Santa is coming to town
Santaīs arrival at the malls kicks off the official start to the holiday shopping season. Christmas in the Tropics, that is the theme of this yearīs Orchard Road light-up (usual lights adorning trees and bright shop front decor). President SR Nathan turned on the switch for the light-up, which this year will be extended to the Marina Bay, Tanglin and Scotts area as well. After several seasons of lackluster sales, retailers are hoping for a bang this holiday season. Forecasters predict holiday sales should come in between 5 percent higher than last year. A recent shopping survey found that many of the popular toys are the same as last year - Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Hello Kitty. These are all comeback toys from years past. This is also the season for giving to the less fortunate; donation boxes have been set up to collect donations for 350,000 individuals.
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Bright Lights and Giant Christmas Tree
 Itīs mid-November 2004 and itīs looking a lot like Christmas at Singaporeīs shopping street Orchard Road. Among the highlights is a 100-foot Christmas tree, the tallest ever staged in Singapore. There will be a 2000-sq-foot outdoor skating rink (the size of a basketball court just behind the Orchard MRT station) will also be ready by Christmas. To add to the festive cheer, Singaporeīs Tourism Board is offering tourists free rides on the Hippo bus between 13 November 2004 and 2 January 2005.
To usher in the New Year 2005, there will be seven venues for countdown parties, including the Esplanade and Downtown East. The Tourism Board says it hopes to attract more than the 1.8 million visitors who joined the Christmas celebrations last year. 
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