‘Tis the season to be giving and what better place to shop for the holidays than New York City. November is when all the major department stores in the city unveil their magnificent holiday window displays to entice buyers and this is definitely a spectacle not to be missed!  

One of New York City’s most popular department stores, Macy’s, unveils its two holiday windows in early to mid November, prior to Thanksgiving. One window is a changing theme, while the other always depicts a theme from the classic Christmas movie, “Miracle on 37th Street”. Another store famous for its exquisite holiday window displays is Bloomingdales on Third Avenue, which are unveiled towards the end of November or early December. The displays stay in place until well after New Year. Bloomingdales’ displays are always classy and showcase intricately detailed scenes. 

Every year, over two and a half million people line the streets of New York to watch the most spectacular holiday parade in history – The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 4000 people march their way among stunningly beautiful and intricately created balloons and floats for 2.5 miles through the streets of New York, before passing outside the city’s famous department store Macy’s. In fact, it was a handful of Macy’s employees who, in 1924, decided to entertain the crowds on New York’s streets with their impromptu parade down the avenue. Today, more than 50 million people watch this extravaganza on NBC television broadcasts throughout the day.