Go Behind the Scenes of the Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at the Macy's Parade Studio in Moonachie, New Jersey. A team of 50 people — including costume designers, artists, sculptors and carpenters — work year-round to make the intricate floats and massive balloons that will float through the streets of Manhattan on Thanksgiving morning.

By: Beth Braden and The Crafty Lumberjacks: Andrew Boza and Dennis Setteducati

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Shop This Look

Photo By: Anders Krusberg

Photo By: Getty Images; Bettmann

Photo By: Anders Krusberg

Photo By: Getty Images; Alexi Rosenfeld

Photo By: Anders Krusberg

Behind the Merry Magic

A team of artists, sculptors, costume designers and carpenters is busy working their behind-the-scenes magic to put the finishing touches on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade up until Thanksgiving morning. Each year, the parade takes a trip from Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Macy’s flagship store at Herald Square in Midtown. Dennis Setteducati and Andrew Boza — the Crafty Lumberjacks — spent time with four of the makers who bring the parade to life.

98 Years, 96 Parades

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade dates back to 1924, though 2022 only marks the 96th parade. The parade had to be canceled for three straight years in the 1940s due to WWII — the materials used in the balloons (helium and rubber) were in high demand as part of the war effort. The parade returned in 1946, and not even the Covid-19 pandemic could stop it in 2020. That year, there was a scaled-down version of the parade to produce a television-only viewing experience.

The Room Where It Happens

The studio is actually in Moonachie, New Jersey, across the Hudson River west of Manhattan, about 12 miles from where the parade starts near 76th street and Central Park on the Upper West Side. The 70,000-square-foot facility employs about 50 people full-time.

Big Dreams and Tall Ceilings

“The magic that happens on the streets of New York City is built and created right here in the studio,” said Will Coss, the Macy’s Parade executive producer. The warehouse has space for balloon prep, float building, carpentry and costuming, all of which are maintained by a talented crew of artists, builders and designers.

Creative Production

Eric Hudspeth wears several hats in his area of the warehouse. Not only is he the creative production manager, but he is also a designer and mold maker who works to turn small, 3D replicas of the parade floats into full-size pieces. “Everything on the parade is made by hand on some level,” he explained.

Carefully Sketched Plans

Elements on the floats are rendered in 2D drawings or in 3D-printed models, and those mockups are used to create the full-scale parade models.

The Dancing Dino

This dinosaur was 3D-printed as a model less than a foot tall, but it will appear as a giant T-Rex playing the guitar on the Geoffrey’s Dazzling Dance Party float by Toys"R"Us. The toy retailer has a new partnership with Macy's, meaning select Macy's locations have a Toys"R"Us section inside them.

Foam Sculpting

Floats are ultimately built to scale using polystyrene foam and wood to make the different elements. The foam pieces are reinforced by an inner framework of wood or steel. Eric can do the framework either after the sculpture is done or before the first piece of foam is cut. Once the foam sculpting is complete, the structure is coated with a polyurethane compound that hardens to make it weatherproof and paintable. The foam structure on the right side of the photo will be part of The Wondership, a new float from Wonder, the company behind Wonder Bread.

Bread and Butter

When complete, the ship’s color scheme will echo the red, blue and yellow balloon design on the bread’s bag, and more than 900 foam pieces of bread will rise from the parade as it glides toward Herald Square.

The Balloon Studio

Matt Kaprielian is the balloon studio manager for Macy’s. He oversees the process of making new balloons, as well as making sure that returning balloons meet quality standards and are still airtight and ready to go on Thanksgiving morning. During the parade, he can be found zipping along the parade route in his golf cart to ensure the balloons can complete the route without a hitch.

The Balloons Are Actually Made of Cloth

Balloons start with a sketch and a computer model where designers then flatten the model to create a pattern. Using the pattern, the pieces for the balloon are then cut from nylon cloth using an automatic cutter. The nylon has a urethane coating, which allows the balloon builders to use heat and melt the pieces together to form an airtight seal. Stuart the Minion, the balloon in progress, is new for 2022. He is 40 feet long, 28 feet wide and 37 feet tall, but he isn’t even the biggest balloon.

"It's Over 9,000!"

The largest balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is Goku from the Dragon Ball metaverse. He is 70 feet long, 36 feet wide and 56 feet tall.

Custom Colors

All the balloons are cut from white fabric and then painted with the exact colors needed for each element. Macy’s doesn’t buy the exact fabric color because of how many shades they would need. “Minion yellow is different than maybe SpongeBob yellow,” Kaprielian explained.

Particular About Paint

In all, the makers will use about 240 gallons of paint that they custom-mix into the different unique shades needed for each balloon and float in the parade.

