How to Watch the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is just a few weeks away, and we’re already excited to see the balloons, floats, and performances. After going virtual last year because of the pandemic (the event was still held but without a crowd), this year it will return in its full form. 

We know you’re going to want to watch it live, if only to understand the memes and tweets. Also, there will be a Baby Yoda balloon, and no one wants to miss that. Move over, Santa, because Grogu is the new Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade king. 

“We applaud Macy’s work to creatively continue this beloved tradition last year and look forward to welcoming back parade watchers to experience it safely, live, and in person this November,” New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

But how to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade?

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air from 9 a.m. to noon in all time zones. In case you missed the first airing because of peeling potatoes or tending to a turkey or a needy relative, you can catch the rerun of the parade at 2 p.m. 

You can watch the 95th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live on NBC. If you don’t have a TV, you can livestream the parade on NBC’s website or on the NBC app, but you’ll need a TV provider to get access to the stream. Or, if it’s convenient, you could watch the parade from a Manhattan curb because spectators are once again welcome this year after last year’s ban due. 

If you’re a cable cutter, there are still plenty of options to stream the parade. First, you could beg a friend or relative to give you their TV-provider information. If they do, you can thank them—it is Thanksgiving, after all. If that’s not an option, you can sign up for a free trial of services like Hulu+ Live TV, which adds a live-TV feature to your Hulu account. Currently, Hulu allows users a seven-day Hulu+ Live free trial, then it will charge you for the service. It’s like having cable again, but on Hulu. YouTube TV is a similar service that also provides a free trial to new subscribers (so if you did this same thing last Thanksgiving, you won’t get another free trial). For YouTube TV, free-trial time varies depending on the option you select. 

As for Peacock, it’s still up in the air. NBC’s streaming service doesn’t carry live coverage of all its programming, but in the past it’s let users watch events like SNL live…so it might happen! We expect an announcement on that closer to the date and will update when more information is available.

And after it’s all done, we suggest turning on one of the best Thanksgiving movies for families, firing up our Thanksgiving music playlist, or checking out some Thanksgiving shows.