It’s been a long time since the husband and I went to any show related to the National Day Parade. We haven’t been balloting and when the children came along, we were worried that the loud sounds from the pyrotechnics will scare them.
This year, however, I gave it a shot at balloting. Everyone was talking about it. Everyone one was giving it a shot. So I thought… Why not?
And… Nope. Still nothing. Haha!
Fortunately for me, my sister managed to get hold of four tickets for the National Education (NE) Show preview and gave them to me without hesitation! Woohoo! And it just so happens that the preview show that we were attending was on my birthday weekend – double woohoo! Happy birthday to me and Singapore!
Note: The NE Show and the fun packs received differs a little from the NDP previews and actual day NDP.
After 10 years, National Day Parade is finally back at the National Stadium! And who would’ve thought that we’d be so lucky to experience this!
We thought back about the last time we were at a National Day Parade and Sean revealed that the last time he was at one, he was a performer for the “Spirit of Warrior” performance back in the mid-90s.
Wow! Are you serious!? was my initial reaction after the revelation. This wife is absolutely clueless. Haha! As for me, I honestly cannot remember when the last time was. It must have been more than a decade ago, seeing how we’ve been together for 12 years already.
And now, we’re back with our children!
When we were directed to our seats, the first thing I saw were the fun packs that had already been placed at our seats. Our entire row was filled with the white bags (it’s all placed at random) and I casually mentioned that fact to Sean. The couple sitting behind us heard, and the uncle went, “Do you want to exchange with us?” before holding up a red bag. Obviously I exchanged! Woohoo! What a great start to our evening!
Celebrating the nation’s 51st birthday
Whilst waiting for the pre-parade show to start, several NDP show participants went around twisting balloons for anyone who wanted them. Nakayla saw the balloons and immediately asked me if she could have one. As we were sitting at the end of the row, we weren’t able to get the attention of any of them nor did we want to disturb the rest in our row by making our way out and back in again.
I told Nakayla to wait patiently until we get home and I’ll twist as many for her as she wanted. She nodded and smiled with an “Okay, mommy!” Phew! Thank goodness Nakayla is a sensible girl! Also, thank goodness we always deliver what we promise to the children so they trust us.
Less than five minutes after that conversation, a little boy who was sitting in the same row as us went up to Nakayla and handed her something to everyone’s surprise and Nakayla’s delight – He gave her a lollipop balloon he had gotten from the NDP show participants!
Can you spot the little boy? Hehe.
Nakayla was thrilled and a lot of ‘Thank you’s were exchanged between the children and adults. We have awesome people sitting around us! I was sure it couldn’t get any better than this. But it did.
Moments after Nakayla got her balloon, it popped in her hands. She was upset about it but I managed to cheer her up a little. The little boy stepped in again and gave Nakayla another balloon!
No more lollipop but there’s a dog now!
We were left speechless, to be honest.
All the show of kindness from the people sitting around us made me recall the last time I received such kindness from strangers that left a great impression on us. It was also around the National Day period back in 2012, when Sean had his mobile phone stolen.
My thoughts were soon interrupted by loud cheers from the crowd. Onwards with the show!
To get everyone moving before the show starts, the hosts got everyone up on their feet to do the Kallang Wave!
This went on for three rounds around the stadium before it eventually died down, and the children experienced their first Kallang Wave ever and had so much fun! Blake was laughing the entire time, and all ready to jump up to catch the wave!
Once the wave settled, another round of funny moments happened when the simulation for the MP/ESM/PM’s arrival happened. Everyone just burst out laughing when the stand-ins arrived.
The man who stood in for our Prime Minister was so in tune to his inner Lee Hsien Loong that he wore a pink shirt too! If you didn’t know, our PM seems to have a thing for pink shirts. Hehe!
After all the important guests have arrived and have taken their seats, the show officially began. I’m not going to bore you with a word for word review of the show, so I did a video compilation instead.
But before we get to that, I must show you these pretty little LED wristbands we got at the parade (not included in the fun pack). It seems to work best at the stadium. Sean says it’s probably controlled internally as the lights will come on by itself.
The colours and pace of the lights blinking is also different throughout the show – sometimes all white, sometimes all red, sometimes it’s just blinking random colours. Once we left the stadium though, all it did was blink in red. Technology is in play again! So cool!
There are two things I felt could further improve the wristbands. One is for it to have proper straps (this one’s made with paper) and the other is for it to have an on/off switch. This way, we can still wear it after NDP!
And now, to end this post…
What a wonderful evening and highlight for my birthday weekend! Woohoo!
Paying it forward for all the kindness we received (tickets from my sister and the people we met at the show), we are giving away ONE NE Show Fun Pack to a lucky reader!
All you’ll have to do is complete the steps in the widget below to ensure yourself a chance to win the NE Show Fun Pack!
Please note that the contents of the NE Show fun pack is slightly different from the NDP preview and actual day NDP fun packs. The LED wristsbands were not included in the fun pack. They were distributed before the show started.
I was heavily pregnant (like 36 weeks!) and my car was in the workshop for repair after a minor accident. Working in the far west part of Singapore often means I have to squeeze into super packed MRT in Jurong East to travel home. I never expect people to be gracious to let their seats to me, knowing how sometimes people tend to be ungracious at times. But I thought it’s ok, my energy level was still high despite being heavily pregnant and thought I can stand in the mrt all the way home. However everytime there will be strangers letting their seats to me. I was really grateful, despite being labelled “ugly Singaporeans” most of the time, there are still very gracious Singaporeans out there!
Being a lazy bump who never carry umbrella around…. I’ve once got drenched badly while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. A malay lady “quietly” came near me and “share” her umbrella with me!! It’s amazing how inclusive we are as a nation!
I left my pouch with my passport and all my money on a park bench in Japan once. Some kind soul found it and brought it to lost & found where I managed to retrieve it. *PHEW* Since then, I have always returned items I found to lost & found. Hopefully I have brought equal relief to someone else out there too!
I’ve received kindness from a stranger in the form of helping me carry the pram and hold the hand on my oldest kid on the bus when she saw me struggling at the front door. While she could have just not do anything like the rest of the passengers on the bus, this lady got up from her seat and came to help me.