Pumpkin Painting and Autumn Harvest Floral Display 2017 (丰收之秋) at Gardens by the Bay

The September 2017 term break has started and we kick it off with a media invitation to Gardens by the Bay.  We spent an afternoon of getting acrylic paint all over our hands, glue stuck on our fingers, glittery stuffs stuck on our elbows kind of pumpkin painting fun with fellow bloggers and their kids. 

We have always seen how the "Western people" carve, decorate and paint their pumpkins during Halloween on tv but we have never try our hands in it.  As usual this Mama leave it entirely to the boy to decide what to do with his pumpkin, there are plenty of ideas and materials to unleash his imagination.  

Initially he tried to replicate the picture on his pumpkin with brush but the acrylic paint starts to run and color got mixed together, he got frustrated, grabbed 2 wet tissue and cleaned the entire thing off the pumpkin.  Next he look around the table and found a piece of sponge, dipped it into the green acrylic paint and started dabbing on the pumpkin.  He used a egg carton for the nose, I don't know why he wanted the nose to be jet black... perhaps his pumpkin stuck its nose too near a fire an got a burnt nose hahaha!

So, after he gave the pumpkin a bright green hair, orange face (how original...), 2 googly eyes and a black nose, he declared that he's done, he's FAMISHED and ditched the weird looking half-done pumpkin to the Mum and ran off to enjoy the small buffet spread provided by Garden.  Geez!  What kind of a pumpkin is that! So this Mama got a taste of her own medicine... You think you've won son?  You are wrong!  This Mama is also good at decorating ok!  

A handful of glitter stuffs, 2 red pom-poms, some black eye peas, glittery paper and a Christmasy ribbon are added on to our pumpkin.  Now at least it looks cheerful and all ready to welcome Christmas! My decoration work is not bad eh?

Later that day we were invited to the Flower Dome to admire the Autumn Harvest Floral Display (丰收之秋) where pumpkins are literally at every corner and amongst them you can see blooms like heleniums, callunas, phloxes and chrysanthemums.

Look at DinoBoy's expression!  The only pumpkin he saw in real life were those gutted and cut up either halved or quartered pumpkins in the super market, he has never seen a whole pumpkin before.  He was surprised earlier to see that a full grown pumpkin was that big but when he was in the Flower Dome, he could not believe his eyes when they see them!

We know pumpkins are usually in hues of dark orange, round with smooth and slightly ribbed skin but we saw a wide variety of them.  There were giant ones, tiny ones, gourd shaped, round, longish, different hues of green and yellow, some were even as white as snow!  

Did you know that the word "Pumpkin" originates from the Greek word pepon which means "large melon"?  Almost all the parts of a pumpkin can be eaten, including the shell, seeds. leaves and even flowers.  MMmm~~ I love roasted pumpkin seeds and the healthy Pumpkin soup that I always cook for the family.

There are a few displays around the area using pumpkins, beside the Cinderalla's Carriage that welcomes you at the entrance there is the Autumn Harvest pickup truck, Jack and Beanstalk , Jack O' Lantern and of course this 6 meter tall fruit and vegetable Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum giant in the centre of the dome!

Before you leave the dome, be sure to take a few snap shots with the coffin display, make a scary face and send them to your friends as a Halloween greeting.

As for us, we prefer to send a much more peaceful and loving greeting to all of you~

Autumn Harvest Floral Display (丰收之秋)

Date : Fri, 1 Sep – Sun, 29 Oct 2017

Time : 9am - 9pm

Venue : Flower Dome

Admission charge to the conservatories applies.

*** *** *** *** ***

It's been a week since I wrote this post but I did not blast it because I was hoping to do a giveaway with it, apparently it did not materialize till today (29 September 2017).  With the permission from Gardens by The Bay PR Company, I am gifting away the Autumn Harvest Basket with its cute little stuffed cloth (or felt???) vegetables to kids who will appreciate it much better than us.  So, here it is!  Read further about the giveaway.

Giveaway Details

Prize : 1 basket full of Autumn Harvest as seen in the photo above.

Contest Ends : 10 October 2017 @ 2359hrs

Open : Singapore

How to Enter :
1. Answer the question by commenting on the blog post "Who would you like to gift this Autumn Harvest Set?  And why?" 
2. By doing all the required steps in the Rafflecopter widget below.  Omitting of any steps will mean you are disqualified from the giveaway.

Terms and conditions of giveaway are as follow:
- Be entering this giveaway you agree that you will not sell the prize for personal gain purpose.

- To avoid being disqualified without prior notice for the giveaway, please read carefully the following and fulfill ALL the requirements stated.

- Prizes are non transferable nor exchange for cash.

- Winners be picked based on the best comment that I feel most heart warming and fulfillment of all giveaway criteria stipulated in the Rafflecopter widget.

- Winners will be notified via email, please ensure you have provided a valid email.

- Winners will have 24 hours to respond by replying to our notification otherwise, a new winner will be picked.

- Prizes will be given out by DinoMama.  Arrangement on prize collection will be determined later.

- Only one winner per household.

- This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook and Instagram.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer : We were invited by Gardens by the Bay for a Pumpkin Painting Fun and a visit to Autumn Harvest Floral Display 2017, we were not required to write a post but we thought we should because we enjoyed the visit so much. No other compensation were received. All opinions in this post are 100% ours and based on our experience at the floral display. All photos in this post belongs to The DinoFamily, you may not use them without our permission.