Carnival time is a great opportunity to connect and interact with the Toys 'R' Us faithful, and the experience comes to life more and more every year at the fun-filled Lan Kwai Fong Street Carnival.
Elaine Ma Yee-ling from Toys 'R' Us, Hong Kong's No1 toy retailer, believes the company's involvement is getting bigger and better every year. 'We now have more booths, more activities and more fun,' she said. 'We get much greater participation from our toy manufacturers, and we seem to be attracting bigger crowds every year.'
The carnival attracts big crowds - some 200,000 are expected this time - and has become an event to look forward to. 'I think the organisers have done a great job in promoting the event. We definitely think Lan Kwai Fong itself is quite a tourist attraction, and this festival attracts tourists and locals,' said Ms Ma.
'The first year, we joined the carnival because it seemed like a great way to connect with our customers at a street level,' Ms Ma said. 'Even though we were not sure how much of an audience it would attract, we were fairly confident because of the great location and the opportunities for customer interaction.
'We are really happy to see how it has paid off over the years. We want to make kids happy, and a carnival setting is an ideal way to do that. It enables us to make our brand and the brand experience come alive.'
Newcomers to the festival this year will be the Barbie Beauty Class and Talent Runway. At the beauty class on D'Aguilar Street, students can design and make dresses for the dolls (there are six sessions both days). At the Talent Runway booth (where the bouncy castle was last year), children can dress up as their favourite princess, prince, cartoon character, action hero or professional - and get a free framed instant picture of themselves from Canon as a memento.