Overview
On Saturday, January 11, 2025, GLOM celebrated its third annual Children’s Day Festival with “Tom Yum Fun” – a bold, flavourful theme that perfectly captured the spirit of this beloved Chiang Mai tradition. From 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM, families experienced an expanded festival filled with laughter, music, creativity, and surprises that honored the festival’s commitment to imagination-filled, phone-free celebration.
Back for its third year and significantly expanded from previous editions, Tom Yum Fun proved that GLOM’s unique approach to children’s entertainment continues to evolve while maintaining the core values that made the festival a success: interactive experiences, professional-quality performances, and genuine creative connection for all ages.
The Theme: Tom Yum Fun
Concept
The 2025 festival embraced a distinctly Thai identity with “Tom Yum Fun” – a playful nod to Thailand’s most iconic dish. Like tom yum soup itself, the festival brought together diverse flavours: spicy performances, sour surprises, sweet workshops, and salty humour – all balanced into one harmonious, delicious experience.
The theme celebrated:
- Thai cultural pride presented in a fun, accessible way
- Bold flavours and bold creativity – encouraging children to mix unexpected elements
- Community as ingredients – every participant adding their unique flavour to the day
- Heat and energy – a festival that sizzled with excitement from start to finish
Pre-Festival Programming
Food & Drinks Zone (11:00 – 21:00)
Open to the Public – No Ticket Required
A significant addition to the 2025 festival was the expansion of the food zone, opening four hours before the main gates. This free-access area allowed families to:
- Arrive early and settle in comfortably
- Sample from a curated selection of vendors offering everything from savory snacks to sweet treats
- Enjoy refreshing beverages in the January heat
- Build anticipation for the main event
The extended food zone transformed the festival from a single event into an all-day destination, creating a relaxed, festival atmosphere that welcomed early arrivals and provided dining options throughout the evening.
The Akynum Dream Wagon (14:00 – 15:00)
Free Courtyard Performance
An hour before gates opened, families gathered in the courtyard for a mesmerizing pre-show performance by The Akynum Dream Wagon. This magical, music-filled act transported audiences to a world of dreams and imagination, serving as the perfect appetizer for the main festival.
Performance Highlights:
- Live music that ranged from whimsical to wonder-inducing
- Dreamlike visual aesthetics
- Interactive moments that engaged waiting crowds
- Perfect pacing to build excitement without exhausting young audiences
The free pre-show demonstrated GLOM’s commitment to accessibility – offering high-quality entertainment before the ticketed portion even began.
Main Festival Activities (15:00 – 21:00)
🎨 Creative Workshops (15:00 – 18:00)
The 2025 festival featured five distinct workshop stations, each offering hands-on creative experiences. Unlike typical craft activities, these workshops emphasized process over product, mess over perfection, and imagination over instruction.
1. Playdough Picnic with Snap & Collage Corner (250 THB)
The Experience: A dual-activity workshop that combined tactile creativity with visual documentation.
Part One – Playdough Picnic:
- Color-mixing exploration with professional-quality playdough
- Guided sculpture techniques balanced with free exploration
- Themed prompts inspired by Thai ingredients and Tom Yum elements
- Collaborative building opportunities
Part Two – Snap & Collage Corner:
- Instant photo documentation of playdough creations
- Collage-making using printed photos, colorful papers, and embellishments
- Custom frames and display options
- Take-home art pieces that preserved the day’s creativity
This workshop excelled at giving children agency – they controlled the narrative of their creations and documented their own stories.
2. Paint & Splash Studio (200 THB)
The Messiest, Most Liberating Workshop
Breaking free from traditional “stay inside the lines” painting, this studio embraced:
- Splatter techniques – Jackson Pollock-style energy release
- Body painting on large canvases using feet, hands, and full-body movements
- Color theory exploration through wild mixing and layering
- Process art philosophy – celebrating the act of creation over the final product
What Made It Special:
- Protective gear provided (smocks, shoe covers)
- Parents warned to “dress for mess”
- No judgment zone where accidents became art
- Instant satisfaction for high-energy children
- Outdoor or easily-cleaned space maximized freedom
3. Cookie Art Café (250 THB)
Edible Art Station
The sweetest workshop combined culinary arts with visual design:
Setup:
- Pre-baked sugar cookies in various shapes (Thai-inspired: elephants, temples, chili peppers, lime slices)
- Professional icing in multiple colors
- Sprinkles, edible glitter, candies, and decorative elements
- Individual decorating stations with proper tools
Learning Elements:
- Fine motor skill development through precise icing application
- Color theory and design principles
- Delayed gratification (waiting for icing to set)
- Pride in presenting finished creations
The Best Part: Children got to eat their art or take it home to share – turning creativity into connection with family and friends.
