Carnival in Barcelona: celebrations, parties and what's on

Your friends at Churros con Chocolate are putting on the wildest Carnival party set up on their own farm at Sala Apolo. Things get going for early birds at 4pm with Muerta Sánchez DJ, and then the big party gets underway at 6pm: in the main hall it's OZ, Esto no es Kansas DJ set, Oskar Rajah & Electronikboy, Chica B, and Cheap Son, and the Anti-Churros party features Chimo Bayo, Hunder & Button, Boytronique and MoUnique.

Barcelona's definitive midweek theme party has been filling Razzmatazz on Wednesday nights since 2009, and you can bet they're doing it up big for Carnival. DJs Purpur y Perotutehasvisto, along with the fiesta's team of dancers make up the magic formula that mixes carefree pop, uninhibited dancing, costumes and loads of energy. This week there's a costume contest where you can win free entry to El Dirty for you and a friend all year!

PopAir's Carnival party is back with their favourite tradition of adorning the biggest divas in the world with healthy beards. This time it's Venus's turn as bearded host, and the big party features queen of the party Chica B and mayor of the soirée Albertoto. And be aware there's a costume contest with juicy prizes for those who dare show off the sexiest parts of their anatomy. Carnival at Tango this year goes bearded!

The Tanga party is back with a Katy Carnival special. And for those more into local rumba, you also get, in the flesh, the real Melody! She's been on all the shows in Spain, everyone's seen her grow up and danced to her hits like 'El baile del gorila' and 'De pata negra'. Compete in a costume contest, get a chance to win prizes, and dance in two rooms – one with pop and hits with Alex Marteen, David Mix, DJ Mata and Alex Barros, and the other with Roberto Ferrari playing house music.

Antikaraoke has got to be the craziest theatrical karaoke in town, where you can sing your favourite songs, be they rock, soul, funk, pop, metal, hip hop or beyond. Antikaraoke, which has been around for 13 years, is a bit hard to define: it's a strange fusion between a rock concert, an underground karaoke and a Broadway show, where what matters is who's singing, not the song itself. With special performances by Marina Salvador and Burlesque Girls BCN.

El Monumental Club vuelve este 2 de marzo nada menos que con un especial de Carnaval, que se augura como una invasión de disfraces, rúa y muchas sorpresas. Sidonie DJs son los cabezas de cartel de la segunda edición de este año y Los Coming Soon, una auténtica turbina de ritmo bailable, suman su directo a un lineup que también cuenta con los DJ sets de Much Boogaloo y el residente rompe-pistas Tilt!. Como de costumbre, con propuesta gastronómica y opciones Monumental Kids, para los más pequeños.

Carnival in the Nou Barris neighbourhood is about to be a huge celebration away from the central neighbourhoods this year. First there's a big parade that goes through the areas of Roquetes, Prosperitat, Verdun, Guineueta, Trinitat Nova, Ciutat Meridiana and Torre Baró, another parade at 7pm that passes through Via Júlia, a big party with prizes for costumes at 9pm in Plaça Ángel Pestaña, and a mascarade dance at midnight at the Ateneu Popular de Nou Barris, with musical accompaniment from La Seva Band and TuBieja.

The Catalan tradition of building representative figures out of cardboard (giants, big-heads, puppets, and beastly creatures that take part in festivals) is the essence of this mask-making business, which covers masks from Greek tragedies to Comedia dell'Arte, French tradition to Catalan theatre, and even the Japanese 'Noh'. Their assests include some 300 models of masks that can be mass-produced without losing their artisanal character. Tourists, collectors, and those involved in the stage arts and festivals are the clientele of this shop on C/Princesa where, in addition to the masks you can also find many other cardboard and papier mâché objects.

At once enchanting and disturbing, El Ingenio's handcrafted toys, tricks and costumes are reminders of a pre-digital world where people made their own entertainment. Its cabinets are full of practical jokes and curious toys; its fascinating workshop produces the oversized heads and garish costumes used in Barcelona's traditional festivities.

This shop specialises in humour, perhaps even on a worldwide scale, because they approach the discipline from all sides (and take it seriously, we might add). They have books that use humorous tools, from Miguel Noguera to Kakfa, there are Spanish magazines from the '70s such as 'Hermano Lobo', and they have a good selection of joke items and even design objects, with a preference for David Shrigley merchandising and Seletti editions. La Llama also functions as a gallery and hosts stand-up comedy workshops.