Here’s a look at how Singapore’s entertainers keep the festive spirit alive across four major celebrations: Christmas, Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Halloween.
A Full-Time Hustle in the Heartlands and Beyond
Entertainment in Singapore isn’t limited to big concerts or Marina Bay fireworks. Many performers build sustainable careers by focusing on community shows, corporate events, mall activations, and school celebrations.
They work closely with:
- Community Centres (CCs)
- Town Councils
- Event companies
- Schools
- Shopping malls
- Family-friendly brands
For most, the year is mapped out according to key seasonal celebrations. Each festival brings a new set of gigs, costumes, scripts, and energy — and each one draws on a different skill set.
Christmas: Carols, Characters, and Cheer
Come November, entertainers shift into Christmas mode. It’s one of the busiest times of the year.
What performers do during Christmas:
- Santa appearances: Local actors don red suits and ho-ho-ho their way through malls and parties.
- Christmas puppet shows: Puppeteers bring to life snowy tales, elf adventures, or heartwarming Santa stories.
- Carol singers and musicians: A cappella groups or small bands perform classic carols, often in shopping centres or at community events.
- Balloon artists and magicians: Holiday-themed magic shows and balloon sculpting (think reindeer or snowmen) are always a hit with kids.
Some entertainers even double as emcees for countdown events or festive giveaways at malls and estates.
Chinese New Year: Culture Meets Performance
As soon as Christmas wraps up, it's straight into the Lunar New Year season. This is when entertainers with Chinese cultural knowledge shine.
Popular acts during Chinese New Year:
- Lion and dragon dancers: Often part of dedicated troupes, these performers rehearse for months and perform at homes, offices, and community events.
- Emcees fluent in Mandarin and dialects: They host Chinese New Year shows, keeping things lively with games, greetings, and banter.
- Traditional dance troupes and musicians: Performers trained in ribbon dance, fan dance, guzheng, or erhu bring authenticity to shows.
- Chinese magicians or calligraphy artists: Blending culture and visual spectacle, these CNY shows are often booked at shopping malls or town centres.
For entertainers, CNY shows often happen multiple times a day — sometimes three to five gigs in different locations — making it a physically intense but profitable period.
Mid-Autumn Festival: A Softer Celebration
The Mid-Autumn Festival brings a slower, more poetic kind of work for entertainers — but it's still a valuable season, especially for those who do cultural storytelling or crafts.
Common performance types:
- Lantern storytelling: Entertainers perform folk tales like Chang’e and the Jade Rabbit, often using shadow puppets or drama.
- Chinese orchestra performances: Small ensembles perform traditional tunes at evening lantern walks or community picnics.
- Craft workshop hosts: Entertainers who can double as facilitators lead DIY lantern-making or mooncake-decoration workshops.
- Festival emcees: Many bilingual hosts keep the crowd engaged during quieter, family-friendly events.
Mid-Autumn may be less flashy than CNY, but it offers meaningful opportunities for performers to engage audiences on a cultural level.
Halloween: Theatrical Fun with a Local Twist
Halloween used to be niche in Singapore, but it’s grown into a major gig season — especially for entertainers who lean into theatrics, improv, and physical comedy.
What Halloween gigs look like:
- Haunted house actors: Local performers work in escape rooms or Halloween trails, playing ghouls, zombies, or ghosts.
- Magicians with spooky twists: Magic shows get re-themed with pumpkins, “potions,” and mysterious effects.
- Costume emcees and kids' party hosts: Entertainers dress up as witches, vampires, or mummies for Halloween carnivals in condos, malls, and CCs.
- Balloon artists and face painters: Specialising in spiders, cobwebs, and “scary-cute” designs.
Halloween gigs are often high-energy and improv-heavy — Halloween performers need to be ready to play along with screaming kids and startled parents.
The Challenges and the Joy
Being an entertainer in Singapore is not easy. Gigs are seasonal, often back-to-back during festive peaks and quiet in between. There’s costume investment, script writing, prop maintenance, travel across the island — and the pressure to keep every audience, no matter how tired you are, fully engaged.
But ask any experienced performer, and they’ll tell you it’s worth it.
Why they do it:
- Seeing kids light up during a puppet show
- Hearing seniors sing along to old New Year tunes
- Watching entire families laugh at a Halloween skit
- Bringing traditions to life in a fresh, fun way
It’s more than a job — it’s a craft, a service, and a celebration in itself.
Supporting Local Talent
Next time you attend a festive show in your neighborhood or mall, take a moment to appreciate the performers. Many of them are freelancers or small business owners who rehearse, sweat, and hustle to keep the festive spirit alive for everyone.
If you’re planning an event, consider hiring local entertainers:
You’re not just booking a show — you’re supporting the people who make celebrations come alive in Singapore, one season at a time.