An in-depth look at the history—and costs—of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

It’s a Thanksgiving tradition that’s almost as important as the turkey roasting in the oven: The Macy's M Thanksgiving Day parade. Presented by the Macy’s department store for 97 years and counting, it’s the biggest parade on Earth. 

In past years, the event has attracted 50 million viewers at home, who can also see nearly 4 million participants along the streets of Manhattan, patiently waiting in often freezing temperatures. People stand in crowds half a dozen deep to watch as a fleet of towering balloons, Broadway performers, celebrities, and high school marching bands go by. A sighting of Santa Claus closes out the parade.

If you’ve ever watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and thought “this must cost a fortune,” you’re right. According to GoBankingRates.com, each year, the massive floats, glittery costumes, and other parade expenses top $13 million. That makes this extravagant display more costly than the Capitol Fourth’s Independence Day fireworks ($7 million), and Times Square’s New Year’s Eve ball drop ($2.4 million).

But who pays for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

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When is the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? How can I watch it?

The 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be hosted by “Today” anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker. The event will feature headline performances by Cher and Jon Batiste, sketches from hit Broadway plays such as “& Juliet,” “Back to the Future: The Musical,” “How to Dance in Ohio,” and a festive chorus line from the Radio City Rockettes.

Coverage begins on Thursday, November 23 at 8:30 AM ET on NBC, which is a half-hour earlier than previous years; a live stream will also be available on the Peacock app. The parade ends at noon, and an encore presentation will air at 2 p.m. EST.

The parade route starts at West 77th Street & Central Park West and follows the perimeter of Central Park to Columbus Circle. There, it turns onto Central Park South and then down 6th Ave., continuing all the way to Herald Square. It ends, naturally, right at the doorstep of Macy’s flagship store.

How much do the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons cost?

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in 1924, featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo — we’re talking bears, monkeys, and even elephants. But unfortunately, the animals scared the children too much so Macy’s decided to replace them with giant, inflatable versions of popular literary and film animals. Disney's DIS famous Mickey Mouse, who made his first appearance in 1934.

Since deflation protocol had yet to be invented, at the end of the parade, the earliest balloons were simply released into the air, and, days later, whoever brought them back to Macy’s received a $100 reward. For obvious safety reasons, that practice was soon phased out.

Today’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons blow up as high as five or six stories tall and require 300,000 to 700,000 cubic feet of helium. Analysts estimate the total cost to fill all the balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade at around $500,000, although that’s offset by corporate sponsors, who are charged $190,000 to construct a new balloon, or $90,000 to reinflate one that already exists.

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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades of years past have witnessed larger-than-life-sized versions of Superman, Ronald McDonald, Bugs Bunny, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dora the Explorer, and Bluey, but the most popular balloon by far has been the Peanuts character, Snoopy. The indefatigable beagle has appeared in 39 parades—and in 2023, his newest incarnation, a 55-foot Beagle Scout Snoopy, created in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beagle Scouts’ first appearance in Charles Schultz’s comic strip, will be bopping its way down 6th Avenue.

It takes 90 people to operate a parade balloon; in total, there will be 3,000 balloon handlers in the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, each and every one of whom is a Macy’s employee. They undergo 3 months of intensive balloon handling training in preparation for any sudden or unexpected shifts in the wind (when that happens, they are instructed to rotate their balloons downward). New York law forbids balloons to fly in wind conditions exceeding 20 knots, or 23 mph, although the only time that happened was in 1971. 

How much do the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats cost?

Much closer to the ground, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats are a dazzling, mobile array of hundreds of gallons of paint and thousands of pounds of confetti and glitter—each float takes between four and nine months to assemble and averages between $30,000 and $100,000 in costs.

Five new floats will be featured in the 2023 Macy’s parade, depicting scenes ranging from Willy Wonka’s deliciously delectable world to the subterranean lair of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

How much do the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade costumes cost?

Atop every float, and underneath every balloon, are a sea of Macy’s employees who also need to be fabulously outfitted.

Each balloon handler wears a jumpsuit, tabard (a sleeveless outer garment), gloves, spats, and a beanie, all coordinated with the balloon’s theme.

But balloon handlers aren’t the only ones dressing up: Celebrities performing atop the parade floats also wear exquisite, custom-made costumes, each of which requires countless hours to sew and bedazzle. For instance, Joan Rivers dressed as the Snow Queen in 2010, while her 2011 counterpart was Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, who donned the mantle of Snow Monarch.

There are also fleets of Macy’s clowns, gingerbread kids, sugar plum fairies—and let’s not forget Santa and his helpers.

All of the Mary’s Thanksgiving Day Parade costumes are created by one designer, Vitoworld Productions, at an astounding annual cost of $2 million. Mr. Vito himself even joins in the festivities as a stilt walker.

Broadway also gets a big boost during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as mini performances from hot productions whet appetites for matinee and evening showings, causing advance ticket sales to jump by $300,000 on Thanksgiving alone.

How much are the other Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade expenses?

It takes 10,000 people to put on an event of the magnitude of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, most of which are volunteers. However, 26 full-time staffers and 14 temporary workers are paid a combined total of $1.3 million to make it all happen. Painters, construction workers, metal workers, and sculptors are just a few of the vital roles that must be filled. Employees log long hours, including late nights and weekends, to make sure everything is ready in time for Thanksgiving morning.

And what about taxes? The 72,000-square-foot Macy’s Parade Studio, located in Moonachie, New Jersey, is home to the parade floats, costumes, and balloons the other 364 days of the year. Macy’s pays Uncle Sam $138,573 in annual taxes for this warehouse alone.

How much is security for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

The New York Police Department does not disclose how much it spends to make sure the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades are incident-free. It does, however, have hundreds of officers on duty for the event. This includes weapons teams, K9 dogs, drones, radiological and chemical sensors, blockades in place, and scores of surveillance cameras — all of which must cost the city a pretty penny.

Who pays for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is completely privately funded by the Macy’s brand itself. Macy’s considers the beloved spectacle its “annual gift to the nation,” but that’s not to say there isn’t profit potential.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was actually called the Macy’s Christmas Parade, and Macy’s hosted it on November 27, 1924. It was a way to show off its beautiful new department store building, which was the largest in the world at the time. Savvy advertisers must have sensed the sales potential and so they changed its name, ushering in the first month-long holiday shopping season — and the rest, as they say, is history.