Hina-matsuri Festival @ Liang Court Shopping Mall

From 15 February to 3 March, Liang Court Shopping Mall is having a 2 weeks celebration for the tradition Hina-matsuri - Japanese Dolls Festival. This is the first time in Singapore, Hina-matsuri is celebrated in Liang Court in honor of all girls, with wishes for good health and happiness.

We are so excited to be one of the invited guest bloggers to join in their Bento Workshop as well as making our own snowman using "real snow" from Hokkaido.

Our Bento Workshop instructor is Shirley Wong (in blue yukata) who features all her Kawaii (cute) Kyarabens (character bento) at http://littlemissonigiri.blogspot.sg/ You can take a look at her website for more bento ideas if you are interested to make your own bento too :)

Material for the Bento workshop.

All the kids were excited and can't wait to get their hands on for the bento workshop.

First the kids were told to mix in green and pink Furikake (condiment for rice) into their cooked rice to form the HinaMatsuri Characters.

Although I am a bit worried for my boy to handle sharp knife while cutting the vegetables but afterall he did a great job on cutting and shaping the bento characters.

My boy's Hinamatsuri (Japanese Doll Festival) Bento.

Group Photo taken with the kids and Bento Workshop Instructor, Shirley (right with blue yukata).

Hina-arare (rice crackers/rice puffs)

Above are some of the traditional Hinamatsuri snacks that you get from Meidi-ya at Liang Count Shopping Mall. And they even have a mini Hinamatsuri food fair selling all kinds of festive snacks such as Hina-arare (rice crackers/rice puffs), Japanese candy, Mochi and etc.

One of the hit for Hina-matsuri Festival is snowman making which bought in by Tampopo restaurant. According to them, those are "real snow" which was air-flown from Hokkaido in support of the event. Although we cannot experience winter in Singapore but these "air-flown" snow definitely brings in fun and laughter between the kids and their family during they visit.

Other than the "snow" at the atrium area, there were also more inside the Tampopo Restaurant where they display snowman and snow play area for the dine-in patrons.

Without second thoughts, our dinner was at Tampopo (partly because of the snowman *grins) and my kid enjoy his Meal which consists all his favourite items from Onigiri, ebi tempura, Tonkatsu and hard-boiled egg.

Complimentary box of snow from Tampopo, Liang Court which they brought in from Hokkaido,

For this coming weekend, 2 - 3 March there are having 2 big events like:-

{02 March} Mega Chirashi Zushi (1.30pm to 3pm): For the first time in Singapore, you could join in the record-setting attempt at assembling a mega Chirashi Zushi (scattered sushi) with colorful toppings that is served during Hina-matsuri!

{3 March) Girls' Party (2 - 5pm) : Bring your kids to join in the Girls' Party at Liang Court's atrium with traditional Hina-matsuri food, non-alcoholic sake, and fun activities with live performances on stage!

So if you are free this weekend, perhaps you would like to bring your kid(s) down to Liang Court and join in the Hinamatsuri Festival too!