In today's society 'fun' and 'free' rarely feature in the same sentence. This is especially true of Dubai, where weekend entertainment is notoriously pricey.
Looking for something cheap and cheerful to do last weekend, I dragged my friends along to the final day of the Dubai International Kite Festival 2015 for some fun in the sun.
Armed with our towels and picnic we set out for a fun-filled day at the beach. On arrival we were surprised and disappointed to discover no sign of the colourful kites we'd expected to see at this event. Chopping it up to typically poor Dubai organisation we didn't think anything of it but after about an hour it finally dawned on us that we were at the wrong beach - the kite festival was in full swing at Jumeriah Beach not Kite Beach!
Realising our mistake we quickly packed up our belongings, jumped in the car and headed for Jumeirah Beach where we were greeted by a skyline filled with an assortment of kites in all shapes and sizes including giant blue whales, teddy bears, stingrays and, my personal favourite, an orange octopus/jelly fish creature.
In addition to the main event (the kite flying) there was tons of other activities to keep us entertained all day long including the chance to win mobile phones in return for posting images to the Event's social media accounts, stands hosted by popular brands like Pringles and Actimel giving away free stuff and stalls selling refreshments. Kids were also well catered for with bouncey slides and competitions (singing and dancing) running at intervals throughout the day giving them the opportunity win kites of their own.
Held in association with the the 20th anniversary Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) celebrations, the kite flying festival brought together thousands of participants from all corners of the globe to create fun-fueled entertainment for all the family.
Throughout this 3-day event festival-goers were treated to daily performances including synchronised kite flying, kite surfing, kite buggying, kite boarding, fly boarding, wake boarding and illuminated kite flying during darker hours.
My friends and I really enjoyed this unique day at the beach. It was colourful, entertaining and most importantly free!
If you want to attend the next Dubai Kite Festival keep up-to-date on Facebook to make sure you don't miss out.
More Information
Website - www.ikfdubai.com
Facebook - www.facebook.com/DIKFest
On the final day of this event, the organisers were attempting to create a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of participants flying kites simultaneously at multiple locations. At the time of writing I was unable to confirm if this record was achieved as left before the event ended and I've failed to find any mention of it in the press.)
Looking for something cheap and cheerful to do last weekend, I dragged my friends along to the final day of the Dubai International Kite Festival 2015 for some fun in the sun.
Armed with our towels and picnic we set out for a fun-filled day at the beach. On arrival we were surprised and disappointed to discover no sign of the colourful kites we'd expected to see at this event. Chopping it up to typically poor Dubai organisation we didn't think anything of it but after about an hour it finally dawned on us that we were at the wrong beach - the kite festival was in full swing at Jumeriah Beach not Kite Beach!
Realising our mistake we quickly packed up our belongings, jumped in the car and headed for Jumeirah Beach where we were greeted by a skyline filled with an assortment of kites in all shapes and sizes including giant blue whales, teddy bears, stingrays and, my personal favourite, an orange octopus/jelly fish creature.
In addition to the main event (the kite flying) there was tons of other activities to keep us entertained all day long including the chance to win mobile phones in return for posting images to the Event's social media accounts, stands hosted by popular brands like Pringles and Actimel giving away free stuff and stalls selling refreshments. Kids were also well catered for with bouncey slides and competitions (singing and dancing) running at intervals throughout the day giving them the opportunity win kites of their own.
Held in association with the the 20th anniversary Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) celebrations, the kite flying festival brought together thousands of participants from all corners of the globe to create fun-fueled entertainment for all the family.
Throughout this 3-day event festival-goers were treated to daily performances including synchronised kite flying, kite surfing, kite buggying, kite boarding, fly boarding, wake boarding and illuminated kite flying during darker hours.
My friends and I really enjoyed this unique day at the beach. It was colourful, entertaining and most importantly free!
If you want to attend the next Dubai Kite Festival keep up-to-date on Facebook to make sure you don't miss out.
More Information
Website - www.ikfdubai.com
Facebook - www.facebook.com/DIKFest
On the final day of this event, the organisers were attempting to create a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of participants flying kites simultaneously at multiple locations. At the time of writing I was unable to confirm if this record was achieved as left before the event ended and I've failed to find any mention of it in the press.)
