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Birthdays are meant to be celebrated with your loved ones. People try to go the extra mile to make such events exciting and memorable. Birthdays are all about smiles, fun, food and enjoyment for kids.
Even adults feel special for the day they’re born on. And to make them feel extra special, there are different ways of making such celebrations memorable.
Let’s move over the traditional style of birthday celebration. There is a new way of celebrating birthdays with all sorts of decorations, gifts and most importantly, happy faces.
Birthday Parades
A birthday parade is an interesting and unique way to organize birthday celebrations. Decorating your car and driving by someone’s house honking and waving. Can it be more exciting?
Here are some best birthday parade ideas to plan a surprise birthday party for your loved ones.
What Are Birthday Parades?

A birthday parade, also known as Drive-by Birthday Parade, as the name suggests, it is a car parade to celebrate someone’s birthday. Guests decorate their cars, play their music, and drive through to share their well-wishes. They may or may not stop to drop off a present or greet and say ‘Happy Birthday’ from a distance, depending on levels of comfort.
Surprise Birthday Parade

A surprise birthday parade makes the celebration more fun. Surprising someone we love by driving by their house with all the arrangements is amazing. You will love the look on their faces when they see the lineup of cars in front of their house and realize that everyone is there to celebrate their special day.
A surprise birthday parade needs to be planned accordingly so that the person for whom the surprise is planned can witness the event nicely. Birthday parades are usually witnessed from the doorstep, balcony, porch or front yard.
Reverse Birthday Parade
Reverse Birthday Parade is a drive-by parade in which the person celebrating the birthday drives in the car and the guests and neighbours are the ones witnessing it. In such a celebration the car is decorated, and the guests stand outside their own homes and wave signs, greet and wish the person celebrating the birthday.
Drive-By Birthday Parade Ideas
Birthday parades are usually theme-based parades. A car parade is a fun idea for all ages, especially for the little ones. These are some birthday parade ideas that will help you plan a drive-by party and take it one level higher.
1. Ice Cream Parade

Ice cream parade party is a great idea for kids as well as adults. Ice cream is a dessert that brings everyone together and can be used in celebrations.
In such birthday parade ideas, ice cream trucks and carts can be hired. Different flavours and types of ice creams can be used at different stops.
The person celebrating the birthday can be served special ice cream. Party guests can be dressed up like ice cream vendors serving ice creams to the guest of honour, that is, the person celebrating the birthday.
2. Pets Theme Parade

For a pet lover’s birthday, a pet theme based party is one of the best birthday parade ideas. This can also turn into a good meet and greet of pets and their owners.
Everyone has to bring their pets along with them in the parade. Guests can also wear a pet mask to add to the theme. The front yard or home of the guest of honour can be decorated according to the theme. Gifts can be wrapped in the shape of a pet animal.
Such birthday parade ideas can easily be turned into mini-safari and pet shows to add to the celebration. All the cars can be parked in a large parking lot, if available, and there the celebrations can continue in form of pet shows and interactions.
3. Race Car Drive By Parade

If the birthday person loves cars, then drive-by birthday parade ideas is already a great surprise for their birthday, and it can turn more creative by taking race cars as the theme for the parade.
The course of the parade can be decorated with F1 flags, start and finish lines and podiums. The cars can be decorated with sports car stickers and in styles of F1 cars belonging to particular companies for example Red Bull and Ferrari with numbers attached to every car as in a sports event.
A podium can be used for the person celebrating the birthday. Also, the use and opening up of a bottle of champagne can be taken into consideration.
4. Magic And Wizards Theme Parade

Wizards and sorcery as a theme for the drive-by party can be a magical idea. The guests can be asked to use mystical elements such as wands, written spells, hats, brooms and lockets for the decoration of cars and the lawn from which the guest of honour will witness the parade.
Dressing up in costumes of magicians, wizards, witches and other mystical characters is encouraged. Guests can sing happy birthday in the style of casting magical spells.
This theme can incorporate different movies or TV shows like Harry Potter in the parade. Dressing up as their characters can be one of the ideas being used for example Harry Potter’s costume for the birthday boy and Hermoine’s costume for the birthday girl.
Costumes and other elements of the birthday person’s favorite characters will idealize these wonderful birthday parade ideas.
Vintage Car Parade

Love for vintage cars never fades away. Especially for a person of old age celebrating the birthday, this can work as a nice idea as it has a fallback value and proximity attached to it.
Guests can be asked to bring vintage cars, if they have any, or style their cars in vintage style. The parade can be used to showcase different decades with cars passing in an order of older to newer cars or one decade can be picked to be in focus for the parade. Guests may also dress up in a vintage style.
Friends and family members of the guest of honour may join and take a ride in a vintage car. The birthday parade can end at some decorated parking lot dedicated to vintage cars for that day.
Not just the cars, but the whole birthday party can be celebrated with a vintage theme. Using vintage songs and decorating the parade using vintage stuff may add to the beauty of these birthday parade ideas.
Simple Drive-By Birthday Parade

