Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Tablescape

This article was originally posted on November 6, 2017, but I’ve edited it with a couple of new ideas to add to your Thanksgiving day and updated the balloon links so they’re easier to find. We also have a printable version of this tablescape which you can find here.

What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions? Maybe you go on a Turkey Trot the morning of Halloween. Perhaps you see a movie in the evening? I know a lot of people who watch way too much football 😉 One particular tradition beloved at the Lars Studio is watching the Macy’s Day Parade on the morning of Thanksgiving. The floats, the music, the dancing, it’s all so magical! As the cooking and baking preparations are well underway, we watch the parade march past Central Park and there is nothing better! Nostalgia at its finest, that’s what the holidays are all about, right? So we bottled up our love for that tradition and created this Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Tablescape for our monthly tablescape series complete with taxi car place cards! Say hello to your new Thanksgiving tradition.

Edited: The Today Show loved it so much they featured it on their Thanksgiving edition! 

Mini Kids’ Macy’s Parade

11/8/23: I’m updating this post because now that I have kids we’ve added to this tradition and I thought I should share what we did–it was so so fun! In addition to the tablescape, last year I brought some oversized foil balloons in some of my kids and nieces and nephews favorite licensed characters. We all blew them up and then put on music and paraded around the house. You can see it here:

Macy’s Parade Book

Additionally, some of you shared this book with me: Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade, which recounts the origins of the parade. Jasper loves it! It’s so great for kids. So, I’d read it first, then do the oversized balloon parade.

Macy’s Day Parade Tablescape

Please note: We also have a printable version of the buildings, which you can find here.

Materials

• Black butcher paper for the runner
• Chalk
• Variety of small boxes (covered with wrapping paper if you don’t want to paint directly on them)
• Yellow acrylic paint, we used 3 shades
• Gray acrylic paint
• Assortment of small mylar balloons
• Balloon sticks
• Balloon pump
• Tape
• Taxi Car Place Cards, Download HERE

Directions

1. Cut your butcher paper 12-inches wide and to a length that will cover your table.
2. Draw a broken line with chalk to replicate a street line
3. Cover your boxes with paper if desired, and then paint them different shades of yellow. Let dry.
4. Paint windows on your box “buildings” with gray paint. Let dry.
5. Place your black paper runner along your table and arrange your buildings into a cityscape in the center.
6. Blow up your mylar balloons and attach balloon sticks.
7. Tape the balloon sticks onto the buildings so they appear to be floating above the city.
8. Set the table with plates, cups, napkins etc., and finish with a taxi car place card for each guest!

We hope you enjoy watching the parade this year and little more than usual with this tablescape! Happy Thanksgiving!

Photography by Clara Sumsion Jones | Crafting by Rebecca Hansen | Illustration by Ashley Isenhour