The Local Santa Claus Parade: The Perfect Place for Distributing Christmas Promotional Products

Christmas is one of the most opportunistic times of the year for retailers, service providers and other businesses to pass out those promotional products that are languishing in boxes in the back room.  The weeks between November 1 and January 1 are historically packed with more public, private, semi-private and group events than any other time period of the year.  Among other events, late November/early December signals the official arrival of St. Nick at many communities’ local Santa Claus Parades and other Christmas/holiday parades.

The local Santa Claus Parade is all about seeing Santa for kids and kids-at-heart.  For businesses, though, it’s a time to showcase the products, services and opportunities that they offer in and around the local community.  Many of North America’s most well-known Santa Claus Parades are sponsored by department stores as large-scale, live, moving advertisements.  They are “commercials” not only for the sponsoring entity, but for every business, group or organization that participates in them.  Some of the oldest and most famous holiday parades include the Toronto Santa Claus Parade and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

The annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade originated in 1905 as the brainchild of the Eaton department store.  The first parade featured just a single Eaton float.  Today’s Toronto Santa Claus Parade, traditionally held in mid-November, features over 25 floats, more than 20 bands, and stretches for six kilometers through Toronto’s downtown streets.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, originally known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade, began as a grassroots effort by Macy’s department store staff.  The store’s employees were largely immigrants who desired to combine their collective love of their new country with the types of holiday festivals that were common in Europe during the early 1900’s.  Their first parade was held at Thanksgiving in 1924 and was organized entirely by Macy’s employees.  This year Macy’s will hold its 85th annual Santa Claus parade, which is now a three-hour nationally-televised event featuring high-quality performers (both amateur and professional) and those famous balloons that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has become synonymous with.

A dachshund float from a 1950's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Today, thousands of cities, villages and small towns hold Santa Claus parades of their own.  Many are organized jointly by local Chambers of Commerce, businesses and organizations in a city or region.  Every Santa Claus parade typically has its own unique, local flavor.  But generally speaking, they are open for participation by any business or organization with an interest in that particular locale.

This year millions of people in North America will attend Santa Claus parades in their own cities.  With hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of live spectators, the local Santa Claus parade is one of the best means for businesses to connect with the patrons they serve as well as to reach out to potential customers.

Anyone who has ever attended a local Santa Claus parade will probably remember coming home with hands-full of promotional products.  Handing out promotional products to spectators is an excellent way to directly advertise to those who are most likely to patronize a local business. 

Businesses that can afford to enter a Santa Claus parade by paying the entry fee and creating a float can use promotional products to further enhance their local community profiles.  Parade goers will be more likely to remember a particular parade entry when they can take home a tangible reminder of that business.

Even small businesses who don’t have the money or the resources to have a parade float can still take advantage of captive audiences.  By simply mingling with spectators and passing out promotional products the business increases its chances of benefitting residually from the local Santa Claus parade.