Marching in Parade?

[DaisyMamma]

I am a new provider and I have 4 spots to fill, so I was thinking about marching in the memorial day parade with a banner and putting matching shirts on the kids I do have. Then throwing ipops into the crowd with labels attached with my info on it. Has anyone marched in the parade before? I've seen the centers do it and the kids look like they love it.

[Cat Herder]

Sounds like work....::::::

Go for it!!

I would be afraid that the kids would not do it without running off. (mine are 2 and under)

Would the parents sign off on it?? Maybe get them to walk their own child to eliminate the risks.... That kindof sounds fun.

[daycare]

I woudl go for it and if you have a great big wagon you could decorate and use for when the littles get tired of walking.

I had my soccer team in a parade once and they were 4 and 5 most of them did not make it, as it was too long for them and they were all crying and whining that their legs hurt, or feet, or this or that....

I would say if its not too long I would do it...

[DBug]

We did something similar for our church one year. We used wagons & strollers for the littles, and the older ones walked. Our parade was about an hour long, and the kids did alright. We had probably one adult for every 2 kids though, so make sure you've got lots of adults to help. That way if someone does get tired or cranky, an adult can just sit down with them, watch the rest of the parade and meet up with the rest of you later on. The other thing we did was that we brought treats (rice krispie squares, if I remember correctly) for them to eat on the way. Since the littles were in the wagons, we weren't worried about them walking with food in their mouths, and it was a good way to keep them happy and occupied.

If I were to do it again, I think I'd just do it with the littles. The bigs are old enough to know that they're missing out on seeing the parade, and that they're missing out on all those lipops that the other businesses in town are handing out .

Aside from those considerations though, I think it's an awesome marketing idea, since you're likely hitting a pretty good percentage of the families in town.