Parade Day -4yr- Hot Dogs on a Stick

We had a parade for my daughter's 4th. 

The invitations looked like roads with rubber stamped children and balloons along them.  My daughter and her best friend made shakers (from plastic containers,  dry beans, bells, etc.) ahead of time.  The children were greeted by balloons and John Phillip Sousa march music at the door and inside. 

They decorated band hats (5 lb. deli tubs I was able to purchase then attached elastic) and sashes with stickers, feathers etc..  We set up three stations in the basement - face painting, story telling (children books about parades) cardboard banner decorating (everyone added their own touches and it was carried at the front of the parade.  The kids ate hotdogs on a stick, soft pretzels, fruit skewers and veggies.

The cake was a row of cupcakes down the center of the table, with bendable rubber clowns decorating the tops.  The pinata was filled with kazoos, sunglasses, whistles and candy. 

Each child chose how to prepare for the parade - hat, sunglasses, which instrument they liked and carried the candy they had collected to throw to the adoring audience (parents) who lined the cul-de-sac at the end of the party while my husband led the group with a drum major's hat and baton, and Sousa booming from the boom box.