Experiencing imaginative ways to celebrate the season

This is the summer to be in Qatar. Though the weather is hot as usual, the fun and crazy indoor activities are cool enough to keep the people refreshed and energetic.There are manifold fun attractions offered by major shopping malls around Qatar under the ongoing campaign of ‘Summer in Qatar.’ The campaign is organised by Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC). It aims at encouraging different organisations and malls to have special recreational and edutainment activities, particularly for children, because it is the school-going kids who want to enjoy during their summer vacations the most.Ezdan Mall Summer Festival kicks off today (July 4) both in Al Gharaffa and Al Wakrah. Running through Thursdays and Fridays until mid-August, the summer festival comprises entertainment events and family competitions on the given days.The activities will last for three hours everyday starting from 6pm and ending at 9pm. The festival will end by August 16. Both malls will be hosting an array of new and distinguished family celebrations, and will welcome shoppers and visitors in a unique and imaginative way.Surprising activities will be held including the ‘sweet factory’ characters part-clad in bright and colourful costumes, and will be waiting for visitors inside the mall. The characters will bring with them a giant ice cream cone to celebrate at the festival.Shoppers and visitors at Al Wakra Mall will travel also to outer space through alien invasion part accompanied by aliens that will welcome them to relate their stories beyond the galaxy world.  Aliens will also take them around the flying saucer and children will receive their gifts.Talking to Community, Mai Khorshid, marketing executive at Ezdan Mall, said: “We are bringing exclusive activities at both the malls for every family in Qatar. In Gharafa, we have a sweet factory. The main element there is an ice cream cone. In Al Wakrah, we will have alien invasion. We will also have UFOs [unidentified flying objects].“In both malls, we will have kid’s activities and give-away competitions to engage everyone. We will entertain the children ages three to 12. We will also be having different roaming shows. The competitions will include questionnaires and digging into marshmallow pools. The kids will jump in there and will try and find their prizes.”In response to a question about whether have they done such activities earlier, Mai said: “We used to have such activities before during summer times. Now, we started these activities from January by having different ongoing activities during weekends, trying to attract new and existing customers.“This summer festival is unique in the sense that it is going to have unique elements. The activities we are going to do have not been done in Doha so far. No other mall has aliens or sweet factory. It is going to be a surprise for everyone actually – the idea, the items, the setup, and the way we will execute the activities.”About a question on what kind of response the organisers are expecting, Mai said: “For our previous event, we had very good response. People are getting engaged with us. They ask about what we are going to have next. They are just waiting for something new. I am expecting the summer festival to succeed.Yehia Zakaria, lease manager at Ezdan Mall, an Ezdan Holding Group company, assured that the events of Ezdan Summer Festival were carefully picked with the families in mind and to be presented in a way that suits the varying age groups. He added that “we do focus on kids in this type of activity but we still do our best to present different shoppers with suitable entertaining activities.  Our shows and mobile performances are especially meant to spread an atmosphere of joy and merry. This benefits both domestic tourism in general and the commercial market in particular.”He thanked all the shop and restaurants owners in Ezdan al-Gharafa and Al Wakrah for their support and contribution to the success of the events. “They helped in the shows and contributed gifts to be given to shoppers during events, competitions.”Yehia added that they had a comprehensive events plan for the entire year. “The events plan will be advertised on time. They include festivals and celebrations, in addition to various entertainment and shopping campaigns that are both new and unique.”