King cakes, beads and masks are only part of Mardi Gras celebrations this year in New Orleans. The city is asking visitors and others to offer donations via text messages to help defray the city's costs of putting on the annual Carnival party.

New Orleans ? New Orleans may have half the population it did before Hurricane Katrina, but the cash-strapped city still loves a party, so to help pay for Mardi Gras, it’s trying a new money source: text-messaged donations.

The fundraising campaign, which also includes online giving, aims to raise $1 million over the next year.

During Carnival season, which culminates Tuesday with Mardi Gras, the Text to Give program will be advertised on posters in local businesses, pillowtop cards in hotels, billboards, radio and TV and a 20-foot sign in the French Quarter. A national ad campaign also is in the works.

“I think this is going to be a very strong and contagious, viral campaign, especially among the people who have the technology and come to New Orleans and love it here,” said Ernest Collins, the city’s marketing director.

The program started Feb. 8, said Collins, who added he’s not sure the city will reach its $1 million goal by Carnival 2008, a fraction of what the city spends on public services during the festivities.

The Text to Give idea arose after efforts to garner corporate sponsorship of Carnival fell flat. Many companies didn’t want their brands associated with the perceived excesses of Carnival, or with negative headlines coming out of the city’s slow recovery since Katrina ravaged the city in August 2005, officials said.

City officials are working with PayPal, a money-transfer Web site that has run similar programs for Amnesty International and UNICEF.

Under the program, cell phone users who have a PayPal account can donate by sending a text code and the amount of money to a designated phone number, said Jamie Patricio, a PayPal spokeswoman.

The city’s Web site – www.cityofno.com – also has a link for donating online.

PayPal joined the program after a pitch from Media Buys, which is coordinating the campaign.