Shrek is making his grand return to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year after 15 years — but the beloved ogre will be looking a whole lot different.
Shrek’s Onion Carriage balloon will make its debut at the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, featuring Shrek riding in his iconic onion carriage alongside wife Fiona, their teenage children Fergus, Farkle, and Felicia, and friends Donkey, Fiona, Gingy, and Pinocchio.
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The new Shrek balloon, which will make its first parade appearance ahead of the upcoming release of Shrek 5 in 2027, marks the first public appearances of teenage Fergus and Farkle.
It also breaks the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade record for the most characters featured on a single balloon, beating out the Trolls balloon, which included four characters.
Shrek previously appeared as a solo character on his previous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon, which made its debut in 2007. The beloved character made the trip from Far Far Away at 44 feet tall and just over 48 feet long following the release of Shrek the Third earlier that year.
Shrek became a fan-favorite balloon and appeared regularly through the 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which marked the original balloon’s final flight following the release of Shrek Forever After. After that final appearance, the balloon was retired, giving fans 15 years without an ogre-riffic Thanksgiving — until now.
How to Watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade special begins at 8:30 a.m. in all time zones on NBC and Peacock on Thursday, Nov. 27, Thanksgiving Day. At the same time, Telemundo will be offering coverage of the parade in Spanish with hosts Andrea Meza, Aleyda Ortiz and Clovis Nienow. An encore telecast of the parade will air at 2 p.m. ET/PT.
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