2020 has been tough. What’s been challenging is separation from friends and family in order to flatten the curve and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
All spring (and early summer), I’ve watched weddings, vacations and other events get canceled. In the back of my mind, I always hoped that the world would return to “normal” during the late summer months. That way, we could celebrate my second daughter’s first birthday with a regular birthday party. However, as July approached, the hopes of normalcy vanished and I knew I needed to creatively plan a way to social distance to celebrate her.
I’ve seen car parades pop up to celebrate graduations, birthdays, anniversaries and any event worthy of celebration. I knew I wanted to have a birthday parade for her, but the “where” was difficult to answer. We lived on a main road, so it was important to have it elsewhere to keep guest safe.
I thought to ask a friend to use their driveway so it could have a neighborhood/community feel, but I didn’t know how friends might feel about us blocking their driveway. Also, I didn’t know the dynamics of other’s neighborhoods, so the more I thought, the more I felt I needed a different venue. Five minutes from our home, there was a smaller park that caught my eye a few weeks ago. It seemed quiet with a big enough parking lot to have a car parade, but not block incoming park traffic.
Since I’ve been working full time from home (during COVID), we decided to schedule a parade after dinner. We selected an evening time slot (7pm) for a few reasons:
- Gave me time to finish the workday, grab kids from daycare, prepare dinner and setup for the parade.
- Little to no traffic on streets surrounding the park.
- Decrease amount of people at the park.
- Families could eat dinner together then come and celebrate with us.
- Low temperatures during the evening hours
We only grabbed a few household décor items so our setup/tear down was fast. Unfortunately, I didn’t plan for such a windy day and some items were broken and/or blew away.
I was incredibly blessed by the turnout we had! Friends drove 20+ minutes to come and celebrate with us and decorated their cars with beautiful banners to make our little lady feel special. I’m forever grateful to everyone who came out.
If I could repeat it again, I would…and wouldn’t change one thing! I highly recommend a park parade especially if you live in a quiet/busy neighborhood too. Below are some recommendations if you decide to have a parade party.
- Greet guest as soon as they arrive and explain the expectation of the parade. While I have seen many parades, many of our guests hadn’t and needed more directions.
- Clearly identify the entrance and exit point of your parade. You don’t want cars arriving in the opposite direction that you intended and become confused. We brought large orange cones and chalk to mark traffic flow, but decided it wasn’t necessary since the park had one entrance/exit.
- Ensure you and your family are clearly visible for guest to see. You don’t want guests riding up and down the street looking for you because they can’t see you standing back in your driveway.
- Respect your guests need to social distance. Some people might want to just wave from the car to avoid close contact, and that’s fine! 🙂
- Speak to every guest and thank them for coming!
