Copyright AM New York
As the holiday season fast approaches, Macy’s reveals the newest Parade character balloons that will be featured this year. 2025 marks the 99th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which will take place on Thursday, November 27. The Parade is a highly anticipated holiday tradition for many families, and the classic character balloons are one of the most iconic elements. Each year, Macy’s welcomes new character balloons in order to keep up with the most popular characters from the entertainment and pop culture world. “Every year, our team sits together and we discuss all of the potential balloon opportunities that we have,” said Executive Producer of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Will Coss. “Our goal for the balloons…we want to make sure all of our characters are immediately recognizable…we just want to make sure it has big value, big impact.” This year, there will be four brand new character balloons making their Parade debut. These new balloons will include Buzz Lightyear by Pixar Animation Studios, Mario by Nintendo, PAC-MAN by Bandair Namco Entertainment America, Inc., and Shrek’s Onion Carriage from Universal Pictures’ Dreamworks Animation. On Saturday, Macy’s hosted Balloonfest, where the Parade’s new balloons are text flown under the management and direction of the highly skilled Macy’s flight management team. “We’ve been ambitious with our balloon program since the early days, but we’ve had a lot of evolution…super proud of our balloon program and, you know, the balloons are an intimate part and sort of an integral part of our legacy at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” said Coss. Balloonfest also featured hundreds of handlers, who guided the balloons through an outdoor trial and gained firsthand experience before the Thanksgiving Day flights. Frost Pips by The Lumistella Company and Freida the Dachshund by Macy’s were also featured at this year’s Balloonfest. “[We’re] really excited about sharing this brand new beautiful fleet of balloons with New York City and America on Thanksgiving morning,” said Coss.
