UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) – The day before Thanksgiving, there are two holiday traditions: the inflation of parade balloons and the children of Eyewitness News reporters covering all the excitement.

This honor went to Jacob Einer again this year! He lived with his father Josh on the Upper West Side.

The stars of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade came to life on Wednesday before embarking on their epic journey on Thursday.

“I love the Wimpy Kid guy and I love the Minions. Honestly, they’re all really cool. I like the Bluey and the Minion,” said Mila and Kian Puri.

Based on the audience’s reaction, the Minion seemed to be the favorite.

Nobody likes inflation, but everyone likes balloons.

Kathleen Donohue Wright of Macy’s Studios is responsible for all furnishings. She told Jacob that it wasn’t easy.

“We begin production for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 18 months in advance. It takes several months to put one of these balloons together,” she said. “We start with a pencil sketch of what the balloon looks like, do a quick scribble in a notebook and end up with what it looks like here today.”

The first parade took place 100 years ago, but this is only the 98th parade. During World War II they had to skip some to conserve helium.

You really have to think about everything.

The balloons aren’t the parade’s only attraction. Over 20 floats had to be “decapitated” to get through the Lincoln Tunnel Wednesday morning.

Nothing has ever gone wrong with the parade – at least not in our lifetime – and there is a reason for that.

While meteorologist Lee Goldberg says there will only be a light breeze, police are watching closely to make sure all the balloons are behaving. Some of them weigh 25,000 pounds!

“It’s Mother Nature’s great unknown. If it throws big gusts of wind at us…sustained winds,” Lt. Keith Gallagher of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit. “We get two readings. We are retrieving these wind speeds in advance and will make corrections before the balloon enters this potential danger zone.”

But here, inflating the balloon on West 77th Street, there was no danger.

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