Yea, these aren't for your entertainment or anything. 
Actually they are. We as a KREWE, spend several grand a year on beads, toys, shirts, candy, food and drinks to hand out to the parade goers and such. We are involved in a minimum of three major parades, various Mana Food Bank drives and toys for tots at Christmas each year. The entertainment we derive from this is putting smiles on the faces of parade goers (getting some S.U.Y.T. shots

), feeding hungry disadvantaged people in the community and giving some disadvantaged children something for Christmas where normally they wouldn't have anything at all. The beads are just an extra window dressing for a festive atmosphere. When we are able to put smiles on peoples (and children's) faces, that's entertainment.
