This year, with the city reporting that more than 80 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, the parade is expected to return with all its helium-filled pomp and corporate-branded holiday cheer — with an asterisk: children under 12 will not be allowed to participate in the parade itself.
Their absence is slightly strange in an event whose stars include Pikachu, SpongeBob SquarePants and Papa Smurf.
Attending the parade as a spectator has no vaccination requirement, and children under 12 years old can view the balloon inflation on the Upper West Side if they go with a fully vaccinated adult.
The number of giant balloons is back up to 15 and the floats up to 28, roughly what it was two years ago, after a reduction last year.
The televised parade, starting at 9 a.m.
Kruszewski said that at first she worried that her year off had left her rusty, but when she went to the Citi Field parking lot to test the balloon, her muscle memory kicked in.