Look for the Burning Band... BRC has a fab marching band!

80 pounds of beads? That's a lot of beads! If you've got them anyway, might as well figured out something to do with them. If not gifting, why not turn them into an art project?

Moongazer, bring the trumpet. I saw several different camps the where "jam sessions" were the norm. When you get there just take it for a walk and keep your ears open you will find a place!

Moongazer, what could be hipper *than* a trumpet at BM?

... unless it's a flaming trumpet a la flaming tuba man www.youtube.com/watch

I envision a flaming brass marching band playing Sousa'a Liberty Bell

moongazer,
trumpet is totally hip. :) seriously: Miles, man. ;)
I'm sure you could find some people to play with or just entertain some folks on your own. You may want to investigate the effects of the alkali dust on your instrument before taking it though. It might gum up the levers.

re: the beads, I'm sure they could be used for something else cool. decorate your bag or clothes or tent with them. restring them into something else and gift them. :)

but yeah, I have to be honest here... I don't want to sound snarky or exclusionary, but if someone were to try to give me mardi gras beads I'd be annoyed or insulted at best.
First, they're cheap, they're useless, they don't serve a costume or practical purpose, they're likely to break and leave little bead garbage all around that I then have to go chasing so I don't moop.

Second, people give mardi gras beads for women to "show us your tits"... frankly, my boobs are worth a lot more than a couple of plastic beads and no one worthy of seeing them would offer beads anyway. So the original mardi gras beads are insulting and creepy.
Third, to then to bring that to BM is insulting by association, and to saddle me with a cheap plastic gift that has cheap plastic connotations that I'm going to have to take all the way home is just annoying. Regardless of your intention.

Fourth, it associates something like BM with something as crass and lame as mardi gras.

So really, not so much a way to get a good start with fellow burners IMO. Others might feel differently.

I'm from the Sacramento area and would -totally- be interested in cooking with your wife!

Hatfield scribed: "There were some cool people at my nearest corner (3:25 and Hope) who, in the heat of the day were giving away snowcones (Whoever you are, you people rock). So when I went to Artica to pick up ice, I picked up a couple of extra bags to give to them."

(An older post but I just read it for the first time)

That would have been "Red" from Eugene, OR., and his entourage of volunteers from the local "Hood" on that BRC block in '06.

The true gifts I received at Burning Man (and hopefully reciprocated) were the great people I got to know and spend time with in the local neighborhood.

In three words: Time and Participation. (The gift of your time and your willingness to participate with a joyful and friendly spirit is the biggest gift you can give. IMHO. And it comes in all different forms and times... By keeping your eyes peeled and your ears open, you will not lack for opportunity to help and connect to others.)

The most meaningful gifts that I was given last year:

A ride from deep Playa on an Art Car to my camp @ 7:30 &D when I was alone, lost and tired.
Lessons on how to ride a bike.
Company for picking up ice at Arctic Circle.
The experience of the Human Carcass Wash, shared with friends, late in the week.
Having a conversation with a stranger who spent twenty minutes just looking into my eyes when he spoke, rather than looking everywhere but.
Being rescued in the second dust storm by a campmate and laughing until the dust cleared in his vehicle.
Being welcomed into a Geo Dome and offered a drink and a chair when the first dust storm hit.
Ice Cream made fresh, from scratch on the Playa.
A pat on the hand and quiet company while I rested off a bad headache one afternoon for an hour.
Being trusted to care for a couple of sick campmates.
Someone offering to take a couple of photos of The Boyfriend and I, so we could have a few pictures of us together.
Being invited to a Playa Wedding.
The invitation to jump on a giant trampoline.
The encouragement to climb the scaffolding at Opulent Temple when I stared to feel a little timid.
Having my hair washed for me after I was naive enough to think that texture wax and Playa dust would make a cute hairstyle.

The list goes on and on... But you get the idea. Not a bead, or condom, or trinket in the bunch. Nothing purchased, only things that invested one person into another for a moment or more, made it into my list, my heart, my memories...