Celebrating Global Day of Parents together!
On 1st of June, the whole world celebrated the Global day of Parents. To mark this significant event the Andrey & Julia Dashin’s Foundation has organized a 3-day celebration for children and their families between 29- and 31 May, 2015, at the Mall of Cyprus in Nicosia. A weekend filled with fun and activities for the whole family!
The weekend was dedicated purely to charity and all activities arranged by the Foundation – workshops, face-painting, acrobatic show, magic show, Live Link with Choice FM – were all absolutely FREE of charge for all Mall of Cyprus visitors. Every child and adult could join in the fun. The Foundation volunteers also gave out free balloons, as well as free bottles of water and marshmallow candy bags, to all children during the whole 3 day event.
The event began on Friday afternoon with Mickey and Minnie Mouse together with Daisy Duck welcoming the Mall visitors at the main entrance. Not only did the children receive a unique opportunity to take photos with the all-time favorite Disney friends, but each and every child was invited to join in the creative workshops with a professional kids’ animator! The workshops were custom made especially for the Global Day of Parents celebration, where children could design a greeting card for their parents, paper flowers with petal-wishes for their moms and dads, carton ‘hugs’ and many more original and entertaining activities. Following an hour of workshops, the event continued with a 2-hour acrobatic show by Angelos – a professional juggler, equilibrist and showman! The children and their parents sat in an improvised arena around the ‘stage’, where Angelos performed his show, capturing each and everyone’s attention. After the show, children could rejoin the workshops and finish their arts & crafts, or turn into a butterfly, a tiger, princess or even Spiderman with the magic touch of our face-painter. Friday’s event was a huge success and was finished only at dusk. And the Foundation and its team of volunteers were only warming up for the busy charity weekend.
Saturday morning begun with Disney mascots and workshops, with the Choice FM radio Live Link joining the buzz around noon. The Foundation spoke on air about the causes and activities of the event, why we have chosen to organize it and what we were hoping to achieve with it. Funky pop-music, a cool DJ and a rich entertaining programme have filled the Mall venue with a festive atmosphere and made the day for all families and children. Following the workshops and face-painting, Adamos the Magician stepped into the ‘arena’ for a spectacular magic show with birds, rabbits, candies, flying objects and many surprises to amuse and entertain children and parents alike. This was a show to remember! When the performance was over, and Choice FM finished their Live Link, the children could enjoy the rest of the workshops in peace under the supervision of our animator and helpful volunteers, while parents could relish their time shopping.
Sunday was another day for celebrating the Global Day of Parents, and even though the weekend promised few mall visitors due the 3-day Kataklysmos (flood-festival) weekend, the event’s attendance surpassed all expectations! Children, little babies, parents and grandparents, dozens and dozens of families joined us to celebrate the day and enjoy the free activities. Four hours non-stop entertainment and many surprises for the whole family – this is what Sunday morning turned into for the event visitors!
The Foundation cordially thanks the Mall of Cyprus for offering the venue space for free for this charitable purpose, as well as helping with the set up and organization of the event. A great thanks to Choice FM and Klik FM for the media support, as well as Cyprus Mail, which have helped us promote the event and make it such a great success. We also thank all the volunteers who have come to offer their time and help organize the 3-day “Global Day of Parents” event.