Wholesale Masks and Mardi Gras

Let's travel back in time to 1921 when the Rex parade threw beads for the first time as it rolled through the French Quarter. How these Mardi Gras throws have developed since then! Today beads and Mardi Gras naturally go together. This is the number one Mardi Gras item and indispensible for retailers. Here are the top selling categories.

Throw Beads are inexpensive beads that make the most popular throws from Mardi Gras floats. The favorite is 33 inch metallic beads in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold, and green. They are machine made with the beads molded to the twine and often referred to as MOT.



Special Throws are more elaborate beads that are often hand-strung. The favorites are pearls and Mardi Gras colored metallics. They are thrown sparingly from the floats because of higher cost. Elaborate design and eye-catching shine make these beads popular retail items.

Specialty Beads tell a story with themes. Anything from rubber ducks to resin figurines mix with beading to create the theme. Today creative designs are producing every color and theme imaginable for beads that are no longer limited to Mardi Gras. Festivals, concerts, sporting events, and tourist destinations call for these fun baubles. These are prized beads, popular as retail items.

Get more ideas by visiting our selection of wholesale Mardi Gras beads.

Who can imagine Mardi Gras without masks? New Orleans law requires riders on floats to be masked, but revelers buy up the lion's share. No wonder, with the extraordinary designs available at inexpensive prices. Let's look at the leading mask categories.

Feather Masks provide exceptional designs with a range of vibrant colors. Artistic arrangements of coque, peacock, ostrich, marabou, and turkey feathers often combine with sequins for exciting designs that fit to the face or mount on sticks. They provide fun for the day as well as attractive souvenirs and home decorations.


Masquerade Masks give eye masks new excitement with skillful design that far exceeds the unimaginative lone ranger masks of the past. Available for guys and gals alike, these inexpensive masks provide accessories for Mardi Gras Day as well as the growing popularity of masquerade parties. Beyond the confines of Mardi Gras, masquerade masks have a market for parties, proms, weddings, sweet sixteens, and quinceaneras. The masks are an easy sell in gift shops and popular for fund raisers.

Mardi Gras Masks use all styles of masks in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold, and green. These colors, first chosen by The Krewe of Rex in 1872, announce "It's Mardi Gras Time". Color defines these masks that use everything from simpler masquerade designs to elaborate Venetian styles. In 1950 Rex attached meaning to purple, gold, and green as justice, power, and faith. Today the colors have universal recognition.

Mardi Gras Wall Masks decorate homes as a constant reminder of fun times. Porcelain and ceramic use elaborate fabric trim and hand painting for an array of designs from jesters to Victorian ladies. Shops in Mardi Gras areas find these wall masks popular as ball favors or souvenirs, but appeal is universal. Regardless of location, these gorgeous wall hangings will grab attention.

Unpainted Papier Mache' Masks let individuals be the artists. Popular for art projects, these masks can also be worn unadorned for a mysterious statement in stark white. Papier mache' is the favorite medium for making Venetian masks. Unpainted masks sell in the leading shapes: eye masks, cat masks, comedy/tragedy, and full face ladies' and men's masks. Just provide the masks and let individual creativity flow with new expressions.

Venetian Style Masks provide the most extraordinary designs and enjoy a strong uptrend in sales. Inspiration comes from Venice, Italy where artists create stunning masterpieces. The favorite medium is papier mache'. Designs are often based on stock characters of Commedia dell'Arte, theatre productions that date back to the Renaissance. History is rich and designs extraordinary in these gorgeous masks that rise to the top in artistic design.

Learn more by viewing our wholesale mask selection.

The human spirit has a magical attraction to feathers. Think about ancient cultures like the Egyptians as well as all the remote tribal cultures. They all used feathers as adornments and for ceremonies. Ladies hats in the 19th Century consumed so many feathers laws were passed for the protection of certain bird species. Today it's the magic of feather boas.

The standard length for boas is 6 feet and weight in grams determines the fullness. Fifty-five to sixty grams gives boas a full look. Higher weights from seventy-five to eighty grams are exceptional while boas around forty grams may look skimpy.

Of course purple, gold, and green combinations are the big hit for Mardi Gras, but that doesn't rule out other colors. The good news for shops outside the Mardi Gras loop is feather boas have no limits as popular items for events. College and high school football eats this item up in school colors. St. Patrick's Day loves green boas and breast cancer awareness fund raisers go for pink. Ladies with their red hats prefer red and purple and tourist destinations can sell all colors. Boas are huge for Mardi Gras, but any festive occasion can use these fast selling accessories.

See the feather boa selection.

About a decade ago, simple stove pipe hats in felt first appeared on the Mardi Gras scene and the New Orleans newspaper, The Times Picayune, published an article on the hot new Mardi Gras item-novelty hats. How party hats have developed since then! Today purple, gold, and green combines with imaginative design to deliver an endless array of Mardi Gras fun hats. Constant innovation includes jester hats, fuzzy hats, spike hats, dragon hats, and light ups-and that is only a sampling.

This party item mushroomed so quickly that everyone is familiar with it today. Ski resorts in the mountains and beach resorts at sea level know party hats. Themes fit into zoo gift shops as well as local tourist attractions. Colors pop up in school alumni shops and at every sporting event--all this in about a decade.


Sales opportunities for novelty hats are mind-boggling. Don't think you're out of the loop if your shop is far away from the Mardi Gras celebration. The most rural locations have local high schools and that's enough for sales in this party item. Every time a crowd gathers in a festive mood, a new opportunity for novelty hats opens up. Match colors or themes with your local events and the buying public does the rest.

