It’s the most wonderful time of the year and yes that’s right, I’m talking about Christmas and that means another round of the annual Orchard Road Christmas Light Up. With lovely glittering lights hanging above the streets and beautiful Christmas trees and decorations located along the pavements, it’s a sight worth seeing. Here’s more on the scoop.
What is the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up?
The Orchard Road Christmas Light Up happens annually in the months of November and December with extensive and elaborate Christmas decorations trailing from the Tanglin area to the Dhoby Ghaut area to kick in the year-end festive period. Shopping malls along the street will also dress up in their best Christmas outfits to add on to the festive spirit.
Christmas Lights Along The Streets of Orchard Road
In keeping up with the rule of no red and yellow lights (a rule implement to prevent confusion among drivers), the streets were lined up with blue and white lights just like previous years. With the only difference being that it’s much more festive and decorative making it a must for many visitors to snap away the bright and beautiful streets with their phones and cameras.
Lovely Christmas Trees by Orchard Road Shopping Malls
Since it’s a tradition to put up Christmas trees and presents underneath it, it’s also a tradition for Orchard Road malls to put up Christmas trees too as part of their decorations. Most malls place them outside so that visitors passing by can have a look and snap away with their phones.
Some malls place them inside to encourage visitors to enter the mall. Either way, these beautiful trees accompany their already elaborate decorations worthy of a social media post.
Best Dressed Malls of Orchard Road
Every year there will be a competition among the malls for a chance to win the ‘Best Dressed Building’ award for their extensive and elaborate Christmas decorations. This year’s winners are Centrepoint with its Gingerbread men kitchen theme and Ion Orchard with its Tiffany & Co themed decorations.
It’s quite a surprise for Centrepoint as the always quiet mall has been involved in renovation works for the past few years. For ion Orchard, it’s no surprise as their giant Christmas tree placed outside has always been the centre of attraction. Kudos to both malls for their attention to detail.
Launch Event of the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up
On 12 November, a launch event organised by the Orchard Road Business Association or Orba, kickstarted the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up. The event was helmed by Guest Of Honour, Mr Tony Tan, the President of Singapore. It was quite a happening event with a part of Orchard Road closed down to let people spill onto the roads to enjoy the activities happening during the event.
Activities include stage games, performances by local acts like local band Jack and Rai, roving performers by stilt walkers and a mini train ride for kids. Although such launch events have been held before, this is the first time a part of Orchard Road has closed for the launch.
Interactive Light Installations
in addition to the Christmas lights and mall decorations are interactive light installations. Passers by can walk up to any of these Christmas light installations located along the pavements of Orchard Road and place their hand on a touch sensitive pad to light them up.
Some of them involve stepping vigorously onto the touch sensitive pad on the floor to light them up which made them popular among kids. It’s the first time interactivity has been added to the Christmas decorations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this year’s edition of the annual Orchard Road Christmas Light Up is by far the best. Apart from the usual lights and decorations, a hyped up launch event, interactive light installations and larger than life mall decorations made the annual iconic event more happening than usual. Hopefully, more of such initiatives and innovations can be included for next year’s edition.