Large Group Halloween Parade Ideas?

[tyniknate]

I'm looking for an idea for a large group halloween parade idea. In the past we have done:

Woodstock/hippies where we borrowed an old VW bus and spray painted it with different peace symbols and sayings. Then we die-dyed shirts for the kids and had all kinds of 70's music playing and a bubble machine coming out the exhaust of the bus. We won first place!

We have also done a luau, with a fake pig on a spit, sand and palm trees. We did hula skirts, hawaiian shirts, handed out leis and candy. Played "Tiny Bubbles" and also used the bubble machine. We won second place that year.

Last year we did cowboys and indians. We built a tee pee on one end of the float and a cowboy fort on the other. Everyone chose their side and dressed appropriately. We made indian drums and homemade bows and arrows. It was a lot of fun and we won first place again.

Here's my problem...my DH and I have hit a roadblock and can't figure out what to do this year. We are out of ideas! The only suggestion we have had from any of the other members of the group is to do "Tall Tales" How on earth do we do a float about tall tales? No one was overwhelmed with the idea.

So, have you done anything fun that you would be willing to share with me? It has to be easy enough that first graders can participate. The budget is also kinda tight, so we need to be able to make a lot of the float without having to purchase a lot of pre-made stuff.

My only idea was superheros. Have the kids dress in masks and capes and walk along the parade route and have the adults as bad guys in a jail on the float. One woman said she thought it portrayed the wrong image? I just don't understand what that means. She is the one who suggested tall tales, as it would be educational. Not everything has to have an education behind it.....sometimes its just meant to be a fun time.

Who can we be and what can we do?

 

[::danielle::]

How about nursery rhymes? Three Blind Mice, Little Bo Peep (sheep can be "hiding" at the back), etc.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Charlie and the Chocolate factory maybe? (it will be most recognizable if you copy the movie version of how the characters look/dress).

Pick a few kids to dress as the main charters and everyone else can be oompa loompas (you could probably make something close fairly easily and cheaply).
One of the adults could be Willy Wonka.

The float could be any sort of crazy "factory" thing, and you could hand out mini chocolate bars.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Pirates--make the float a big boat or an island theme with treasure chests. Most kids would pull something together to look like a pirate I bet.

Hand out chocolate coins and mardi gras beads.

 

[NHdisneylover]

1950's.

Float could have a juke box on it--or an old time soda fountain.

Play lots of 50's rock and roll.

Felt poodle skirts are very easy and cheap (if you can get the felt on sale) to make for the girls.
Boys can roll jeans an slick back hair, etc. Some could be "greasers" and others classic style, 50s "nerds" etc.

Hand out any older candy (lie dots, or bubble gum). Kids who can blow bubbles can be doing that some as they walk. Same for hula hooping and yo-yoing.

 

[DarthMama]

Since this is The Dis . . . . How about a Disney theme? Everyone dress as their favorite character, make a cardboard castle for the float.

Harry Potter? All the kids wear black gowns (like graduation gowns) and scarves in house colors, adults can be the teachers or other witches/wizards.

Zoo? Everyone wear animal costumes? You could do a jungle theme with this too, with palm trees and wild animals.

 

[HM]

Patriotic with flags and lots for red, white, and blue.

Thanksgiving theme with Pilgrims and Indians having a feast.

Haunted Mansion- build a small house that looks haunted and people dress like ghosts or zombies?

 

[Wendy31]

When I worked at our local community college, we had a contest one Halloween where each department had to come up w/ a theme & decorate their office area & dress up in costumes to match their theme.

In our area, we dressed up like a deck of cards. We made sandwich boards for us all to wear: the back was the name of our college w/ a card-like design to look like the back of a deck of cards, if that makes sense, & the front was made to look like a particular playing card. Each one of us was a different card. I was the Queen of Hearts. Another girl was the Queen of Spades. The Human Resources Director was the Joker.

If we were a red card, we wore red. If we were a black card, we wore black. I wore a red top, red skirt, red tights, red heels, & a tiara.

We took several decks of cards & decorated all over our office area - we taped them on windows, strung them, etc.

It was fun! And we got 2nd place.

Along those same lines, I've seen some really beautiful Queen of Hearts costumes. You could have a Queen of Hearts, a Queen of Spades, a King of Hearts, a King of Spades, & a Joker in actual costumes & then have several other people dressed up like the playing cards.

