume and all-in­clu­sives months be­fore the sea­son starts.

“For the Car­ni­val cos­tume you are pay­ing your de­posit in Au­gust/Sep­tem­ber, the cost is split so you don’t feel the full im­pact of shelling out $5,000 all at one go and it’s the same thing with the tick­ets, some of the Car­ni­val week fetes go on sale in Oc­to­ber so that gives you an ease.

“So­ka in Mo­ka had an ear­ly bird spe­cial, Bish­ops was the same un­til the end of 2018, so if you are smart, you will take ad­van­tage of these op­por­tu­ni­ties as they are giv­en and if you know this is some­thing you are go­ing to be do­ing every year, you will bud­get your­self ac­cord­ing­ly just like every oth­er cost.”

Ramkissoon is al­so part of a group of 60 peo­ple called Cool­er Guard that at­tends most cool­er fetes.

Self-pro­fessed 58-year-old Car­ni­val Jumbie Ken said get­ting the best val­ue for your mon­ey was all about know­ing which fetes to at­tend.

“I can’t re­mem­ber not be­ing a Car­ni­val Jumbie, I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Ken said.

“I usu­al­ly hit every all-in­clu­sive on the week­ends, there are ten week­ends un­til Car­ni­val and it’s every Sat­ur­day and Sun­day.”

Ken said in the past he has spent $30,000 on fetes alone. That does not in­clude the $10,000 loan he takes for the cos­tumes for him and his wife.

“Now I most­ly use my sav­ings and I cut back dras­ti­cal­ly af­ter Car­ni­val, I know where to cut back and re­strict my­self for the rest of the year to be able to af­ford my Car­ni­val. This tac­tic has been de­vel­oped over years of at­tend­ing fetes and play­ing mas.”

He said he and his wife al­so save mon­ey by pur­chas­ing their fete out­fits abroad when there are sales.

“It makes it a lot cheap­er buy­ing dur­ing sales and when we are trav­el­ling, she will usu­al­ly pick our out­fits and we buy way in ad­vance. It’s a lot eas­i­er than shop­ping for clothes dur­ing the sea­son. It is some­thing we have per­fect­ed over time.”

He said al­though he has spent a lot of mon­ey on Car­ni­val over the years, he would not change any­thing.

“The best mem­o­ries I have are from go­ing to fete—those mem­o­ries keep me go­ing and take me to the next lev­el, I don’t want to miss those op­por­tu­ni­ties at all.”

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This year, he plans to spend be­tween $12,000 to $15,000 for the fetes.

“I am not go­ing to the any of the new fetes, my taste has changed a lot, I have been very se­lec­tive and I most­ly go to events where there is a more ma­ture crowd so I can en­joy my­self.”

Jonell Rox­anne Salazar, an­oth­er Car­ni­val junkie, said she was will­ing to fork out US$100 per fete. Salazar said her Car­ni­val ex­pens­es can run up­wards of $15,000 TT.

“My max bud­get is $100 US for a fete. When I go to ul­tra all-in­clu­sives, they are paid for by cor­po­rate spon­sors. I don’t re­al­ly keep a tal­ly on my Car­ni­val ex­pens­es but it can run any­where from $15,000 and up.”

Salazar said she was not a “back line chick” (band sec­tion) so that cost in­cludes her front-line cos­tume, pro­fes­sion­al make-up, hair, and Mon­day wear.

The Sun­day Guardian al­so reached out to sev­er­al make-up artists who said book­ings for “mas make-up” can cost be­tween $350 to $1,000.

Ali­cia Wal­ters, who owns Sassy Suite, said she be­gins work around 2 am on Car­ni­val Mon­day.

“On Tues­days, it is some­times from mid­night,” Wal­ters said. “I ad­vise peo­ple to take a Car­ni­val make-up class if they have ba­sic skills to learn how to em­bell­ish and ex­tend the longevi­ty of their ap­pli­ca­tion.”

Sabeer­ah Mo­hammed, own­er at Beau­ty by Sabeer­ah said she of­fers dis­counts to clients who want their make-up done on both days.

From all-in­clu­sives to cool­er fetes

For ul­tra all-in­clu­sive fetes such as the Hy­att’s an­nu­al all-in­clu­sive Lime—a “Di­a­mond” tick­et will cost you $3,897. An­oth­er all-in­clu­sive, So­ka in Mo­ka costs $800. The av­er­age price for an all-in­clu­sive event is $1,000.

But if you can’t af­ford those events, there are a range of cool­er fetes, where par­ty­go­ers can bring their own al­co­hol, that cost ap­prox­i­mate­ly $300 for a tick­et.

The Xpe­ri­ence Cool­er Fete on Jan­u­ary 19 at the Bri­an Lara Sta­di­um, which fea­tures so­ca king Machel Mon­tano, cost $394 for a VIP tick­et and $292 for a gen­er­al ad­mis­sion tick­et.