This is for adults who would love a grand but at the same time a simple and not so extravagant birthday celebration. Simple drive-by birthday parade ideas may include ‘Happy Birthday’ banners and the use of lots of balloons to make them feel special. Guest of honour’s favourite food and snacks can be part of the various stops of the parade.
The use of music is recommended in a simple birthday parade. Car windows can be decorated with ‘Happy Birthday’ banners and simple birthday items such as birthday caps, masks can also be used for decoration.
Such birthday parade ideas can be dedicated by children to their parents, and many parents would love a grand but simple celebration, especially if it is a milestone year such as the 50th, 60th or 70th birthday. Children may invite friends of their parents, and it can thus turn into a wonderful once in a while friends reunion.
Designer Floor Parade

Have a drive-by parade for a birthday party? It is a good idea to have the floor or the road decorated. Colouring the floor adds another dimension to the idea of a birthday parade.
With decorations using flowers, cartoons or balloons, the kids would love to receive a huge ‘Happy Birthday’ written on the floor for them.
Designing the floor is a good option for reverse birthday parade ideas, as the guest of honour at the party will see and enjoy the decorations while being on the road.
Movie or TV Show Theme Parade
Everyone has a movie or a TV show close to their hearts. The birthday parade ideas can incorporate the favourite film or series of the person celebrating their birthday.
Guests can dress up in the costume of the characters of the film or series chosen. The cars can be decorated with the dialogues of that film or series.
The parade can also be done using cinema as a theme in general without choosing a particular movie or show. In such cases, car decorations can be done by using film equipment and film reels. Also, the parade can be ‘filmed’. It is preferable to send the invitation to such a parade in a video format.
Doughnuts And Beverages Parade

Starting the day with doughnuts and a cup of coffee is always a fun idea. Set up a station for visitors to choose up a doughnut and espresso as they drive through to share their birthday greeting in the morning.
The invite for the same can be sent in form of a card along with individually wrapped cupcakes or doughnuts. Different doughnut shops can be contacted and the supply of the doughnuts can be outsourced.
Guests can also be asked to bring different beverages for the parade and the birthday party after the parade.
Cheer Parade
Everyone loves to be cheered, especially if it’s their birthday. Throw a mini pep rally by having neighbours and guests beautify their cars in the local cheer squad’s colours.
There will be a high level of excitement for cheering the person celebrating the birthday. Such birthday parade ideas require the use of pom-poms, wearing glittery costumes and shouting slogans. The person celebrating the birthday can receive gifts wrapped in glittery papers catering to the theme.
How to Plan a Birthday Parade?
Birthday parades are grand celebrations, so it requires more planning than simple birthday parties or a get-together. As there is much on the parts of the guests to do for the drive-by parade, the guests must be invited well in advance.
Birthday Parade Invitation

For implementing these birthday parade ideas, firstly draft an invitation that explains well about the date, time, location (birthday person’s house) and the meet-up place. The invites must be sent three to four weeks before the event.
Give an assembly spot and time ideally, somewhere close to the guest of honour’s home. A large parking lot is a wonderful option, there, anybody can get lined up in their vehicles before heading out in a procession and it can be used as a meeting point too.
Birthday Parade Theme
The theme and idea must be selected keeping in mind the guest of honour. After the selection of the theme, the invitations must be drafted. You can get a bit creative here. Deciding on the theme of the parade and the decorations will let you discover your creative side.
A theme based on the choice of the birthday person like their favorite dessert, show or celebrity, would be the best surprise.
Car parades may involve renting cars or special vehicles. Having prior information on the things that are to be outsourced and rented is beneficial. There is a chance that a birthday guest might not possess a car, so the required arrangements need to be done.
Things You Can Do In A Drive-By Birthday Parade
- Create a special spot for the person celebrating that day to sit or stand and to greet the guests.
- Play your guest of honour’s favourite songs to add to the atmosphere of celebration.
- Keep snacks and treats for your guests to have at the end of the birthday party.

Organising a birthday parade requires a lot of arrangements and thus should be properly planned. Such drive-by parties may require prior permissions from the local authorities, which should be taken care of well in advance.
Car parades are a fun and grand idea, especially when you want to do something big and different. Kids will love these birthday parade ideas in form of car parades, this will make their birthday party a fun experience.
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Last Updated on by Himani Rawat