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ays before Christmas arrives, shopping malls in Jakarta have adorned themselves with stunning decorations and have begun offering sales, activities and entertainment, as they vie for customers among Jakarta-bound holiday shoppers.

In Mall Taman Anggrek in West Jakarta, customers enjoy taking pictures in front of the carousel, animatronic dolls and giant Christmas tree that are on display in the mall’s central atrium.

The atrium has been transformed into a miniature village that is dominated by bright red and green Christmas decorations under the theme “Noel, Noel, The Warmth of Christmas”.

Shop attendants wearing Santa Claus hats as they promote huge discounts are nearly everywhere.

But it is not all about decorations and discounts.

The mall’s management has also prepared a mom-and-child pasta-cooking competition for Saturday, with more than Rp 9 million (US$920) in prizes up for grabs. Visitors can also enjoy a harp performance by musician Heidy Awuy every evening, except Christmas, until Dec. 31. Want to have a photo with Santa? Just visit a booth in the atrium and pay Rp 125,000.

Central Park next door has a different concept. A Disney-themed tea party is held every evening until Jan. 6 and a princess pageant, which will be held on Dec. 30, offers a tour package to Hong Kong’s Disneyland for the winner.

Anastasia Prima, Central Park’s public relations officer, said that the mall’s main attraction was a 38-meter-tall Christmas tree, equipped with musical LED lights, at the mall’s Tribecca Park.

“The LEDs will emit lights set to music played throughout the park. Visitors can enjoy the performance every evening until Jan. 6,” she said.

The mall’s “Shopping Marathon Till Midnight” three-day year-end sale might have ended on Dec. 16, but Anastasia said almost all the shops at the mall were still holding their own sales.

This year’s highlight at Central Park will be fireworks and laser shows, which will be held in the mall’s park on Christmas Eve and again on New Year’s Eve.

Entertaining visitors with such lavish annual events requires shopping centers to spend enormous amounts of money, but Indonesian Association of Shopping Centers head Handaka Santosa said that the malls did not worry about the fact that the events did not generate immediate profits.

“We might spend a lot of money for decorations, prizes and for famous artists to perform at our malls, but every business has its own kind of promotional strategy for long-term profits. This is how we do it,” Handaka explained.

He said that his mall, Senayan City, had budgeted Rp 2 billion this year to attract 15,000 visitors each day over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

“Our tenants need profits to pay rent to mall owners, so we help them by holding these kinds of events so that more people will come to our malls and shop at the tenants’ stores.”

Duren Sawit resident Ria, 40, said she always loved spending her holidays hopping from one mall to another. “Malls are where we can feel Christmas outside the churches in Jakarta,” said the mother of three.

Another important thing that drove Ria to malls every Christmas: “Discounts are everywhere. It’s the time of the year when I can enjoy buying many clothes at reasonable prices.” (aml)