The first giant balloon appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927.
The innovation came from puppeteer and theatrical designer Tony Sarg, who created large animal-shaped figures for the parade. The first balloon was Felix the Cat, a popular cartoon character of the era. It was roughly 15 feet tall and was filled with air rather than helium, so it was displayed on a truck instead of floating above the street.
The balloons replaced the live zoo animals used in the inaugural 1924 parade. Macy’s began using helium in 1928, allowing the figures to float and giving the event the airborne spectacle audiences now associate with it. Early balloons were even released after the parade with return rewards, but that practice ended after a dangerous incident involving an airplane in 1931.
Another frequent mistake is naming 1934, the year the first Mickey Mouse balloon appeared. Giant balloons had already been part of the parade for seven years by then.