And while par­ty­go­ers can pick and choose which fetes they at­tend, if you love Car­ni­val, play­ing mas is a must and usu­al­ly ac­counts for most of the mon­ey spent dur­ing the sea­son.

Ac­cord­ing to My Car­ni­val Bands, an on­line plat­form that al­lows users to view and pur­chase cos­tumes from var­i­ous bands, the most ex­pen­sive cos­tume comes from the band Show­time cost­ing $10,000 for the plat­inum in their Spar­tan sec­tion. You can add on Mon­day wear for an ad­di­tion­al $100 and ei­ther a tank­i­ni ($60) or boy shorts ($50.) When the Sun­day Guardian checked the band’s web­site on Fri­day, that all-in­clu­sive sec­tion was com­plete­ly sold out.

The cheap­est cos­tume list­ed for rev­ellers in Port-of-Spain is a back line with the band Lega­cy and their 2019 Colours of Hope pre­sen­ta­tion, cost­ing ap­prox­i­mate­ly $1,586.

The cos­tume fea­tures a tiara, neck and arm bands, dec­o­rat­ed bra, belt, and biki­ni.

For a feath­er col­lar, you have to pay an ad­di­tion­al $570.

Aaron Kalicha­ran, man­ag­er of the Kalicha­ran band in San Fer­nan­do said his band of­fers a $1,000 sec­tion and front-line cos­tumes cost­ing be­tween $2,500 to $3,500 in an all-in­clu­sive sec­tion.

“Our ul­tra front line pieces are sold out al­ready and those in­clude ac­cess to a mov­ing float where rev­ellers can have their Rooster­tails and par­ty on the float while still be­ing a part of the band,” Aaron said.

Source: https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/carniva ... 54d4a371c2

[hydroep]

Saw this article a few days ago. If they could afford it, why not...whatever makes them happy yes.

The problem is for those who cyar put food on the table and pay their rent after the feteing done. Is then the buyer's remorse does kick in...

[shake d livin wake d dead]

I hadda be ah cnut to take a carnival loan

[pugboy]

And limpbert still fraid to tax them events

[zoom rader]

Dumb arse trinis once again,

A trini and his money is soon parted

[Moobs]

These reporters getting lazier every day. This didn't need an article.
Trying to hard to toy with Joe Public brains...

[RedVEVO]

Dumb arse trinis once again,

A trini and his money is soon parted

Normal Trini lifestyle ..

And Trini woman will so be parted when $$$ done ..

[l33t2]

For my girl, including hyatt for carnival weekend, frontline costume and about 6-7 fetes, then outfit, driver and make up. She must be paying about 40k for the season

[Numb3r4]

$40,000.00 for the Carnival season...WOW...

[pugboy]

Surely she have no debts to have access to that kinda disposable income

$40,000.00 for the Carnival season...WOW...

[rebound]

Prolly ah minista or contrakta daughta.

[Les Bain]

Props to the guy who used budget discipline to save for the season. I don't agree with what he spending it on but you can adapt his approach to save for anything.

The loan takers dotish no ass though.

[Chimera]

cyar hate people for doing what they want to enjoy themselves na


one person might enjoy using that money and flying out for the week and shopping/relax

a next one might enjoy gambling or drinking that money

these enjoy spending it on carnival

one man might buy a benz and live in he mother house his whole life...and he happy

a next one might buy a b14 and build a house/rent instead.....he happy

if it not affecting yuh

doh hate...hymc

[shake d livin wake d dead]

cyar hate people for doing what they want to enjoy themselves na


one person might enjoy using that money and flying out for the week and shopping/relax

a next one might enjoy gambling or drinking that money

these enjoy spending it on carnival

one man might buy a benz and live in he mother house his whole life...and he happy

a next one might buy a b14 and build a house/rent instead.....he happy

if it not affecting yuh

doh hate...hymc

Quoted for truth
Everyone has their bread..

I could spend 100k on a music system real easy...people would watch me like wtf...I have a brethren who spent 50k on ah gearbox easy easy...to each his own...difference with hobbies like these and carnival is....you cya sell back a costume

[ProtonPowder]

Nothing wrong with indulgence... if you have the money for it.

Be it carnival, cars, makeup or computers, if your finances in actual order then splurge which ever way you want. Most people finances not in order though. They owing on their cars, credit union, bank loan and to the furniture store for hire purchase, but carrying down their bank balance to the last 3 digits just cause "I work hard and have to treat myself."

When it have too much month at the end of your money, that 'treat yourself' mentality causing more stress than it relieving.

[pugboy]

Yep, to each his/her own with their choices.

I like how the carnival bands price the frontline sections

[88sins]

And limpbert still fraid to tax them events

technically, they do pay taxes, they/their suppliers pay VAT on the drinks, food, security, advertising etc
but for real, we really need to implement a new tax & should start taxing from promoters go back for fetes, & start to audit & tax dem mas bands too

[l33t2]

Carnival generates so much money for our economy it eh funny

[l33t2]

Surely she have no debts to have access to that kinda disposable income

$40,000.00 for the Carnival season...WOW...

