Who needs a party, when you can have your very own parade?! The COVID-19 pandemic has downgraded many events over the last year or so, but your loved one’s upcoming birthday celebrations are about to get a major upgrade. With a little help from Zazzle, you can organize a drive-by birthday party that will make the b-day boy or girl feel like the most special person in the neighborhood. We’ve got a host of birthday parade ideas and tips for you to consider, so let’s set those wheels in motion!
First Things First…
Before we divulge our secrets, let us first explain what a birthday parade is for the uninitiated. Simply put, a birthday parade, or drive-by birthday party, is where people drive past a house, wave, and honk their horns in order to wish someone a happy birthday. Safe and fun, this kind of event emerged in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and is becoming more and more popular to promote social distancing precautions.
Start Spreading the News
No matter what kind of event you’re hosting, you’ve got to get the word out. Thankfully, that’s easier and more cost-effective than ever. Messaging apps and social media platforms are great ways to issue non-traditional invitations for a non-traditional celebration, and best of all, they’re free. Start a WhatsApp Group or set-up a Facebook Event, and not only can you invite everybody at once, but you can also keep them up-to-date with the latest developments.
Designing your own e-vites using the Zazzle’s easy-to-use design tool is another free and easy digital option. However, if you’d like to do things the old-fashioned way, we’ve got a fantastic range of customizable birthday parade and drive by birthday party invitations for you to choose from.
Use a Staging Area if Possible
Before you take to social media or slip those invites into the mail, one of the key things to consider is how you’re going to time and coordinate your drive-by birthday. There are a couple of different ways that you can do this. In order to best mimic an actual parade, choose a staging area, like a local public car park, and tell all your guests to arrive at this location at a specific time. Nominate a family member to act as a grand marshal of sorts, and instruct other guests to follow their car. This will mean that nobody has to leave their vehicle or interact before the parade begins. Alternatively, you can simply provide a timeframe of two hours and instruct people to drive-by at their convenience anytime within that period.
Encourage Guests to Decorate Their Cars
To create a real parade atmosphere, guests should be encouraged to decorate their cars with streamers and hold up signs as they drive past. We carry a wide range of flags, stickers, decals, and magnets that can also be used to turn cars into makeshift parade floats. These products can all be personalized with the guest of honor’s name and photo for an extra-special touch. If the parade is for a young child, you could turn this into a competition for the best-decorated car, and allow the birthday boy or girl to act as the judge.
Spruce up Your Garden
You can’t allow the guests to upstage you, so you’ll have to decorate your garden or driveway for the occasion as well. Balloons, banners, house flags, bunting, and yard signs will make your outdoor space look festive and provide wonderful backdrops for photographs. Grab one of our ‘Honk and wave, it’s my birthday’ signs if you want to encourage random passers-by to get in on the festivities.
Have a Mini-Party Too
We started off this piece by saying, who needs a party, when you can have your very own parade? The truth is, however, we encourage you to have both—simultaneously. Set up a table somewhere in your garden that provides a good vantage point for the parade and then lay out snacks or grill up some burgers on the old BBQ, so the guest of honor can chow down with their immediate family members while the procession passes.
Set up Give & Take Tables
It’s important to have an area allocated for gift drops. If you set up a table near the gateway, guests can place their items on it while maintaining their distance. This table can also double as a collection point for goodie bags and party favor boxes.
Compile Video Messages
Far-flung family members and friends may be unable to make it to the parade under the current circumstances, but you can still include them in the day’s festivities. Ask the absentees to record video messages and then piece them together in a compilation. If you want to add in a little extra surprise, you can also organize for a celebrity to send a personalized video message through Cameo. Whether it’s a favorite musician or their sporting hero, this is sure to put a smile on the celebrant’s face.
Host a Virtual After Party
While the parade is a fantastic idea, it doesn’t allow for any real conversation. That’s why you should also hold a virtual after party later in the day. Simply fire up Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts and have fun chatting as the soda/beer/wine flows freely. You can also kick things up a notch by playing games online. Houseparty and Jackbox.tv have a wide range of group games available, while Kahoot offers a diverse collection of themed quizzes.
And One Other Thing…
Car parades aren’t just an ideal way to celebrate birthdays. In the era of COVID, they’re also a great option for other events, such as anniversaries, graduations, and showers—both baby and bridal. The formula is pretty much the same regardless of the event, so you can follow the outline above while making a few minor adjustments to the décor. Whatever the occasion though, you’ll find everything you need right here on our drive by party supplies page.
With these drive-by birthday party ideas and tips, and a few of our high-quality products, your parade is sure to make this birthday their most memorable yet. Stay safe and have fun!
Seamus is a Content Specialist at Zazzle. He is quite happy in the role. So, if you’re following, that makes him a content Content Specialist. Seamus likes to write, read, watch sports, drink good beer/coffee, and spend time with his two beautiful kids. To say that he doesn’t like ketchup is an understatement.
