How to Make a Float for a Christmas Parade on a Car
Of the many celebrations held during the Christmas season, parades are often among the favorites. It is not unusual for parade-goers to brave frigid temperatures and harsh winds to attend one. While floats are generally built atop hay wagons, flatbeds and trailers, many people choose to decorate their cars and enter them in Christmas parades. Not only does it save on trailer rental fees but it's also fun and can be a festive adventure for the creative mind. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Decorative fish netting
- Scissors
- String
- Glue gun and glue sticks
- Tissue paper in green, yellow and other assorted colors
- Flowers (real or artificial)
- Balloons
- Crepe paper/streamers
- Christmas wrapping paper
- Small bullhorn
- White batting
- Styrofoam balls in various sizes
- Masking or duct tape
- Glitter
- Poster board
- Markers
- Christmas ornaments and hooks (optional)
Instructions
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Drape decorative fish netting over your car and secure it by tying it or by taping it to unpainted areas like windows, bumpers, grills and door handles. Leave access for the driver and passengers by snipping and tacking the netting so that doors open and close freely. The netting serves as a way to anchor items to your car without damaging its paint.
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Cut or tear pieces of tissue paper into 4" by 4" squares. Find the center of a tissue-paper square and push it down through the netting with your finger; this will give the illusion of a flower.
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Plug the holes in the netting with tissue-paper flowers, artificial flowers and balloons. You may want to alternate colors to create designs. You can also incorporate Christmas ornaments by hooking them onto the netting with ornament hooks.
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Spread white batting on the hood, trunk or roof of your car to look like snow. Hold it down by tucking it into the netting.
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Decorate the bullhorn to look like a Christmas tree by wrapping it in green tissue paper and then hot-gluing balls of brightly colored tissue paper to the outside. Sit the tree on the batting on the hood, trunk or roof of your car; anchor it by running strings from the net, up through the middle of the bullhorn, out through the top of the bullhorn and down to the net again.
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Wrap small empty boxes in Christmas wrapping paper and tack them to the batting under the Christmas tree carefully with hot glue.
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Make a snowman out of three Styrofoam balls in graduated sizes by hot-gluing the balls one on top of the next. Use rolled-up tissue paper for the snowman's facial features and attach them with glue. You can also wrap the snowman's body in tissue-paper "clothes"; also attach these with glue.
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Ball up a large sheet of bright yellow tissue paper to represent a star; tie it to the top of your antenna. Glue several yellow streamers to the star, and glue the other ends of the streamers to various spots on the batting to represent beams of light.
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Shake glitter all over your scene.
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Use poster board and markers to make a sign for your float that conveys a Christmas message. Place the sign in one of the car windows or use string to tie it to the netting.
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Tips & Warnings
Wear light-up pins, glow necklaces and sparkly clothes to add to the decor as you ride in your float.
