Use Mardi Gras beads throughout a series of contests that will ultimately determine who the winner of a door prize is. Require that the participants adorn their necks with the beads and instruct them to count up the bead strands prior to presenting their tallies to the person who will be handing over the largest prize of the evening.

A Symbolic Adornment

If you have ever attended Mardis Gras in person, you realize what type of effect brightly colored beads have on the attendees and the manner in which these adornments tie into a party vibe. Besides being a fun way to award the winner of each contest that leads up to the door prize round, beads will provide all of your winning participants with mementos that will remind them of the social event and the excitement that was had.

Purchase plastic bead sets that each contain dark-colored chains and a series of beads. If you would like to use some of the beads as one of the contest's props, separate the beads so that you will have enough to hand out during the other rounds. Start everyone out with one strand of beads and get the competition started.

Multiple Opportunities

Place a lot of the bead strands inside of a clear plastic case. Set the case up in the station where the initial competition will take place. For this contest, ask the participants to guess how many bead strands are stored inside of the container. For some other stations, use different props and use the beads solely as a reward token. For instance, you could throw a food eating contest, a dance competition, or a marathon race.

Pump up the participants' anticipation levels by using a megaphone to announce each contest round and by providing a definitive amount of time in which each competition needs to be completed. Use some colorful lighting to highlight the area where the door prize is on display. Choose a prize that will be of interest to the majority of the people who will be attending the event so that you will be likely to have many contest participants who are competing against one another.

Use a panel of judges to aid with deciding who should be awarded a strand of Mardis Gras beads after each competition round. The panel of judges can also assist with verifying the counts of beads at the end of the event, to confirm who the winner of the door prize is.

To learn more about your options, contact a supplier that carries Mardis Gras beads.