A festive mood is bubbling across the island – cue Orchard Road’s annual light-up, Gardens by the Bay’s Christmas Wonderland, and the timely revamp of Snow City, now with a three-storey glacier slide and real ice sculptures.
All these are classics, but Changi Airport sings a cuter tune with 2024’s edition of Changi Festive Village. Instead of going with a typical wintry theme featuring Santa and Frosty mascots, Singapore’s airport has decided to honour Hello Kitty – the cult-favourite Sanrio character who’s celebrating her 50th anniversary this year.
Sanrio decor at Changi Airport
At the centre of it all is a massive 8-metre Hello Kitty 50th anniversary topiary at the Terminal 3 Departure Hall, surrounded by festive gift boxes and colourful flowers to match the vibrant spirit that the mouthless cat embodies. Right behind this towering character display is a three-lane slide, disguised as a rainbow.
Hello Kitty is joined by friends like My Melody, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll and more throughout the rest of the airport’s terminals. Fans of Kuromi absolutely need to check out the floral statue of Kuromi at the T1 Arrival Garden, surrounded by quirky curved Christmas trees adorned with pastel baubles and heart motifs.
Don’t forget to look up when doing your check-in at T3, because the counters there have also been kawaii-fied.
Hello Kitty carnival at Changi Airport
The Sanrio fun continues with a themed carnival featuring Hello Kitty and the gang. Try your hand at ring toss to win a plushie and other limited-edition merch, hop on board a Little Twin Stars carousel, grab Sanrio goodies at a claw machine, and even make your own Sanrio accessories at this candy-coloured funland.
Carnival tokens are priced as such:
- $20 for 21 tokens
- $50 for 55 tokens
- $100 for $120 tokens
You can also score free tokens simply by shopping at Changi Airport. A minimum spend of $50 in a single receipt at F&B outlets at Changi Airport’s public areas, as well as a minimum spend of $80 at Jewel Changi and the airport’s supermarkets, entitles you to five free carnival credits which can then be used for a one-to-one exchange for tokens. Maximise the wins by paying with Mastercard or Changi Pay for an additional 5 credits – that’s a total of 10 free tokens with your purchase.
The Sanrio carnival is located at level one of T3’s public area, near McDonald’s, and is open daily from 12pm to 10pm.
Sanrio character meet-and-greets
Give a hug to Hello Kitty, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll and Kuromi at their meet-and-greet sessions held on selected weekend dates across November and December 2024. While the meet-and-greet sessions are free-of-charge, do note that you’ll have to reserve your spot via the Changi Airport app. Each session sees the appearance of two characters at each time, so check out the full meet-and-greet schedule to make sure you get to see your faves.
Changi Airport-exclusive Sanrio merchandise
Like any great character-themed event, the Hello Kitty edition of Changi Festive Village comes with pop-up merchandise stores – not one but three in total. Open from 10am to 10pm daily, these are located at the Departure Halls of T2, T3, and T4.
It’s not just cute trinkets here, for there are also practical items that’ll serve you well on your travels including hand warmer cushions, pastel pink Hello Kitty luggage, and puffer bags ($29.90) that come with free character charms and work great as carry-ons.
Changi Rewards members and those who make purchases on iShopChangi are entitled to specific exclusive versions of these items that aren’t available to the general public. The charcoal-hued puffy bag featuring Hello Kitty and the Cinnamoroll hand warmer cushion are some of them
Find out more about the Sanrio-themed Changi Festive Village 2024 here.
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