Christmas parades in Christchurch

Christchurch has enjoyed Christmas parades since the 1930s when T. J. Armstrong & Co created floats for parades and an in-store Toyland for their High Street shop, situated where the CPIT Jazz School now stands.

One parade even used an elephant, a gimmick used elsewhere when the circus came to town.

Find out more about carols, festival displays and other events on our Christmas in Christchurch and Canterbury page.

Photos of Christmas parades

• Our collection of Christmas photos includes images of Santa Parades over the years.
• Christmas in Christchurch features displays, Ballantynes famous Christmas window, as well as Christmas and Santa Parades.
• View our Hay’s parade photos from 1978 and 1982.
• The Albert North collection of photographs includes images from a Hay’s Parade sometime in the 1950s.
• Browse DigitalNZ for more New Zealand images of Christmas parades including the set Christmas Parade.

The Hay’s Parade

The official Santa Parade website says the Christchurch Santa Parade was started by well-known retailer James Hay in 1947. His son, Sir Hamish Hay, in his autobiography, puts the year at 1948.

Whatever the original date, the Hay’s Parade was a popular annual event for families. The Hay’s retail store had a dedicated children’s playground, Hay’s Roof, for many years.

Aunt Haysl

For many years the Hay’s Santa Parade featured the popular character Aunt Haysl. There were four Aunt Haysls, but the best-known was Edna Neville, who retired from the role in 1981. Christchurch City Libraries has an archive of Aunt Haysl material known as the Aunt Haysl papers, which were compiled by Edna Neville. You can explore our Papers index for newspaper articles about Aunt Haysl.