She does, but most normal women would spend around 10-20k on carnival. Not saying they is the one paying it but that is the cost.

[Chimera]

Nothing wrong with indulgence... if you have the money for it.

Be it carnival, cars, makeup or computers, if your finances in actual order then splurge which ever way you want. Most people finances not in order though. They owing on their cars, credit union, bank loan and to the furniture store for hire purchase, but carrying down their bank balance to the last 3 digits just cause "I work hard and have to treat myself."

When it have too much month at the end of your money, that 'treat yourself' mentality causing more stress than it relieving.

Happiness different for diff people

You might be happy to save and have money in the bank if anything happen and vacation now and then

Others might realize they have no hope to vacation abroad and no chance to purchase a house or a nice car so they resign themselves to use finances to enjoy their time in trinidad carnival time.

[pugboy]

You think them bands,fetes report exactly how many ppl buy a ticket ?
The only person who probably reporting the correct amount is the drinks as them alcohol companies are big companies who harder to hide transactions.

And limpbert still fraid to tax them events

technically, they do pay taxes, they/their suppliers pay VAT on the drinks, food, security, advertising etc
but for real, we really need to implement a new tax & should start taxing from promoters go back for fetes, & start to audit & tax dem mas bands too

[ProtonPowder]

Happiness different for diff people

You might be happy to save and have money in the bank if anything happen and vacation now and then

Others might realize they have no hope to vacation abroad and no chance to purchase a house or a nice car so they resign themselves to use finances to enjoy their time in trinidad carnival time.

Could be living in a 30*20 board house or kamla house it dont matter. What i talking about is managing debts and expenses as opposed to just racking it up for enjoyment sake.

[kstt]

That's like a stay-cation

DFK I paying to stay in Trinidad for????

Take that money and fly out for a vacation.

[MaxPower]

Carnival is for Sufferers

[Rovin]

buh d gyardian eh tellin we nothin we trinis already knew

Saw this article a few days ago. If they could afford it, why not...whatever makes them happy yes.

The problem is for those who cyar put food on the table and pay their rent after the feteing done. Is then the buyer's remorse does kick in...

basically this ^^^

going out of ur way for a short "enjoyment" to put ur self in debt for mths or whole yr while having to eat bread n cheese eh making sense to me , to others they like hell they will do it again

to each his own yes .......

[SLVR1]

cyar hate people for doing what they want to enjoy themselves na


one person might enjoy using that money and flying out for the week and shopping/relax

a next one might enjoy gambling or drinking that money

these enjoy spending it on carnival

one man might buy a benz and live in he mother house his whole life...and he happy

a next one might buy a b14 and build a house/rent instead.....he happy

if it not affecting yuh

doh hate...hymc

Quoted for truth
Everyone has their bread..

I could spend 100k on a music system real easy...people would watch me like wtf...I have a brethren who spent 50k on ah gearbox easy easy...to each his own...difference with hobbies like these and carnival is....you cya sell back a costume

While I agree with both comments here what grinds me is when these ppl use their money on Carnival but watch what you have or doing and say that you have money or want you to loan them sum money because things tight.

[D Diesel Report]

cyar hate people for doing what they want to enjoy themselves na


one person might enjoy using that money and flying out for the week and shopping/relax

a next one might enjoy gambling or drinking that money

these enjoy spending it on carnival

one man might buy a benz and live in he mother house his whole life...and he happy

a next one might buy a b14 and build a house/rent instead.....he happy

if it not affecting yuh

doh hate...hymc

Quoted for truth
Everyone has their bread..

I could spend 100k on a music system real easy...people would watch me like wtf...I have a brethren who spent 50k on ah gearbox easy easy...to each his own...difference with hobbies like these and carnival is....you cya sell back a costume

While I agree with both comments here what grinds me is when these ppl use their money on Carnival but watch what you have or doing and say that you have money or want you to loan them sum money because things tight.

Simply tell them to piss off and move on. You eh owe nobody anyting, de same way dey doh owe you nuttin. Fair game!

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Surely she have no debts to have access to that kinda disposable income

$40,000.00 for the Carnival season...WOW...

She does, but most normal women would spend around 10-20k on carnival. Not saying they is the one paying it but that is the cost.

No sir

majority of these women are those who don't have goals in life(cyah cook, always depending on some man and living day to day..........."normal" would maybe go 2-3 fetes and daz it

[pugboy]

A lot of it has to do with how you grow up relative to carnival
I live and grow up in woodbrook, so carnival is not such a big deal,
maybe go a couple fete and sign up for a jourvert band, dont play mas anymore, no scene.

for others its a big deal as they say, big efforts on dressing, hiring makeup artist and "being there"

for convenience renting a place in pos or staying in a hotel is quite common indeed esp with crime and transport.

I have rented my woodbrook apt to such people as well as my sister.

[MG Man]

I spend more on cars that aren't worth half the money I throw into them...to each his own