Chinese New Year Parade at AC

This past weekend, I walked in the Chinese New Year Parade in Atlantic City with some great friends- Some I already knew and many I just met with the group,  Asian in NY. We each were given a special costume to wear during the parade. Mine was a lovely shiny orange color with gold brocading and flower design detailing.

There were also bigger Victorian style dresses that I absolutely loved. My favorite is the white one with pale shimmery pink satin and gold accents.

We finally got into formation for the parade and got to stand on one of the floats. It was pretty awesome to be up high and see everything from that vantage point.

However, only a certain number of people were allowed to be on the float, so we had to walk the rest of the parade. It turned out to be not so bad- It had started to snow gently, which was better than last year when it rained.  We walked on the boardwalk and then through a couple casinos. I had a wonderful time waving to spectators and fans, and enjoyed having my picture snapped and getting cheered or clapped on. The parade ended at Bally’s and we got to see an amazing lion dance performance.

After that, we were all very hungry so was happy to indulge in a free buffet lunch. There were chicken wings, veal, sausage, mashed potato, pastas, chow mien, pork dumplings, vegetable stir fry and more. The food itself was mediocre at best, but we couldn’t really complain… After all, it was free!

When we were finished eating, we headed to Caesar’s Ballroom to pick up our free gift. They were cute little tea cup with a top and spoon with sweet adorable designs.

We spent some time shopping at Caesar’s Outlets after that and even got to see part of the water fountain show.

It had such a lovely time with everyone: Great costumes, good conversations, much laughter,  fun times, lasting memories…