Now that the holidays are coming to an end Mardi Gras is right around the corner which means Mardi Gras balls. Since I’ve never been to New Orleans, where the biggest Mardi Gras party took place and never celebrated Mardi Gras, I’ve always wondered what it was and why the Mardi Gras ball was such a big deal. After researching places on the internet to buy Mardi Gras beads I decided to take a few moments and learn about Mardi Gras.
The American celebration was brought to America in 1699 by French colonists and has its roots in Catholicism. The period between 12th Night, which occurs on the 5th of January, and marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas, and Ash Wednesday is known as Carnival. This is the season of parties and parades. Mardi Gras, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is the last day of these festivals and is used as a day of fasting before Ash Day, which marks the sober weeks of fasting that lead up to Lent.
The traditional colors of purple for justice, green for faith and gold for rule date back to 1872 when Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff Alexanderovitch of Russia was the grand marshal of the traditional parade and chose the colors of the House of Romanov.
The ever-popular beaded beads, which are almost synonymous with the festival, are the most popular ones thrown out of the street parade by the 60 participating krewes, or groups, since 1920 when the King Krewe threw out the first cheap bead necklaces. Today, it’s nothing for krewes to spend between $800 and $2,500 on beads and other Mardi Gras trinkets to distribute in parades, making Mardi Gras “throws” a multimillion dollar industry.
Where are Mardi Gras beads found on the net? A Google search turns up over 900,000 sites for Mardi Gras buttons. So, where are the best places to buy them? It depends on what you are looking for.
Oriental Trading Company is always popular for buying gifts and favors for every occasion. The search for Mardi Gras brings 323 items masks, crafts, various party favors and three different pages. style buttons. Best buy 144 24 inch necklaces $9.95 in gold, green and purple. If you prefer something fancy like necklaces with large beads, coin, square or star shaped beads run between $4.95 and $8.95 for 48 necklaces. If you want to spend more money, you can get over 500 necklaces of all kinds for $89.95. They offer many different shipping options, with standard rates, depending on how quickly you would like them delivered. (rating: ****)
Mardi Gras Outlet has one of the largest selections of beads in almost every color, size and shape starting at $2.50 for 48 beads for the smallest beads up to $7.00 for 6 beads for the largest beads. They offer an oem bought by chance. They claim to offer beautiful and lively shipping, but I couldn’t find any information on shipping without pre-ordering. I also want to point out that there are already many types of buttons. (rating: *** )
Globes by the Dozen has nine pages of necklaces of various sizes, lengths, shapes and colors depending on your preference, starting at $1.45 per dozen or $8.00 per dozen up to $23.00 per dozen for a fantastic variety of decorations. flags Grains by the Dozen uses standard UPS shipping rates plus a $3.00 handling fee on all orders. (rating: ****)
Mardi Gras Party Beads also offers a large variety of beads in various sizes, lengths and shapes. 33 inch oval bead necklaces run from $6.65 for 12 dozen to $30.00 for 60 dozen. This is one thing that all sites seem to have in common. The more grains you choose to buy, the better you are going to get. All items in stock ship within 48 hours but do not list any shipping charges. Shipping is calculated only after the order is placed. (rating: ****)
Mardi Gras Importers deals in more novelty type necklaces than traditional Mardi Gras beads. Different necklaces come from cherries to highlight the “injured” parts of the body. The average price is $3.00 for one necklace up to $180.00 for 10 dozen. One nice service they offer is that they will make custom beads. They also use standard UPS shipping times and published prices. (rating: ***)
The Mardi Gras Zone turned out to be my least favorite site because it was hard to read due to the extra small pictures and most of the clicking to find what I was looking for. Standard cast balls run from $2.00 a dozen to $60.00 for 50 dozen. The bead maker starts at $1.00 a necklace. They also light up risqué bead necklaces starting at $4.95. Also ships using standard UPS rates and times. (rating: *)
Pompom Arrows was one of the most expensive sites I found averaging $4.00 more than other sites due to the popular button sizes. It also uses standard UPS shipping times. (rating: ***)
Toomeys was another expensive site $14.00 more than most of the other sites for 60 dozen 33 inch necklaces. They have a great selection of sizes, shapes, lengths and colors, perhaps even the largest selection of all sites. UPS ground and air shipping available. (rating: ***)
Mardi Gras Trading carries both throw beads and specialty beads at some of the lowest prices. 33 inch cast balls are $25.00 for 60 dozen. They offer their own custom necklaces, including adult-sized necklaces starting at $1.99 for a necklace and going up to $149.99 for a case. They also use standard UPS ground, unless you require faster delivery. (rating: *****)
Mardi Gras Parade Beads deals especially on specialty beads starting at $28.00 for 6 necklaces. I haven’t seen a standard Mardi Gras staple of ball throwing. They also promote Mardos Gras boas on their website. You must place your order, there is no way to do it from the site, and shipping information is not listed. (rating:*)
