Mardi Gras Beads

If you grew up in the greater New Orleans area, the above picture will make you smile and bring back happy childhood memories. At least, for me it does. First, it was on a truck for a company that makes King Cakes - Yummm.. But it's the bead dog that had me smiling.

What do kids do with Mardi Gras beads after the parades are over? They make those bead dogs. We used to make them in a variety of shapes and sizes with long ears or long tails or short legs and multi-colored ears, etc. My brother and I used to have contest to see who could make the largest dog (some of the beads are tricky to turn into dogs).

I asked the truck driver if it was OK for me to take the picture and he said, "Sure! If you go to the main office location they have a picture of the bead dog in really pretty colors." Cool :)