Budget and Materials

We were given a $700 budget for our Youth float.  That is the standard budget each float gets from the Church.  The first thing they will tell you at your consultation is that you can't do hardly anything with just $700.  The budget for the big 24th of July Parade is bigger, but they also have to build a bigger float.  So like most things in life money will be tight.  Here I will attempt to give you a rough idea of how much things will cost.

Floral Sheeting will cost approximately $70 a roll (36" x 10 yds).  We used 3 rolls.  Floral sheeting is the plastic carpet type stuff you see all the floatbeds covered with.  In the picture below the floral sheeting is the red, yellow and blue.
Festooning will cost between $25-$60 for 48' depending on the type you use.  We used 2 rolls of metallic. Festooning is like tinsel or garland. In the picture below the festooning is the silver lining.

Fringe will cost you $7-$9 for 10 ft. depending whether you use vinyl or metallic fringe.  Fringe is used around the bottom of the float to cover the dead space between your float and the road.
Glitter costs $8 lb for most colors and $12 lb for the iridescent.  We bought 2 lbs of each, but i think we could have gotten by with 1 each.  Glitter goes farther than you think it will.  You use glitter for lettering and anything you want to make sparkly.

Foam is used to make soft object, like the flowers in the above picture.  This type of foam will cost about $8.50 per foot (90").
You will probably also use solid foam.  1"Foam boards for lettering will cost $18 a sheet.  3" x 8' x 4' foam sheets run $50 a sheet and 6" boards (8'x4') cost $96 a sheet.  These hard foams are used for objects and figures. For example:  in the picture below we used 1" foam to cover our wagon, 3" foam to make our wheels, and the wider foam to make our bird.

You will also need to buy adhesives.  Fast tack, which is a foam and fabric adhesive runs $21 a can.  We used 2 cans.  Silicone costs just over $6 a tube, which we used 3 of.  A can of 'Great Stuff' will cost you $8.50 a can, we used 3 of these as well.
You will need plywood for the bed of your float.  You may also decide to build other structures from plywood.  Plywood costs just over $22 a board.
We made our blimp frame out of pencil rod.  You can have your welder make any shape you would like; dinosaurs, airplanes, bears, etc.  1/8" pencil rod costs about .45 a foot.
Other costs will include:  nuts, bolts, fabric, ect, the list could be endless.  And you will need to decide if you are going to spend any money for costumes or shirts for the kids to wear.  We bought material to make bandanas for each participant.  Also, will they be carrying anything?

As you can see the costs add up fast.  We did not stay on budget, but only went over about $150.  Any material donations you can get will be extremely helpful.

You can get cans of paint at the Landfill for free.  They may or may not have the colors you are looking for.  If they don't have what you are looking for one week maybe they will the next.  We were able to get most of our paint at the landfill.  We mixed colors together to get the color we wanted.