Plenty of Strings Attached

It will take about 55 balloon handlers to guide Stuart the Minion down the street, but there will be dozens more balloon escorts walking underneath, all of them in perfectly planned costumes.

Costume Corner

Kimberly Montgomery is the costume director for the parade, and she oversees the prep work to make sure that more than 4,000 people are in their costumes on Thanksgiving Day. The costumes give life to the parade and tie the whole experience together.

All Dressed Up With Places to Go

Everyone has to get dressed within a two-hour time span, and the whole process has to go smoothly so the participants are ready on time. The excitement is palpable when people show up to get their costumes, Kimberly said. “The energy in the room is really electric.”

Clowning Around

Costumed participants will include 500 clowns, all carrying confetti to throw as they walk through Manhattan. In all, 1,200 lbs. of confetti will be thrown.

A Moving Theatre District

All of the floats have coordinating costumes as well. Illustrators design the costumes to match the theme for a cohesive viewing experience. “It’s like a little Broadway show moving down the street,” Kimberly said.

Laundry Days

When the parade is over, there will be “mountains” of laundry to wash, Kimberly explained. They’ll be separated into piles of colors, darks and whites, and will be sent out to the cleaners a little bit at a time and then stored to use for next year’s parade.

Just Their Size

Of course, Dennis and Andrew couldn’t help but try out some ornament costumes. “You’ve never looked better,” Dennis joked to Andrew. The tree costume was rated to be “quite comfortable.”

46 Years and Counting

John Montgomery, a carpenter at the studio, is preparing for his 46th parade. It was fate that he would come to work for Macy’s. He only got involved with the parade in a year when he didn’t have enough money to go home for Thanksgiving, leaving him to spend the day in his apartment near the site of the parade’s starting point.

Small Talk and Big Jobs

Security around the parade was lax in those days, so John walked into the middle of parade preparation and began talking to the workers putting the floats together. A conversation about how he had built new rigging for a pirate ship in Maine landed him a carpentry career at Macy’s, where he fine-tunes the floats’ woodwork to ensure everything assembles smoothly on Thanksgiving day. There is no time for hiccups — losing 15-20 minutes for 40 floats is nine hours lost.

Making Memories

John’s cart (to the left) in the workshop is a kind of shrine to the mementoes he has collected from the last four-and-a-half decades of carpentry for the parade.

Help Wanted

John put Andrew and Dennis to work with sandpaper as he worked on a lighthouse for one of the floats. “We always love people who will help us sand because it’s not our favorite job,” he said.

Take the Bus

All of the floats are designed to collapse down to the size of a city bus — roughly 9 feet wide by 12 feet tall. They are then taken in a convoy through the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River and into Manhattan. Once they’re at the staging area, John and a crew of about 100 people will use a crane to assemble the floats in order of appearance on Thanksgiving morning.

Songs on Wheels

The Macy's Singing Christmas Tree float first made its parade debut in 2017 when more than 100 singing Macy’s employees rode along to sing an original holiday carol for their performance in Herald Square. Interested employees submitted audition tapes to be considered for the tree, and employees who were chosen will fly to New York City the week of Thanksgiving to see the city prior to the Thanksgiving Day performance. Sixty-nine colleagues from 22 states will be on the Singing Christmas Tree this year.

Have Floats, Can Travel

It’s a good thing the floats collapse for travel — the Singing Christmas Tree float is almost three stories tall. The Lincoln Tunnel, however, has a clearance height of 13 feet.

The Aftermath

By the time the parade is done on Thanksgiving afternoon, the makers will have spent more than 8,000 hours and more than a year making the magic a reality. After a good night's rest, they'll gather the next day and have a meal together to celebrate a belated Thanksgiving. They're already planning for the next parade.

Where to Watch the Parade

“This has been so magical," Andrew said at the end of the tour. “I feel the holiday spirit all around. I’ll never look at the parade the same way again.”

Go Behind the Scenes of the Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Related To:

Shop This Look

Behind the Merry Magic

98 Years, 96 Parades

The Room Where It Happens

Big Dreams and Tall Ceilings

Creative Production

Carefully Sketched Plans

The Dancing Dino

Foam Sculpting

Bread and Butter

The Balloon Studio

The Balloons Are Actually Made of Cloth

"It's Over 9,000!"

Custom Colors

Particular About Paint

Plenty of Strings Attached

Costume Corner

All Dressed Up With Places to Go

Clowning Around

A Moving Theatre District

Laundry Days

Just Their Size

46 Years and Counting

Small Talk and Big Jobs

Making Memories

Help Wanted

Take the Bus

Songs on Wheels

Have Floats, Can Travel

The Aftermath

Where to Watch the Parade

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