It's another year which means another round of the annual Orchard Road Christmas Light Up. The streets of Orchard Road will be decked out with massive amounts of hanging lights and decorations for the festive season. Malls around Orchard Road will also join in the fun by having their own Christmas lights, decorations and Christmas trees. In this article, I'll be showing you around this year's edition of the Christmas light ups along with the interesting Christmas decorations found in and around Orchard Road's shopping malls. Get ready for the festive cheer.
Overview of Orchard Road Christmas Light Up
I first started my trip for the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up (ORCLU) from the Dhoby Ghaut area. I'm not entirely sure what the theme is for this year's lights is but it seems that there are plenty of stars, moons and snowflakes floating around the for the ORCLU. Perhaps the theme is about outer space?
Unlike last year's light up where most of the lights are mainly blue in colour, this time round, they opted to mix the more traditional yellow lights with a little bit of blue. Another draw about the lights is that the lights actually 'move' and that it looks like the lights actually create this rain effect which is quite cool.
Beautiful Decorations at Orchard Central
At Orchard Central, the lights are mainly pink in colour which has a little bit of a 'fairy tale' look to it. They call it the 'OC Christmas Dreamland' and I think it's one of the most impressive looking Christmas decorations out of all the malls along Orchard Road. It's bright, it's colourful and it's attractive. Loads of people can be seen posing for photos with their families and there were plenty of photographers photographing the lovely lights as well.
Some of the pillars were made to look like tree trunks and some of them have staircases embedded into the decorative pillars which made them attractive for people to climb up the short staircases and pose for a photo on the staircases. When you walk further in along Orchard Central, you get to see some pink unicorns which were also very popular among the passers by and a cool pink shelter with a constantly rotating Christmas tree right on top of it.
Christmas Presents and Ribbons Outside Mandarin Gallery
Further up, you'll come across Mandarin Gallery's Christmas presents and ribbons. The Christmas presents were mainly made up of a string of lights and the ribbons on top of the presents were also lit up as well which makes it look like a glowing Christmas present with stars as the content of the gift.
The glowing shiny ribbons could also be seen on the pillars of the Mandarin Gallery mall as well. Makes me want to actually pull the ribbons down actually. Plus, if you look closely at the first picture above, on the left hand corner you can spot a Menorah which they placed in with their presents and ribbons decorations. The Menorah if you don't know, is a symbol of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah which usually falls around the same time as Christmas.
Fancy Reindeer Outside Paragon Shopping Mall
Right outside Paragon, the decorations are a little bit more fancy since Paragon itself houses several luxury brands. There's a reindeer outside which looks more like a fancy art installation than a Christmas decoration. The reindeer itself is surrounded by tons of beautiful Christmas ornaments. Very fancy indeed.
There's also a giant Christmas tree beside it which looks more like a luxury version of a regular Christmas tree. It's bright, it's cheery and it's bound to attract lots of attention with its ornaments sticking out. The ornaments themselves look pretty heavy and the Christmas tree looks very well done.
It's Raining Gold on Centrepoint
At Centrepoint, the shopping mall which used to house the flagship Robinsons store and located right across the street from Orchard Central has its whole exterior covered with yellow lights. The decorations created this effect which looks like as if the whole exterior was covered with gold. To top it all off, a golden Christmas tree was placed right in the middle of the exterior complementing the whole "golden" exterior. The exterior will also occasionally change colours so you can actually see the exterior changing colours right behind the lights which gives this really cool horizontal waterfall effect.
Suspended 3D Mosaics at Wheelock Place
At Wheelock Place, the entrance of the building is already made up of a glass cone which, dressed up with Christmas lights, becomes a Christmas tree all on its own. On the inside of the glass cone, you can find several 3D mosaics and ornaments hanging from above. What's cool is that the mosaics and ornaments are colourful and they're reflective which gives that 'bling-bling' effect which I think is pretty amazing. Instead of the usual fancy lighting used in other malls, Wheelock Place decides to use something much more simple and basic.
White Christmas at ION Orchard
At ION Orchard, the decorations have a wonderful candy theme and the Christmas tree is fully decked out in white which gives it a 'White Christmas' kind of atmosphere. The Christmas tree at ION Orchard has been sticking to the usual kind of tree where guests can enter the tree, look around the lights embedded inside and while you're inside, you get to listen to some Christmas classics. Unlike previous years where you can actually ring a bell through a long piece of rope suspending from above (which kids love to do), the bell has been removed in place of several Christmas ornaments hanging.
As the tree has a candy theme, there were several candy canes placed on the exterior of the tree. There were also Nutcracker toys and some of the ornaments look like a red and white version of the famous Werner's Original candy. The were also some candy 'forests' on the outside of ION Orchard which you can actually enter and explore and take pictures of. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a picture of the 'forests'. However, nothing still tops the one time a few years back where ION Orchard's Christmas tree became a golden observation tower where you could take the lift up and see a view of Orchard Road. The lines were crazy full at that time.
Christmas-themed Bus Shelter
Even the bus stops along Orchard Road were decorated with Christmas decorations. If you actually walk around Orchard Road, several bus stops will be seen with different Christmas 'outfits'. There was also a contest where there will be one special 'outfit' which will move at different bus stops and if you can answer where the actual location is, you'll win a prize. It's cool that now bus shelters are also part of the Christmas cheer as well.
More Orchard Road Christmas Lights and Christmas Trees
Here are more pictures of Orchard Road Christmas Lights. They're simple, they're mimalistic, I really do enjoy looking at the lights as it brings the festive cheer to all the visitors visiting the famous Orchard Road shopping district. Plus, here are some Christmas trees that I like as well. There's one sparkly one located at the entrance of Forum The Shopping Mall and there's a gigantic one found on the inside of the Ngee Ann City Shopping Mall. Enjoy!
(Christmas Tree at Forum The Shopping Mall)
(Christmas Tree Inside Ngee Ann City Shopping Mall)
Conclusion
As another year comes to end, it means another round of Christmas lights will be displayed for the public to enjoy. This year, there are a lot of impressive Christmas decorations from the various malls along the Orchard Road shopping district and the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up itself was impressive. It's simple, minimalistic and it's animated as well. I can't wait for another exciting year and I also can't wait for another round of the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up as well at the end of 2015. Don't forget to view the 2013, 2012 and the 2011 editions of my Orchard Road Christmas Light Up articles as well. Here's to another great year ahead and I would like to wish my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
More Information
Orchard Road Official Website: http://www.orchardroad.org/