Samantha Whale, 4, with a giant lollipop destined for the peppermint tree in the Christmas Wonderland. Picture / Kenny Rodger
Arlene Taylor and Mary-Rose Hall started decorating their Christmas trees in August - but they did have 120 to get through.
The two women are the creative force behind Christmas Wonderland, which begins on Thursday at the Rawene Community Centre in Birkenhead.
Featuring more than 150,000 fairy lights
and 120 trees, the third annual event is expected to attract more than 15,000 visitors to the festive forest during its six days.
Event co-ordinator Ms Hall is surprised by how popular the event has become.
"Our first year, our goal was to have 2500 people through. We had 7500. Last year, our second year, we had 12,500 people through."
Planning for the event begins in January, when Ms Hall starts buying the multitude of ornaments needed to dress the trees.
"This year, we were on a family holiday in the United States so we sourced a lot of decorations from there, new and unusual decorations. The rest are sourced from throughout New Zealand," she said .
Ms Hall and her core team of four designers began decorating the trees in August, while hundreds of volunteers helped string the thousands of Christmas lights.
Ms Hall and Ms Taylor first thought up the event when working together on Christmas house tours.
"Arlene had done her own home up and opened it for a Christmas tour," said Ms Hall. "We thought it would be really wonderful to create a beautiful Christmas forest, an event for the whole family."
Every tree was individually themed and decorated, said Ms Taylor, who manages the community centre.
"To see the enjoyment on people's faces and hear them gasp as they walk in, that's what makes all those hours of work worthwhile," she said.
Christmas Wonderland will be open next week from Thursday to Saturday, and again the following week, between noon and midnight at the Rawene Community Centre in Birkenhead. Tickets are $10 each and available at the door.
All profits from the event go to the community centre.
The Herald has 10 double passes to Christmas Wonderland to give away. Simply write your name and address on the back of an envelope and post it to "Christmas Wonderland giveaway", NZ Herald, PO Box 32, Auckland.