4. Whimsy Wax Lab (350 THB)
The Most Sophisticated Workshop
Candle-making elevated to an art form, designed for children:
The Process:
- Scent Selection – Choosing from child-safe fragrance oils (fruity, floral, herbal)
- Color Mixing – Adding dye chips to melted wax, understanding color transformation
- Pouring Technique – Careful, supervised pouring into containers
- Decoration – Adding dried flowers, glitter, or layered colors
- Cooling Period – Learning patience as creations solidified
Why It Resonated:
- Children created functional art they could use at home
- The alchemy of solid-to-liquid-to-solid transformation fascinated young minds
- Personalization options made each candle unique
- Fire safety education integrated naturally into the experience
- Older children appreciated the grown-up nature of the craft
🛝 Interactive Playground (15:00 – 18:00)
Free with Festival Entry
The playground expanded significantly for 2025, featuring:
Obstacle Courses:
- Tunnel races
- Balance beam challenges
- Climbing walls scaled for various ages
- Rope courses requiring teamwork
Giant Inflatables:
- Bouncy castles
- Slide structures
- Obstacle mazes
- Cushioned landing zones for safe risk-taking
Game Stations:
- Relay races with silly props
- Cooperative challenges requiring group problem-solving
- Skill-testing competitions (but everyone wins)
- Free-play zones without structured activities
The playground philosophy: children need space to simply play without educational objectives or structured outcomes – pure joy for its own sake.
🎩 Roaming Magicians (15:00 – 18:00)
The Comedy Magic Duo
One of the festival’s most delightful surprise elements featured two magicians with very different skill levels:
The Master Magician:
- Professional close-up magic throughout the venue
- Card tricks, coin illusions, and disappearing acts
- Interactive tricks that invited child participation
- Genuine amazement and wonder
The “Magician-in-Training”:
- Intentionally terrible magic tricks that failed hilariously
- Physical comedy and slapstick elements
- Self-aware humor that let children feel “in on the joke”
- Actually teaching how tricks work when they “accidentally” went wrong
The Dynamic: The contrast between polished professional and lovable amateur created unexpected comedy. Children loved helping the struggling magician, feeling superior in their understanding while still being dazzled by the expert. This duo wandered the festival creating spontaneous moments of wonder and laughter.
Main Stage Programming
🎭 Tom Yum Fun Show – Interactive Musical (18:00 – 20:00)
The Festival’s Grand Centerpiece
The Tom Yum Fun Interactive Musical represented the largest theatrical undertaking in the festival’s three-year history – a fully-staged, professionally-produced musical theatre piece designed specifically for family audiences.
Story Concept
While the exact narrative remained a surprise element, the musical centered on:
- Thai ingredients coming to life as characters
- A cooking adventure gone wrong requiring audience help to fix
- Lessons about balance, harmony, and diversity (reflecting tom yum’s signature balance of flavors)
- Participatory elements where children’s actions directly influenced the plot
Production Elements
Musical Numbers:
- Original songs in multiple styles (pop, rock, traditional Thai)
- Choreographed dance sequences
- Sing-along sections with repeating choruses
- Instrumental interludes for scene changes
Interactive Components:
- Direct address to the audience
- Children called on stage for key moments
- Call-and-response participation
- Vote-based plot decisions (choose-your-own-adventure style)
- Movement activities performed from seats
Technical Aspects:
- Professional sound design
- Lighting that enhanced storytelling
- Simple but effective set pieces
- Colorful costumes representing different characters/ingredients
- Live musicians visible to audience
Why It Worked
The show succeeded because it:
- Respected young audiences with genuine storytelling craft
- Balanced entertainment with participation – not forcing interaction but inviting it
- Moved at the right pace for attention spans while building to satisfying climaxes
- Incorporated Thai culture authentically without being educational or heavy-handed
- Created shared experience – families laughed, sang, and engaged together
At two hours, the musical represented a significant commitment for young audiences, but the interactive elements and pacing kept energy high throughout.
🎤 Sing-a-Long Party (20:00 – 21:00)
The Festival’s Joyful Conclusion
As darkness fell and the main show concluded, the festival transitioned into its final act: a massive sing-a-long party that brought the entire community together.
Format:
- Live band playing family-friendly favorites
- Lyrics displayed on screens for easy participation
- Mix of:
- Thai children’s classics
- International sing-along standards
- Pop hits adapted for family audiences
- Songs from earlier in the day’s performances
Atmosphere:
- Relaxed, celebratory energy
- Parents and children equally engaged
- Dance floor open for movement
- Glow sticks and simple props distributed
- Low-pressure participation (sing if you want, dance if you want, or just absorb the joy)
The Magic: After hours of structured activities and performances, the sing-a-long provided cathartic release. Children who’d been contained in workshops could now run and dance. Shy singers found courage in the crowd. New friendships formed spontaneously. The shared experience of music created community.
This final hour transformed attendees from festival-goers into a temporary family, united by the simple act of raising voices together.