Elves on Parade

Every year, Target sponsors the "opening night" Holidazzle parade on the day after Thanksgiving in downtown Minneapolis. By being the sponsor, all Target HQ team members have the opportunity to sign up and be participants in parade. This year, Jeff & I decided to volunteer to get dressed up in a costume and Christmas lights to participate in this very memorable experience.

Without ever having been a volunteer in years past, I was unsure which costumes to sign us up for. The list included everything from the Wizard of Oz characters to Peter Pan & Captain Hook, to circus animals and snow queens. I thought I was playing it safe by signing us up to be "Jingle Elves". I assumed we would have some funny shoes, a funny hat, and maybe a tool-belt. It wasn't until they strapped the battery pack on us and took us to wardrobe that I realized what we actually signed up for. Instead of looking like a cute little elf, they turned us into big ol' court jester type elves with flashing lights on our bottom, top and hat. I have to say that I now know what I would look if I weighed 500 lbs.

However, the benefit to looking absolutely ridiculous is that it is much easier to continue to make a fool of oneself. Jeff and I were assigned to walk in front of the second to last float. (The last float being Santa Claus's, of course!) Our float played some rockin' music and we danced all the way down Nicollet Avenue in front of a huge crowd of excited children and adults. Jeff had energy like I've never seen and he proceeded to get the crowd totally pumped up as high high-fived all of the little kids lining the street.

The experience was fantastic and I think we would both volunteer to do it again - minus the Jingle Elves outfits.