How to Decorate a Car for a Christmas Parade

Christmas parades are exciting events that bring the wonder of Christmas decorations right onto the streets for the whole town or city to enjoy. Christmas Designers was pleased to participate in the Sherman Christmas parade last season. It was an incredible opportunity to share in the community spirit and represent the Christmas Designers brand. We gained a lot of insight from our first company parade and are here to share what we’ve learned for how to decorate a car for a Christmas parade.

Preparing for the Parade

Gather a Team

Decorating a car (and a parade float, which we’ll explore later) requires a lot more work than you might think. A team is a huge help in multiplying what can be done across your decorating plan. Your team can be a fantastic pool for creative ideas and contributing key pieces that are needed, such as the right car and a generator. Establish a budget and work with your team to see the plan through.

Secure the Right Vehicle

The Christmas parade car should be carefully considered. A truck is an excellent option because of its bed that allows for your parade-going team to safely situate themselves. Safety is the top priority for all team members, especially any children on your team. If your parade-going team is small, or members decide to walk the parade route instead, the truck bed provides ample space to set up a display that can feature decorations such as inflatables, table-top trees, and dimensional decorations such as LED spheres. And as you could imagine, a truck in good working condition with a hitch installed can pull a trailer float with ease.

Decorate for the Time of Day

The time of day for the parade ultimately determines how you’ll decorate your vehicle and float. A daytime parade under daytime light sets up your arrangement to feature greenery, ornaments, and signs that people can read. A nighttime parade means that it’s time to shine—so go all out with the lights!

Watch the Surfaces!

When decorating, be mindful of any products that could scratch your Christmas parade car. Avoid leaving loose light strings, foliage, and wire directly on painted surfaces. Even at slow-moving speeds, the products will jostle around. If decorations against the vehicle aren’t properly secured, any slack can cause friction, scratching, and other damage or wear.

Stay Aware of Decorating Rules

Check for any rules about parade decor during your planning. For example, our parade, the Sherman Christmas parade, forbids parade participants from featuring any Santa Clauses for a very good reason: he is the grand finale! This rule helps prevent confusion among children if they would happen to see multiple Santas in the parade. There is only Santa, after all! But by all means, bring Santa hats for your parade crew and put them on.

Secure Your Power Source

Having the power that your decorations need is key, especially when you’re lighting up the night. A portable generator is nice if you, a member of your team, or someone else you know has one and is willing to borrow it out for the parade. Otherwise, the serious price point of portable generators makes power stations or power banks with appropriate AC outlets options that are worth considering.

Be Ready to Give

Families love when members of the parade throw or hand out gifts to the children. Give out candy, light up toys, or branded merchandise—especially if you’re a Christmas company like us! Catching candy brings out joy in both kids and adults, and it helps create that extra touch point where people draw a connection to your company. Gifts and goodies are a great way to make an impression that lasts long after your Christmas parade car goes by.

Stick to the Theme

Many parades have themes. You’ll contribute to a harmonious presentation of beautiful sights for spectators when you stick to your parade’s theme. Although it might be tempting to go with your own vision instead, following the parade’s theme is best for everyone: the spectators get the consistent experience they expect, the parade organizers end up with a unified parade, and your brand will be represented in a positive light.

Be Mindful of Weather

As you approach the day of the parade, stay up-to-date on the weather. Check with parade organizers and follow any relevant guidance on websites or social media to see what participants need to do in the event of rain or snow.

Ideas for Decorating Cars for Christmas Parades

A vehicle can be an unfamiliar canvas for many decorators that begs the question, “what decorations are best on a Christmas parade car?” Here are some ideas that we find work wonderfully:

Lights: String Lights or Net Lights

String lights are the most popular decoration for a Christmas parade car, transforming a car into a bright beacon of Christmas cheer. Consider a tight alignment of rows wrapped around the car. Or decorate in creative patterns, such as swirls or zigzags. String lights can also be used to create an attractive look along the contours of the vehicle’s trim.

A car presents an excellent opportunity for decorating with net lights. These lights are generally easier to work with than string lights when covering broad surfaces.

Add a Wreath to your Car

Set an enchanting focal point with a wreath at the front of the vehicle, attached to the grille with zip ties. A daytime parade allows for unlit wreaths to look wonderful. For a nighttime parade, plan to use a lit wreath and wrap its cord around the side of the car into the correct power source.

