The Snow Crystal Ornaments, also referred to as the Ice Crystal Ornaments are a pair of festive novelty balloons originating from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Snow Crystals (1985-1992)[]
The Snow Crystal Ornaments made their first Parade appearance in the 1985 Macy's Parade alongside many other ornament novelty balloons. The balloons are simple blue spheres covered in white snowflakes.
The balloons would continue making appearances throughout the rest of the 1980's, and their final appearance was in 1992. Before retiring for good, they would make one more appearance at the Disney-MGM Studios in 1992 for Macy's New York Christmas.
Snow Crystal Ornaments (2004, 2007, 2009-2012, 2017, 2021-Present)[]
Twelve years later, new versions of the Snow Crystal Ornament balloons were designed for the 2004 Macy's Parade, paying homage to the previously-retired ornament balloons that were perennial favorites throughout Parades in the 1980's and 1990's. The balloons feature intricate designs of silver holly and whimsical ice crystals, accented with blue. The Ice Crystals debuted alongside several other holiday-themed novelty balloons, including the Red Candy Cane and the Poinsettias.
The balloons would continue to float through the skies of New York City, reigning in the start of the holiday season. Following the 2007 Parade, the Ice Crystals were temporarily retired, however they returned to grace the skies in 2009.
That same year, duplicates of the Ice Crystal balloons were made especially for Macy's Holiday Parade at Universal Orlando Resort. These balloons would appear in the festive procession annually until 2016, when all Parade elements were retired in preparation for the Parade's rebranding to Universal's Holiday Parade Featuring Macy's.
The Ice Crystals continued to become high-flying favorites in the lineup, severing as scenic winter backdrop to Joan Rivers in the Snow Queen's Sleigh in 2010, and Johnny Weir on the Rocking Horse in 2011.
The balloons were temporarily retired following the 2012 Parade, and would make a reprise in 2017. That same year, one of the Ice Crystals were inflated in Bryant Park, alongside a Blue & White Macy's Star, to serve as a wintery background for Gwen Stefani's performance on the 2017 NBC Parade telecast.
The Snow Crystal Ornaments were originally scheduled to appear in the reimagined 2020 Macy's Parade, guided by a team of mask-clad handlers. Rising cases of COVID-19 throughout New York City in the fall of 2020, however, caused all of the novelty balloons (except an Opening Macy's Star and a Red "Believe" Star) to be pulled from the line of march in order to further reduce participants.
The Snow Crystal Ornaments made spirits bright in the 2021 Macy's Parade, returning to NYC for the holiday season. Since then, they have become a regular in the Parade lineup, often accompanying other winter-centric elements such as the Winter Dragon and Snowflake stilt walkers.