Giant grinning gator, roving aliens, sweetheart bees or kindhearted lion cubs?
It’s impossible to know which Rose Parade 2025 float creatures will catch the fancy of television and internet watchers on New Year’s Day.
Since the early 2000s, when massive floats with skateboarding and surfing dogs made their way down the 5.5-mile Colorado Boulevard parade route, designers have looked for ways to set themselves apart.
Last year, the Rose Parade float darlings included offerings as diverse as a majestic Hopi Indian headdress from One Legacy Donate Life to a woeful, but comedic choir of singing broccoli from Trader Joe’s.
As float builders have noted: You don’t necessarily have to win an official judge’s prize to be awarded a lot of eyeballs on social media or to get the television announcers talking.
Here are our staff’s best guesses at which floats plus one equestrian team from the 2025 Rose Parade lineup could garner extra attention.
(Image courtesy Tournament of Roses)
1. More ‘Wicked’
There’s no escaping the cultural phenomenon of Gregory McGuire’s novel-turned-Broadway musical and now blockbuster box office movie hit – there’s even a float for it.
Good witch Galinda anchors the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group’s entrant in fluffy pink tulle carnations. Evil witch Elphaba defies gravity by flying her broomstick stretched out over the front of the float.
A rendering of the Sierra Madre Rose Float Association’s “Fiesta!” float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
2. Mariachi mania
The Sierra Madre Rose Association will bring the party on New Year’s Day, complete with the Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea, a Grammy-winning all-female mariachi band.
The float, titled Fiesta! and members of the Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles dancing alongside, will likely get folks dancing in their seats … and talking.
A rendering of the Trader Joe’s “Here We Go!” float, in the 2025 Rose Parade. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
3. A sure meme-maker
There are lots of moving parts on Trader Joe’s “Here We Go!” entry. But – if the real deal holds true to the float’s rendering – we’re betting on memes stemming from some mustachioed vegetables.
As of this writing, sitting in a gravy boat beneath a pineapple submarine are two suspicious-looking characters with mustaches: a squat yellow pepper … and a nicely shaped eggplant.
A rendering of Go Bowling’s float, for the 2025 Rose Parade. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
4. Got bowling?
In the early 1990s, we had the Got Milk? advertising campaign. 2025, it seems, will have the recreation sector’s equivalent: Go Bowling.
The website GoBowling.com is banking on a massive international audience to promote itself as a one-stop shop for learning the game and on where to find lanes in your area. The advocacy group is also sponsoring Floatfest this year – the three-day post-parade showcase for close-up views of the floats.
The Enjoy Illinois float, from the Illinois Office of Tourism. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Boomers everywhere are going to love Play Hooky in Illinois, the state’s Office of Tourism entry about the teen and friends who skipped school to romp through downtown Chicago in the 1986 film. This float includes a mid-parade performance with Brian Culbertson, an Illinois native and Grammy nominee, delivering a musical nod to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
But, will the younger, social media crowd understand the inside jokes: the Nrvous license plate, Chez Quis and “Save Ferris?” As Mathew Broderick’s lead character says: “You’re still here? It’s over! Go home! Go.” If you know, you know.
Northwest Spotted Drafts (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
6. Clydesdale competition?
This first-time entrant of eight black-and-white North American Spotted Draft horses is sure to give the Rose Parade-regular Budweiser Clydesdales a prance for their money.
Ferndale, Washington’s Craig Wilder and Gail Nelson dedicate the horses’ inaugural appearance to Paul Nelson, who died from leukemia two years ago. Paul Nelson was a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient who, according to a GoFundMe page, loved his country and the Spotted Draft horse.
A rendering of Lions International’s “Celebrating A Day of Service” 2025 Rose Parade float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
7. Kindhearted lions
Hearts will melt when Lions International rolls out four, fluffy pampas-grass cherub-like lion cubs on its “Celebrating a Day of Service” float.
Two of the little dudes are bespeckled, a nod to the nonprofit’s commitment to vision care. The internet will want more of this cuteness.
A rendering of Kaiser Permanente’s “More Healthy Days for More Healthy Years” Rose Parade float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
8. All health all the time
Fifty-five feet of nutritious foods, interspersed with reminders about physical activity – sports balls, bicycles – hydration, heart health, sleep habits and mental calmness will go one of two ways.
Either America will be ready to embrace Kaiser Permanente’s More Healthy Days for More Healthy Ways or they’ll still be bleary-eyed from too much holiday consumption.
A rendering of Burbank’s “Having A-Lava Fun!” 2025 Rose Parade float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
9. Baby dinosaurs
A rumbling volcano that erupts with smoke and flames and adorable little dinosaurs could elicit a lot of ohs and ahs.
The city of Burbank’s “Having A-Lava Fun” float will be partially constructed from trash volunteers pick up throughout the city in a true bid to save the planet.
A Rendering of La Canada Flintridge’s “Rover Rendezvous” 2025 Rose Parade float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
10. Aliens among us
A space traveler gives an alien a joy ride on a Mars rover and tiny other martians pop up from the red planet in this playful entry from La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association.
The self-built LCF float is usually whimsical and this year is no exception. Rover Rendezvous will surely give us all New Jersey-drone-vibes and get people speculating.
Kiwanis International’s “BEEING Together” 2025 Rose Parade float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
11. Beeeing together
A pair of sweet-faced bees are front and center in this animated entry from Kiwanis International, titled Beeing together.The organization is as dedicated to community service as it is a good pun as its float description urges all children need someone to beeelieive in them.
12. Alligator grins
Somehow, giant alligators seem to be Rose Parade favorites, at least for the last couple of years. Louisiana Office of Tourism is banking on it this year with their giant gator with a crown. He’s reining over the state’s promotion of 2025 as the “Year of Food.”
This float offers another mid-parade performance with new country artist Timothy Wayne, the nephew of superstar Tim McGraw.
A rendering of Love 2 Yeu’s “Journey of Dreams” 2025 Roses Parade float. (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
13. Love for immigrants
Another first-time parade entrant will likely cause a buzz given the current political climate. Love 2 Yeu, a global initiative that supports empowering youth, sponsors a gorgeous float celebrating Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.
The center of the Journey of Dreams float holds a boat of refugees who will ride alongside Vietnamese dancers.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s “Home Sweet Home” 2025 Rose Parade float (Courtesy, Tournament of Roses)
14. Charlie Chaplin
AIDS Healthcare Foundation is back in the Rose Parade after bowing out over a creative issue last year. This year’s entry has the legendary Charlie Chaplin ringing in the New Year with a dance hall girl from the 1925 silent movie “The Gold Rush.”
Chaplin overcomes hardship to find a “Home Sweet Home.” It’s a nod to AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation, which since 2017 has transformed historic hotels and roadside motels into affordable housing.
Nessie the Loch Ness monster will stand at 21 feet tall and will move her neck to look over the crowd. (Cal Poly Universities Rose Float Team)
15. Nessie surfaces
It only makes sense the legendary Loch Ness monster would finally escape the bogs of Scotland to surface in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Fan favorite Cal Poly Universities student-built float will have Nessie turning her head to look at parade goers as its slimy fuschia body acts as a slide surface for adorable penguins and otters.