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We are all familiar with the purple, green and gold beads that are thrown from floats every year. Krewes purchase these plastic beads by the gross and chuck them with abandon.
Plastic beads rose to popularity as recently as the 1960s. The first recorded bead “throw” occurred in the mid- to late-1800s. Then, however, krewes threw beads created with handmade glass from Czechoslovakia. These more delicate beads were supplanted by the plastic throws that now account for over $11.8 million in sales.
You can still find traces of these glass beads during certain walking parades throughout the season.
– Sarah H. Centorino, The New Orleans 100