Parade Floats 101

There may come a time (or perhaps already has?) when your organization determines it wants to participate in a parade in your community, and works out a budget for building a float. Whether it’s for your school, business, or social club – and regardless of the size of the organization – the steps for putting together a float are pretty much the same.

Your first move, upon registering for the parade, is to obtain and understand all the rules. Some parades, for example, limit the size of the trailers that can be used, and many require approval of float design. If the parade has a theme, you’ll need to know that, too, before your group starts generating concepts for your float.

Once you know about any prohibitions, the theme, and the size of the space you’ll be working with, the committee can start brainstorming. Ideas that end up being serious candidates for consideration should be conceptualized in slogans, sketches, and a color scheme. When the creative work is completed and approved, develop timelines and deadlines, which are crucial if your group is to avoid having to work around the clock the last few days before the parade! Then it’s time for the physical labor. Tasks can be split up roughly as follows:

Building the foundation (skirt frame, deck)

Erecting the main structure/setting

Props

Costumes

Signage

Be sure to take a look at what ShindigZ Party has to offer when you are working out signage options, materials and even large prop pieces, which can provide polish as well as save a lot of time and labor. For this reason we suggest checking out our Theme Party Decorations and Banners as well as the Float Decorations catalog.

Our last tip for now is to work out the finishing touches that will best be saved for the parade site itself. For one thing, your float may be traveling a snail’s pace throughout the parade, but that probably won’t be true for getting the float to the starting line-up! Another reason is that some decorations you’ll want to use, such as balloons, will deteriorate fairly quickly outdoors even under the best of weather conditions.

We hope these tips are of use to you in your float-building project and that you’ll visit ShindigZ.com Party Supplies soon for more ideas.

ShindigZ Theme Decorations Great for Parade Floats Too

ShindigZ customers have found another great use for ShindigZ theme kits…decorating parade floats!

Because our theme kits are large, easy-to-use and great for adding that extra something special to any theme, they’re a natural fit for making parade float decorating easier. While we still carry the classic parade float supplies such as tissue pomps (tissue squares), pomps paste, floral sheeting, and festooning, our theme kits make creating outstanding float decorations easier.

Imagine building a gingerbread house float out of 2x4s, chicken wire and tissue squares. With our Gingerbread Theme Decorations, the Bidle Family was able to create this awesome float much more easily. Plus, the theme kits add an extra polish to the parade float.

Other great items for your floats include our personalized vinyl banners. They come in smaller sizes for adding to the back of your float or huge sizes for carrying in the parade—seven different sizes in all. The banners are printed on heavy-duty, weather-resistant vinyl and can be printed with your custom wording.

There’s so many ways to use Theme Party Decorations to create awesome parade floats. For more ideas on how to build and decorate parade floats, check out our Parade Floats Blog. We always love to hear about your parade floats and party ideas!

Swan Valley High School Freshmen Create a Wonder of a Float

The Swan Valley High School freshmen class created a stunning float based on the theme “Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.” They incorporated their school mascot, the Vikings, into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to create a beautiful float using the slogan “This is Viking Country ‘The Eighth Wonder Of The World.’”

The two-sided float measured 14 feet high and 18 feet long and included horns, footballs, helmets and a Viking poised to attack the rival Panthers amid the garden, combining the intensity of football season with the serene wonder of the Hanging Gardens.

Swan Valley High School is in Saginaw, MI. Great job team!

We love hearing about your parade floats. Thanks to float designer William Kaiser for sharing!