The Macy's Day parade has been a cherished tradition for 99 years. This year, the celebration parade that took place on Thursday, November 27, 2025, in NYC has achieved record viewership numbers and has had many beautiful and memorable floats over the years, along with their massive balloons that are walked down the city streets. This year, they decided to make the floats and parade theme more kid-friendly by having balloons from different cartoons and movies.
“I just think it gets better every year. But they're still kind of the same. You know, like nothing drastically different, maybe a couple floats differently, but nothing too excitingly different,” senior Mitchell Rezler said.
This year, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade had a record number of viewers, bringing in just around 34.3 million viewers across both the NBC broadcast that aired at 8:30 a.m. ET and the streaming of the parade on Peacock. These record-breaking numbers of viewers show just how beloved and loved this tradition is
“I thought it was pretty cool, you know, I thought that it was a good year, and I'm sure that the people there had a great time,” Rezler said.
The Macy's Day Parade has approached a more kid-friendly atmosphere this year with even more balloons and floats that represent memorable children’s cartoons and movies. The parade has attracted about an 8 percent increase in audience compared to the previous year’s parade.
“I thought they were chill, you know, there were a lot of pretty kid-friendly floats this year,” Rezler said.
There is a lot of work put behind the scenes of the Macy's Day Parade to make it what it is. The planning is very important for the event; the route that the parade takes, the floats that are driven, the night before inflation of the balloons that are flown, the volunteer roles to fly said balloons, and the preparation for the large crowds that come to enjoy one of the most joyous cultural events of the season.
“A couple of the, you know, the big blow-up floats were pretty shocking to me. You know, I'm just not sure how they make those, and I would love to learn about the process,” Rezler said.
Over the years, the Macy's Day Parade has changed quite a bit, although year after year, the balloons and other content within the parade are reused, the staff and the volunteers who help to make the parade what it is.
“I thought that, you know, compared to previous years, because of COVID, that the turnout was probably better and people are getting more used to going out to events like these,” Rezler said.