Instead of going the casino route w/ the float, you could go more w/ the red, black, & white theme - maybe more of a Alice in a Wonderland-ish twist?

I love some of the other ideas mentioned too! The 50s Sock Hop would be adorable!

Pirates would be fun too... maybe w/ a little Peter Pan/Neverland thrown in.

Edited to Add - Just thought of another one: Candyland! Y'all could dress up like gingerbread men maybe. The float could be decorated to look like the game board. I've seen some really cute large candy decorations on Pinterest - Pool Noodles formed into a circle & wrapped w/ cellophane to look like lollipops, paper plates wrapped w/ colored cellophane & tied at the ends to look like pieces of candy...

 

[shoney]

The Smurfs!

There is one for every personality. Dad could be Gargamel!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Love the 50's theme idea.
Love the super heros theme too.

My mom did the "Woman who lived in the shoe" rhyme for a local parade.

 

[Wendy31]

Thought of another one!

Under the Sea

The people walking the parade route could carry stick puppets - kinda like the "Finding Nemo" show. They could dress in the color of their sea character w/ their faces painted accordingly.

You could have a school of fish, some jellyfish, sharks, an octopus, etc.

You could decorate the float like an underwater shipwreck maybe. Or maybe an aquarium!

Or somehow maybe suspend a couple of swimmers in inner tubes, on surfboards, etc. above the float. In my head, I'm seeing some kind of board constructed/painted to look like the top of the sea w/ holes cut in the board for people's legs, if that makes sense. The board stretches above the length of the float - kinda like the top of the float. And then underneath the "sea," you have fish, a shark, etc. Maybe even a diver or two?

You could even intermingle some divers w/ the other sea creatures walking the parade route.

Play music like Jimmy Buffett's "Fins" or "Big Blue World" from "Finding Nemo."

You could hand out Swedish fish & plastic coins from the shipwreck.

 

[MrsDuck]

Do you have to have a float or car? My first thought was a hoard of Zombies/Walkers!

 

[Amy]

Minions!

 

[tyniknate]

Minions!

I LOVE MINIONS! Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks for all the great replies. I will have to take the list to the meeting and see what we can all agree on. Candyland, Willie Wonka, Under the Sea.....so many great ideas!

If anyone has any more I will still appreciate having them. We don't meet again until Sunday.

 

[lovemygoofy]

How many people are you talking?

Could you make a big BIG book looking thing and then have small groups dressed
from nursery rhymes or favorite characters? What about groups from fairytales? You could do a group of Snow White and the dwarfs, Alice and wonderland with the Card Army(whatever they were called), Cinderella and the mice, Jack and the Beanstalk with them at the beans

What about dressing the group like little army men toys? You could cut out oval shapes and spray paint them green and then have the kids in green from head to toe with some kind of painted bowls on their heads.

Do a play off the Smurfs and dress each one with their own personality.

What about the Snoopy Halloween theme? Have them looking for the great pumpkin.

 

[kwelch10377]

You could do a Toy Box theme. The float could be the toy box and then people could dress up as different toys.

 

[kacaju]

We once were part of a group that did the Wizard of Oz. My husband was known for his box costumes..so he was the house the fell on the Witch...complete with the feet under it.

 

[NHdisneylover]

DD16 also suggested minions.
Her other suggestion was a Greek Temple for a float and then the kids can dress as various Greek gods or goddesses, or just do white sheet togas (over clothes!) if time/money is limited.

DS14 suggest making the float be "The Great Pumpkin" and everyone can dress as different Peanuts characters. Most would be easy to do with found clothes and/or simple to make felt costumes.

Save this thread! There are lots of good ideas in it for years to come

 

[cabanafrau]

Just putting my vote in for this as one of the most enjoyable threads here in a while.

 

[tyniknate]

Just wanted to let everyone know we had our leader's meeting last night and the Despicable Me minion idea was the clear winner. I think we are going to keep the Disney Theme and Toy Box idea as back burner ideas for next year.

Everyone really liked having a host of themes to pick from, so thanks to everyone who took the time to share your idea. The DIS people always come through!

We are going to build a lab, a rocket ship, and the leaders are going to dress like the characters, with the kids all dressing as minions (both yellow and purple ones). We are really looking forward to getting started on this.