You know Christmas has arrived when, one, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” starts playing over the airwaves, and two, Orchard Road lights up for the festive season.
This year, more fun-filled activities are in store for the whole family. Christmas on A Great Street, the signature year-end light-up of Orchard Road heralding the holiday season, returns for the 40th year with a street party, Christmas villages, carnival rides and games, pop-up stores and F&B kiosks.
Guest-of- Honour President Tharman Shanmugaratnam will officiate the Light-Up Ceremony at Shaw House Urban Plaza on Nov 16, 2023.
Supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the light-up theme “A Child’s Dreamscape” is a sweet one, featuring cotton candy clouds replete with Christmas trees, bells, teddy bears, reindeer, and candy canes. Warm LED lights of white, yellow, pink and turquoise “clouds” float in the air for a dreamy look and feel.
The first-ever Christmas Eve street party on Dec 24 along Orchard Road promises to be a lively event. Head down to the stretch between Paterson junction and Bideford junction (it’ll be closed to traffic from 6pm onwards) for the festivities from 8pm to 12.30am.
Expect live music, Santa meet-and-greet sessions, street dance performances, Christmas carolling, roving magicians and more. The event countdown with projection mapping and fireworks will take place on the facade of Singapore Hilton Orchard.
Visitors can also look forward to not one but three Great Christmas Villages, located outside Shaw House (from Nov 24), Ngee Ann City (from Dec 1) and, for the first time, Plaza Singapura (from Dec 8).
The Village at Shaw House will feature a double-storey carousel and ferris wheel among its variety of rides and games, while the Plaza Singapura venue will have a giant Christmas on A Great Street-themed bouncy castle with a fun slide, balloon dome, mascot meet-and-greet activities, and craft workshops from edutainment park, Kiztopia. Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza will offer carnival games and rides such as a Euro Swing ride, an arcade and live performances by local buskers and bands.
For more information, visit www.orchardroad.org.
