We walked up to a garage-sale table and picked up a skateboarding thing for three bucks. The seller double-checked the tag for me — “I was making sure it didn’t say 30.” Nope. Three.

Then she told us her family’s in a Mardi Gras krewe — a parade crew that throws stuff to the crowd during Carnival. But here’s the thing: her kids said they don’t want to throw regular beads anymore. “All the kids want are stuff like this. Stuffed animals. Frisbees, little balls.” The big fancy beads still work. Standard plastic strands? They sit on the road. Nobody bends down for them.

So instead of buying new throws at retail, she’s hitting garage sales like this one, filling bags for nothing, and stocking the krewe’s throw pile that way. Way cheaper than buying new — and the kids actually want what they catch. “It’ll probably end up in somebody else’s garage sale one day, or another parade.”

The skateboard thing sold fast. The little glimpse into how a Mardi Gras krewe actually restocks — that’s the part I keep thinking about.