Santa's coming to town in style

Santa will make his 57th journey down Queen St for the annual Santa Parade in a new float with a "top secret" design.

Organisers refused to reveal the look of the float but promised it would be tall enough for Santa to see who, of the 250,000 spectators expected on Sunday, has been naughty or nice this year.

The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, and a large yellow dinosaur with black spots and a big smile will be among the characters joining the man in red. Look out for Shrek and the Thunderbirds too.

The parade, principally sponsored by Farmers, starts on the corner of Mayoral Drive and Cook St at 2pm.

Television personality Lana Coc-Kroft is this year's Grand Marshal, leading the 28 floats and 4000 performers along the 2.2km route with her sons Damien and Bronson.

The floats, ranging from 3.6m to 10m long, will roll down Queen St, into Customs St West and up Albert St to the corner of Wellesley St.

Parade organisers suggest arriving by noon to secure a good spot.

An after-party runs until 5.30pm at Aotea Square.

Guest performers include NZ Idol runner-up Michael Murphy, the NZ All Star cheerleaders and Auckland hip-hop artists Fast Crew.