Stir imagination by viewing Mardi Gras Crazy Hats and Novelty Hats.

In New Orleans parades begin ten days before Mardi Gras Day, which provides a fertile field for selling Mardi Gras items. But Carnival Season actually starts on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, which opens a much bigger window for the sale of Mardi Gras Jewelry. Just like Christmas jewelry begins selling after Thanksgiving, so Mardi Gras jewelry strikes up the spirit after January 6th. Shops stock up early to capture this opportunity.

Pins are the leading Mardi Gras jewelry item. Top themes are crowns, masks, jesters, and comedy/tragedy, Again purple, gold, and green sells the best, but gold plating also creates high-selling jewelry with a more elegant touch. Gaudy is no problem with Mardi Gras pins. Christmas can be stress, but Mardi Gras is relax, let go, and enjoy. Cares are put aside as large pins with ribbon, feathers, and streamers make dramatic statements that outsells small and tasteful creations.

Bracelets, especially charm bracelets, tell a story. Mardi Gras in the US has rich tradition that developed over the last 150 years. Many charm bracelets center on aspects of that tradition with charms that develop themes like balls, masks, and parades. Beading in the bracelets uses traditional Mardi Gras colors for the impact of immediate recognition.

Earrings provide an exception to the gaudy statement of Mardi Gras jewelry. Dangling drops in dramatic size certainly own a piece of the market, but smaller, tasteful designs are the leading sellers. Many match the pins, using the same themes of crowns, masks, jesters, and comedy/tragedy. Gold plating works well, but adding epoxy in Mardi Gras colors stands out for immediate recognition.

Neckwear finds pendants on chokers as the preferred design in recent years. In any theme this look is classy. A favorite is jester slides. Silver is the popular plating in chokers, leaving epoxy to communicate the gold color of Mardi Gras.


Mardi Gras jewelry is a specialized field that requires a feel for the themes and events. Getting it wrong results in dead merchandise-a retailer's nightmare. Depend on experienced designers and manufacturers because the payoff is big for getting it right. Gifts shops and souvenir shops have a long selling season for items in demand; Krewe members are searching for favors; and even shops away from Mardi Gras find crowns work for pageant and comedy/tragedy for theatre.

Explore the possibilities in our Mardi Gras Jewelry selection.

Mardi Gras dolls glow with the festive spirit of Carnival that replaces everyday stress with a relaxed world of fantasy. Most popular is traditional jesters in metallic purple, gold, and green. Recognition is universal for these icons of Mardi Gras that collectors snatch up regardless of location.

Nearly every gift shop with Mardi Gras merchandise includes a selection of dolls. Florists use them in centerpieces. Crafters include them in wreaths. Krewe members give them as favors. Traditional Mardi Gras jesters shine as a favorite choice, but imagination never quits churning and new designs pop on the market with irresistible appeal.

Elegant sitting children jesters with porcelain heads and hands capture the heart with glass eyes and sweet expressions. Recently, Venetian style dolls provide a new beauty with elaborate jester outfits that are more Venice than New Orleans. Mardi Gras parades and celebrations don't need to be in you backyard to sell these gorgeous dolls that appeal universally.

Find inspiration in our Mardi Gras Doll selection.

Krewe members search for small items with tasteful beauty to be given as favors. Visitors shop for unique expressions of Mardi Gras spirit to take home for friends. Both find fulfillment in Mardi Gras favors that use every art form to deliver a surprise for the senses. Gift shops with a unique selection of appealing favors capture both markets. Everything is easy until we come to the problem of what items make a stunning presentation that is irresistible as favors and souvenirs.

Jester magnets have proven their worth with a variety of designs that include jester heads trimmed with metallic Mardi Gras colors and small full body jesters that stick to anything metal and shout with Mardi Gras spirit. Not a year goes by that these perennial winners fail to sell. Ceramic faces are trimmed with shiny Mardi Gras fabric to deliver a Mardi Gras statement that makes you wonder how they can do it at this price.

Mardi Gras ornaments use the same glazed ceramic heads as dolls, but trim them with a jester collar and hat and then add string to hang as ornaments. The base is flat so they stand upright for an attractive favor for place settings at table as well as decorations. They make excellent souvenirs at an inexpensive price.

Original designs in pewter are unique Mardi Gras favors and souvenirs that will be found nowhere else. Spoons, thimbles, shot glasses, and key chains have Mardi Gras themes and come individually boxed with the exception of key chains. The designer has left the states, so this line will no longer be available when inventory is depleted. Until then, these American designed and manufactured pieces give you an exclusive line.

Glass and ceramics provide traditionally popular favors and souvenirs. Cups, shot glasses, and toothpick holders with Mardi Gras designs express Carnival spirit at unbelievably low wholesale prices. As techniques improve, these gift items become more exciting, and yet wholesale price remains low. Profit potential makes these items a must to your selection.

View Mardi Gras Magnets as well as Mardi Gras Favors to energize your creativity.

Isolated novelty sunglasses have been around for decades, but a broad selection of these fun accessories is something entirely new. Imagine a rack of all kinds of funny sunglasses. Have you ever seen it? Neither have a majority of your customers, so think about the interest that this can stir. Customers will have a blast picking through dozens of crazy sunglasses and you will separate yourself from the competition. Not only do you grab attention and make sales, but also customers just have to tell others about this hilarious selection of sunglasses.

Be on the ground level of this blossoming party item by being first to show a rack of novelty sunglasses.

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of trends and takes you on a tour of the wholesale fashion jewelry making an
impact today.