WATCHING THE MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE
One of my favorite traditions growing up and that we continue today is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a family. Whether it’s on in the background while you’re cooking kicks off or if you’re looking for your school band/cheerleaders or just love all the balloons and floats, we love watching the parade together. Macy’s is celebrating the 95th anniversary of the parade. One of the fun things to do on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade website is to go back through the decades and see how the balloons and floats have changed over the years.
Some fun parade facts
900 volunteer clowns are trained to take slapstick and confetti seriously—but enjoy every second of it as part of the parade. 600 internal tension lines hold SpongeBob SquarePants shape him squarely. Approximately 300 marching bands apply. 12 are selected. 60% of balloon handlers are repeat volunteers. 230 dressers and 100 makeup artists prep 4,000 volunteers on site. The conclusion: it takes a whole lot of hard work and dedication to get this show on the road!
As you watch the parade, you can get in on the action! From sculpting with dough and creating with LEGOs to inflation fundamentals, families can explore the science, technology, engineering, art and math behind the floats and balloons of the parade. Macy’s has so many fun and free videos and worksheets to get your family creating their own floats. There are also recipes to create that go along with some of your favorite floats and balloons.
O CHRISTMAS TREE: HANGING THE HOLIDAY DECOR
According to tradition, families put up their Christmas tree at the start of advent, which falls on the 4th Sunday before Christmas, landing it this year on November 28! Balsam Hill is a go-to for so many families when it comes to garland, wreaths and or course artificial trees.
Balsam Hill’s method for creating realistic evergreen foliage, is their True Needle™ technology. Using individually molded bi-colored plastic needles, the True Needle™ method is simply the finest means available for creating realistic artificial Christmas trees. Plus Balsam Hill’s Signature Collection trees are each based on natural evergreen species, providing a gorgeous, true-to-life texture, silhouette and coloring. Your artificial tree becomes the perfect canvas for your favorite Christmas ornaments and Christmas lights.
We absolutely love the looks of the White Berry Cypress Foliage garland across our fireplace with the matching pre-lit (and on a timer!) wreath. Paired with the Lighted Tabletop Merry Christmas Ornaments, the decor is so festive and ushers in the warmth of the season. We didn’t forget outside too. We dressed the playhouse with beautiful Winter Evergreen Foliage garland and wreath, while prominently showcasing our North Pole Letters to Santa Mailbox… the kids had so much fun putting together their list and sending it to Santa Claus directly.
Balsam Hill returns to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year with their Deck the Halls Float. The float is trimmed with more than 300 feet of garland and a giant Balsam Hill White Spruce, carefully crafted to replicate a real tree and it stands three stories tall! Actress/Singer Kristin Chenoweth will be performing. You don’t want to miss it!
WORKING UP THE APPETITE: FAMILY SPORTS
Whether you’re building up your appetite, or burning off the turkey calories, many families play sports and try to be active. From a morning fun run like a Turkey Trot, to family football in the yard, or even neighborhood basketball pick-up games it’s about being together.
When it comes to everything sports, we turn to Dick’s Sporting Goods. Dick’s offers an extensive assortment of authentic, high-quality sports equipment, apparel, footwear and accessories. The company serves and inspires athletes and outdoor enthusiasts to achieve their personal best through a combination of its dedicated teammates, in-store services and unique specialty shop-in-shops dedicated to Team Sports, Athletic Apparel, Golf, Outdoor, Fitness and Footwear.
From our portable hoop in the backyard, to athletic shoes and a variety of balls, we trust our athletic needs to Dick’s. You can bet this Thanksgiving day we’ll be outside and active thanks to Dick’s Sporting Goods!
IT’S GAME TIME!
From board games to bingo, cards to charades… a lot of fun can be had by families getting serious about their gaming. Building LEGOs can be fun for the whole family. We love picking out a set together and building it as a family. Who doesn’t have their eye on the Home Alone set featuring the iconic McCallister home? If you are lucky enough to snag one, it will bring back all of the nostalgia of Kevin setting up all the traps in the famous house filmed right in the suburbs of Chicago.
Another fun idea is to pick out a holiday-themed set. From advent calendars with your favorite Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter characters to LEGO ornaments, and even a LEGO wreath, there’s nothing like counting down to Christmas by building something together as a family. Last year, we built the Elf Club House and loved adding to our Christmas decoration set up with Santa’s Visit this year.
Plus keep an eye out for their colorful brick-changer float, which is part turkey, part dragon back by popular demand in the Thanksgiving Day parade this year too! If the float were an actual LEGO set, it would be comprised of about 2,000 real LEGO elements.
FOCUS ON BEING THANKFUL
The meaning of Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the harvest and other blessings of the past year… so it’s important to take time to reflect and that can be done in conversation over your meal, or through photos compiled in a book, and even by having the family all together in one place and creating memories that can be later turned into thoughtful gifts. Mixbook is simply the best when it comes to ease of projects and quality of product.
Mixbook combines unique, on-trend designs with a powerful editor, allowing you to create one-of-a-kind photo goods that truly reflect your personal style. We love creating books with our photos to reflect the seasons like a thankful or grateful book. Capturing many of our favorite moments and blessing throughout the year and creating a coffee table book or a conversation starter.
We’ve created our Christmas cards over the years through Mixbook because we love the variety of designs, sizes and the beautiful foil. Mixbook believes photos matter, and that every photo tells a story of what matters most to you. They feel that inside every person is a natural-born storyteller so they want to empower people to tell their stories through beautiful, personalized photo goods. The calendars and photo gifts make great stocking stuffers too!
GIVE THANKS AND SERVE THE COMMUNITY
Giving back year round is important but Thanksgiving provides a great reminder and many opportunities to serve. It can be so easy to get caught up in the busyness of the season. It is important to take a step back and help your family to truly be thankful for what you have. We have found it beneficial to find a volunteer project that is not only meaningful but appropriate for your family. Sometimes, we have the best intentions of having a toddler pick out a toy to give to the toy donation, only to end in tantrums. At the same time, don’t underestimate your kids. I’m always overwhelmed when I see my kids serve or come up with a way they can give back. Whether it is buying some groceries or getting a gift card for a family in need or serving at a local service project, after you serve, take time and share what you learned or saw. This is where you can really help your family develop gratitude. We are often blown away by what our kids share from the experiences.
FAMILY MATCHING! GEAR UP FOR CHRISTMAS
Once Black Friday hits, it’s full on Christmas mode and that means matching! Yes matching pjs for the whole family, matching sweaters, matching hats, you name it! We love Hanna Andersson family matching. From gnomes and reindeers to classic stripes and even your favorite Disney characters, they have so many fun options for the entire family to match for the holidays, even your dog and baby!! Each year, we love picking a print and having the entire extended family get the same print. Whether it is waking up Christmas morning and taking some family photos or going to your favorite holiday events in matching pjs, we love the quality of Hanna Andersson pajamas. The organic cotton is so incredibly soft and we have found that we can pass them down to the cousins.
One of our other favorite things is to get matching sweaters, outfits and accessories to wear to all of the holiday functions. It can be so fun to have siblings or cousins matchy match or coordinate. We love picking out coordinating sweaters and outfits to meet Santa. It can be fun to get a different sweater or pattern each year and then look back over the years at all of the photos. Plus, we love that Hanna Andersson sweaters, dresses and shirts are so soft and cozy.
