4th of July Hot Tub Float ideas?

[James_Outlaw]

Ok, so my wife talked me into putting a hot tub, swimming pool & sauna float in the parade this year.  Argh!  Anyways, do you dealer friends have any unique ideas?  

I have generators and big trailers so size and power is no issue.  

She says NO to the idea of filling a hot tub on the trailer.

Smoke machine for inside the sauna, bellowing smoke out of a chimney?  Any ideas on a smoke machine?

Bubble machine?  

Stand spas on their sides on the trailer, one flat with bubbles coming out?

carpet the trailer with green outdoor carpet?

Ideas anyone?  I just don't want to look like we threw it together on the morning of the 4th!

I will post pics when done if you want!

Thanks!

Fill

[Chas]

I put a spa on our dolly and had a team push it down the parade route. They promised never to do it again. Sorry, that was so long ago that I have FILM images of it, nothing digital.

The dolly I used was one of these -



We sat the spa down on it horizontally. We had some kids ready to ride in the tub, but we couldn't keep them sitting still and it rocked back and forth too much. They walked alongside handing out candy. We had two buckets of water and some dry ice to produce "steam." We ran out of dry ice before the end of the parade, but it wasn't working all that well anyway. To keep the water from slopping out I had 6 gallon buckets with only a gallon of water in each.

I have also set up a complete backyard scene on our flatbed trailer. We put down green outdoor carpet, a tub, a gazebo, some patio furniture and a barbecue. We had to really anchor the stools and have the people stand next to them, not sit on them. I had a FogHog (smoke machine) in the barbecue. That worked great! I don't know if it was worth it - had to have a small generator just for the smoke machine - I had some music as well, but I could have just cranked the tunes in the truck if we had gone without the genny.

We took the roof of the gazebo off for the trip downtown and home again - I didn't want to watch in my rear view mirror as it came apart on the road. The rest of the gazebo did fine, even on the road.

Lots of color on the sides - bunting and such on the wheels. The usual stuff. We did the parade about three years and then gave it up.

Here is a site which can help you with the stuff you need to make your trailer look more like a float. http://www.valleydecorating.com/howto.htmlWe bought a lot of stuff to hide the trailer, and none of it got used twice. So check this place out and see if you can get some better stuff to hopefully use again.



 8-)

[wewannahottub]

How about on a float with some lighted palm trees. ferns, hula girls and handing out leis?

Fog machine and bubbler sound cool too!!

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

How about borrowing some of east TX spas girls to put in the tub....

[kervis]

In addition to the float decor website, check out the Oriental Trading website.

They have some great Hawaiian stuff that is quite reasonable .

They have a synthetic grass skirt with flowers at the top that you could tie around the top of the hot tub--you'd have to get 2.  They have grass skirts, leis, everything.  If you order in the next couple days you may qualify for free shipping!!

I like the Hawaiian theme.  Keep in mind that the kids just want great candy.  Hey, you could toss out those cheap frozen popsicles that come in boxes of 100.  If you put the whole box in the freezer, plan on a week to freeze it, otherwise you have to open the box and take them all out...Just get great candy--or gum.  No tootsie rolls.

As it was mentioned, the more expensive Parade Float Decor you may not use again, except for next year's parade.  The Hawaiian stuff will be used again and again--backyard summer parties, Halloween, we use ours all the time.

Bubble machine instead of dry ice.  

Sounds like loads of fun--I have never seen a hot tub in a parade.  

[wewannahottub]

 No tootsie rolls.

 

I am a little tired of tootsie rolls, myself!!

Come to think of it, plastic leis could possibly backfire in any number of ways.  Aside from small children and choking (is there an age limit?), some folks may start baring chests like in Mardi Gras??!!!! :-?

We used to use dry ice in our old Halloween decorations, and it always froze the water.  

Can't wait to see how it turns out!!