Bows

Bows bring a pretty pop of color without needing any power. Suitable spots for bows on a vehicle include the center of the grille, on top of the hood, and at the middle of the vehicle’s rear (on the tailgate for a truck, the hatch for an SUV or van, or on the trunk of a car).

Signs and Magnetic Lights

If your vehicle has ferrous metal doors, panels, or trim, then vehicle magnets are great for decorating with signs that brand your Christmas parade car. Extra ferrous vehicles such as firetrucks are perfect for magnets: they can make use of Lite-netics magnetic light line or magnetic clips to attach C9 lights around the metal corners of the truck.

Depending on what your vehicle’s exterior is made of, magnets may not work well or at all. Adhesive command hooks work just as well for holding lights and other decorations. You can also use masking tape for lighter decorations, like small signs. Masking tape doesn’t do any damage and leaves minimal residue while being easy to clean up after removal.

Supplies for Decorating a Car for a Christmas Parade

Zip Cord and Vampire Plugs

These are essential for any powered decorations. Connect your power between decorations with vampire plugs and secure the line with green or white zip cord. These supplies will ensure that you route power exactly where you need it, while maintaining a tidy presentation on your Christmas parade car.

Adhesive Command Hooks

Adhesive command hooks are the basis for shaping the display on the sides of your Christmas parade car—all without damaging the paint. We carefully applied these to our parade vehicle and had no issues with scratching or paint damage. We used command hooks for wrapping and securing light strings around the truck bed.

Some of the truck doors were inoperable because the lights strings around the truck essentially wrapped the doors shut. To avoid any damage to the vehicle or personal injury, make sure you communicate with your parade team about doors that shouldn’t be accessed on your vehicle. Other helpful measures include putting a sign on the door window indicating the use of doors, and keeping the doors locked.

Power Options: Generator or Power Stations

You don’t get standard outlets to work with in a vehicle. And not a lot of energy for multiple powered decorations, either. A generator provides enough power to light all of the LED decorations for your Christmas parade car. Generators can be a serious investment, so if you happen to have one that will work for the parade applications, great! Otherwise, chances are that someone within your team or network has one to borrow, so ask around.

Portable power stations are another option for powering the LED decorations on your vehicle and trailer. They’re capable of providing from 100 watts to 2,000 watts of power, which is enough for quite a few sets when you figure our 70 light 5mm wide angle conicals draw only 4.8 watts per set. Do consider how long your lights will be in use during the parade to figure for a battery that will last through the power draw over time.

For a USB-powered option,Twinkly 60L Dots run off of USB power, making them a nice way to brighten cars that have USB outlets inside.

D Cell Battery Operated Christmas Lights

You can bypass complicated electrical situations by using battery operated lights. While you may sacrifice a bit of the brightness that plug-in lights deliver, battery-operated lights give you more flexibility when decorating.

Battery operated lights are perfect for brightening your parade banner! Wrap the banner pole with a set of lights and have a member of your team who carries the banner wear the battery pack.

Fun Supplies for Kids

Light Up Toys, Glasses, and Necklaces

Match the energy of your Christmas parade car and float with similarly bright accessories! Spread the cheer with goodies that children will love. They’ll want to join in on the joy and put on glasses or necklaces right away.

Masks, Hats, Headbands, Wristbands

Families love wearable goodies. Put your company logo and name on knit hats, ball caps, or wristbands, and you’ll be sharing branded merchandise that the whole family will enjoy.

Matching Parade Shirts

Matching shirts are a detail that makes for a strong presentation in the parade. If your parade has provided shirts, wear them with pride. If you’re free to decide on what to wear, consider logo shirts that imprint your branding for all to see.

Next: Discover how to Decorate a Float

In the next blog, you’ll discover how to decorate a float for a Christmas parade. Floats are one of the most eye-catching attractions in a parade, and it’s no wonder: they offer more surface and space to install larger displays and more decorations—all adding up to a marvelous moving Christmas display.

If you need help getting started or have questions on building your Christmas masterpiece, reach out to us today! Send your email to [email protected] or give us a jingle at 1-800-391-5280 to speak with one of our qualified Christmas Designers.