Mardi Gras Beads & Parades

From Glass to Plastic: A Short History of Throw Beads

By Mardi Gras Beads Factory ·

A Mardi Gras parade float rolling down a New Orleans street
Photo: Library of Congress / Unsplash

Today it is hard to picture a Mardi Gras parade without beads flying through the air. But beads were not always part of the show. For a long time, people on floats threw nothing at all. Then came glass beads, and later plastic ones. Here is how that happened, in plain steps.

Did the first parades throw beads?

No. The first modern parade club in New Orleans, the Mistick Krewe of Comus, started parading in 1857. In those early years, throws were rare. Riders gave small gifts only to a few people they knew, like family and friends.

Historians usually point to 1871 for the first throws to a crowd. That year, a rider dressed as Father Christmas in the Twelfth Night Revelers parade handed out gifts from a bag. The idea did not catch on right away. Some sources date “the first throw” a little differently, so treat 1871 as the usual answer, not a settled one.

When did beads become the main throw?

In the early 1900s. The Rex parade started tossing throws from its floats, and strings of glass beads soon became the souvenir everyone wanted. The Louisiana encyclopedia 64 Parishes credits Rex with making beads popular in 1921, the club’s 50th year. Other krewes followed. One old club, Comus, refused for a long time. It felt throws were beneath it.

By the 1940s, photos show crowds holding their hands up to catch beads. “Throw me something, mister!” had become part of the day.

Where did the glass beads come from?

Many came from Czechoslovakia, a country in central Europe that no longer exists under that name. The Bohemia region there was famous for glass. Its colorful glass beads were the classic Mardi Gras bead for decades, up through the 1960s.

Sources do not agree on every detail here. The Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter, notes one study that found the oldest beads that still survive were made in Japan, during World War II. So the full story likely includes more than one country.

Why did glass beads go away?

Two things happened at about the same time:

  • Plastic got cheaper. Making plastic beads cost much less than glass.
  • World events cut off a source. In 1968, Soviet-led troops invaded Czechoslovakia. That made the old glass bead trade harder.

Together, these ended the glass bead era. Historians do not give one exact year for the switch. It happened over time, with glass fading out after the 1960s.

How did plastic change parades?

Plastic beads could be molded right onto a string. That made it easy to make longer, bigger and brighter strands, in any color.

Floats got bigger too. In 1969, the Krewe of Bacchus rolled with much larger floats. According to 64 Parishes, each float carried 25 to 30 riders instead of the older 8 to 10. More riders meant more hands throwing, and many more beads in the air.

Today, most plastic throw beads are made in factories in China.

What other throws came along?

Beads are the classic, but krewes added many other throws over the years:

  • Doubloons. These are coins stamped with a krewe’s name and theme. Rex threw the first ones in 1960. They were a big collector item for years. Plastic cups, which became popular in the 1980s, took some of that attention.
  • Zulu coconuts. The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club began parading in the early 1900s and made the decorated coconut its signature. Today, for safety, riders hand coconuts to people instead of throwing them.
  • Muses shoes. Since 2001, the Krewe of Muses has given out hand-decorated shoes, one of the most wanted catches of the season.
  • Light-up throws. Blinking necklaces, glowing medallions and light-up rings are now common, especially at night parades.

What are “specialty beads”?

Specialty beads are anything beyond a plain strand. Think extra-long or extra-thick beads, beads with a big medallion, beads shaped like a theme, or beads that light up. Krewes often use them as their top throws. They are the ones people save and hang on the wall at home.

You can see what these look like today in this set of specialty beads. For the classic plain strand, see throw beads.

What about all the beads left on the street?

This is a newer part of the story. In 2018, New Orleans crews pulled more than 46 tons of beads out of storm drains along a short stretch of St. Charles Avenue. Since then, more people have talked about waste and greener throws. In New Orleans, the Arc of Greater New Orleans collects used beads, sorts them and sends them back out for future parades. Audubon Nature Institute runs drop-off boxes for it. In 2024, one New Orleans krewe, Freret, announced it would stop throwing plastic beads.

So the bead keeps changing. It went from a rare gift, to glass, to plastic, to light-up. The next change is still being worked out.

Sources

← Back to all articles