'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving...

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is well known for its pageantry, bands and famous balloons. But did you know that you can get the best view of those balloons before the parade actually starts?

On the night before Thanksgiving, both 77th Street and 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus are closed so that parade volunteers can lay out the huge balloons and begin to fill them with helium. We love to watch this work in progress -- not only do you get a closer look at each balloon than you are likely to at the parade the following day, but you have the pleasure of seeing them take shape in front of you. We enjoy trying to figure out which character we are looking at before it is full of air: old favorites like Snoopy and Garfield are usually easy, but others like the Sonic Hedgehog can give us a real hard time. Want a sense of what it's like to see the balloons inflate? Well think of this: the Hello Kitty balloon stands 33 1/2 feet tall and 45 feet long and takes 17,320 cubic feet of helium to be reach its full size.

When to Go
The general rule is the later the better. Although the balloon inflation officially starts at 3 pm, if you go too early, there won't be enough balloons in recognizable form to make the trip worthwhile. We recommend that you wait until about 7 or 8 pm -- you'll still have plenty of time to see everything before the streets are closed off to the public at 10 pm. On the other hand, the later you go, the more likely you are to run into huge crowds and long lines that snake through the viewing area.

Where to Take a Break
In recent years the crowds have grown to such an extent that the restaurants and shops in the area haven't been able to serve them without interminable waits. So if you need a restroom or a snack, your best bet is to check out the schoolyard on Columbus Avenue between 76th and 77th Streets. There are port-a-porties set up there, and the PTAs in the school sell tasty snacks.

Bonus: Celebrity Spotting
Going to see the balloons as they are blown up has become an annual tradition for many New Yorkers. Look for famous faces as you walk through the crowds. At the very least, you are guaranteed to see TV reporters (especially the meteorologists) from the major networks preparing their stories for the 11 o'clock news.

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