Yeah, hit the right stores on the outskirts of New Orleans and you can buy a big ol’ bag of beads for a few bucks.
Consider Halloween – kids (or their parents) could buy bags of candy for themselves, but the fun is having folks give you candy in appreciation of your display (costume, in this case). Kids get a lot more excited about Halloween than they ever would about getting a bag of candy from the store, because Halloween and trick-or-treating involve a lot more than just candy.
As mentioned above, Mardi Gras parade watchers get “throws” (cups, candy, beads, etc.) from the floats. This is just for being there, but it’s still fun to get something for free. And not everyone gets something, so there’s a delight in lucking out.
Anyway, I suspect GMRyujin is correct, and things just evolved from there into today’s “flash and catch” tradition. It lets some folks improve their “luck.” Like Halloween, the fun is getting folks to give you stuff in appreciation of your display. And I would venture that some of the ladies also get some satisfaction out of either doing something naughty they wouldn’t ever do elsewhere, or feeling license to do something they’d kinda like to do anyway.
Because the beads represent how much class and brains you have. Oh and how sober you are. Which ultimatley results in guys chasing the girl with most beads.
Well, when I was there, you could get beads merely by smiling and ASKING for pete’s sake. And I’m not a young college coed with a perfect bod anymore (OH MY GOD, maybe they were PITY beads :D).
Although when those in my crowd DID flash, it was done for FUN. The beads are just for extra fun value.
Hell, people we so wasted they were throwing beads at the freaking MULES for crying out loud. (PS, never walk barefoot in the streets of N’awlins, no matter HOW long you’ve been up dancing, or how much your feet hurt,eeeeuuuuwww, a friend of ours did this, and was too drunk to know the consequences, boy was HE grossed out the next day when we told him).
It’s kind of like Monopoly money. Utterly worthless, but some people will spend hours accumulating it, only to give it back at the end of the night. It’s all in the game. And CanvasShoes, you can still get loads of beads by asking nicely.
You don’t HAVE to flash to get beads, and contrary to popular opinion, it doesn’t happen at every parade, because Mardi Gras happens all over, it’s not just in the Quarter. This is why as long as I live here I will avoid the Quarter.
We live a couple of blocks from a parade route, and we’re right near the end of it, so they dump everything they can on us. You want beads? We’ve got beads. And more beads!
Only seen it on tv. Going out there in a crowd that size isn’t my cup of tea. I have lived vicariously through some coworkers that have gone though. Sounds like a barrel of fun. Not! Just seems silly to flash for cheap beads. If I am going to flash… boy I want hard cash!
Works in Cancun Too… although you don’t really need the beads, TV camera’s usually work better. I don’t understand why, but when give a chance to be on TV, most people want to act stupid.
It’s just fun. At least it was for me We got tons of interesting beads- including the weed beads my bf asked me to ‘get’. They were better quality than the ones we got from the parade floats with the one exception of the large dice beads. They’re cool. We’re using all the beads we got (an entire rolling suitcase full) for Christmas decorations and things.
I was also rather drunk at the time too. Did I also mention that we were visiting the boy’s grandmother? So when we showed up with all those beads… She was cool though.
Reminds me of the Mardi Gras when my cousin and his Army buddy joined me and my friends for some parades. We were behind this woman who flashed at everything. Yeah, she got tons of nice beads, but we lived like kings and queens off of her leftovers.
Oh, yeah, and you can feel perfectly comfortable taking your kids out to the parades that go by near our house. It’s not crowded, people are spread out, and having fun without the drunken antics (though there’s a good bit of beer around!) you see on TV. Honest, Mardi Gras really isn’t what you think it is.
Unless you want it to be, in which case, you go ahead and head to the Quarter. I’ll stay home!
Mama Tiger came up with the idea of asking for beads in exchange for NOT flashing…well, she’s not 20 anymore!
We got tons of interesting beads- including the weed beads my bf asked me to ‘get’. They were better quality than the ones we got from the parade floats with the one exception of the large dice beads. They’re cool. We’re using all the beads we got (an entire rolling suitcase full) for Christmas decorations and things.