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Charmaine Yu

October has arrived, which means this year’s Mid-Autumn festivities will soon be in full swing.
Before your schedule gets filled up with family dinners and celebrations, take a moment this weekend to indulge in a creative party with Sanrio products, or kick back with a Hong Kong noir film.
Perhaps you would rather make new friends at a sip-and-paint night or help clean up the coastline to ring in the new season.
Here are five things to do this weekend to start October right.
1. Sanrio characters Autumn Creative Party at The Mills
Starting on October 4, The Mills in Tsuen Wan will be hosting a Sanrio characters Autumn Creative Party.
Collaborating with various local creative units – such as Chigooding Ceramics Studio, jewellery and accessories store Tinyfuzzball, and artist Dark Kenjamin – this event aims to bring over a hundred new creative products inspired by Cinnamoroll, Kuromi and Hello Kitty.
A weekend market will be held at The Mills for three consecutive weekends from October 4 to October 26. Shoppers will find a wide selection of treats, including clothing accessories, handmade perfumes, delicate ornaments and even desserts and snacks.
While this event will be perfect for those who enjoy collecting special edition items, there are also upcycling workshops where those interested in crafts can decorate old denim pieces with popular Sanrio characters.
1/F, The Mills, 45 Pak Tin Par Street, Tsuen Wan
2. Sip and Paint with Serene Coffee and Wine
Unleash your inner artist and meet new friends at Serene Coffee and Wine’s glow-in-the-dark paint night.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Serene (@serene_experience)



This Saturday from 7.30pm to 9.30pm, attendees of the workshop at the Sheung Wan cafe can create their own masterpieces, with art supplies, fine wine and delicious snacks provided.
The workshop will also be guided by an instructor, so painters of any level and experience are welcome to have some fun.
Take a break from the busy work week through art therapy with a boozy twist. Leave with not only a painting of your own but new friends too.
27 New Street, Sheung Wan
3. Beach clean-up at Shek O
Debris caused by Typhoon Ragasa litters Hong Kong’s coastline a week after it hit the city. This Sunday from 10am to 12pm, non-profit organisation Hong Kong Cleanup will host its second clean-up event in the aftermath of the typhoon.
The event is supported by Ocean Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group. Volunteers can help protect Hong Kong’s Shek O beach as part of its 40th International Coastal Cleanup Challenge.

Volunteers can also help collect valuable data about the coastline – vital information that will benefit the aquatic environment and local communities.
Online registration is free, and volunteers will be provided with reusable gloves, rubbish bags and first aid kits.
Shek O Beach, Shek O, Hong Kong Island
4. Gelato-gather Festival at PMQ
Gelato fans can get excited for the second weekend of the Gelato-gather Festival, which will take place at PMQ in Central from Friday to Sunday. This weekend will be the last chance to grab a well-deserved sweet treat at the festival.

Taking place at the PMQ Courtyard and Marketplace from 12pm to 10pm, the festival will bring together top frozen dessert brands such as Pa Shih, The Frozen Club and Yonna Yonna to display their unique flavours.
As well as gelato shops, the event will feature local creators’ handmade crafts, pet goods and various lifestyle items.
The Sunday workshop on October 5 will guide visitors on painting custom-made ice cream cups with complimentary gelato. This workshop costs HK$400, but those who simply want to enjoy the festival can visit for free.
PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central
5. Sons of the Neon Night
Few Hong Kong films’ arrivals have been met with as much anticipation as Juno Mak Chun-lung’s Sons of the Neon Night.


The hyper-stylised crime thriller, which has a reported HK$400 million (US$51.4 million) budget and a star-studded cast, was shot between 2017 and 2018, only to be shelved until its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year.
The long delay has only added to the film’s enigmatic aura. Set in an alternate-reality Hong Kong of 1994, so much has transpired in the interim that the brooding noir now feels less like a follow-up to Mak’s 2013 directorial debut, the horror gem Rigor Mortis, and more like a relic from an unknown past.
Takeshi Kaneshiro, who has not appeared on screen since 2017, plays the younger of two sons of a kingpin whose pharmaceutical empire is partly built on drug trafficking.
Rounding out the ensemble are Gao Yuanyuan as his manipulative wife; Lau Ching-wan as a narcotics officer with a sick daughter and a lucrative side gig in drug dealing; Tony Leung Ka-fai as a former police chief inspector back for a consulting role; and Louis Koo Tin-lok as a strangely philosophical hitman with a death wish.
Ultimately, Sons of the Neon Night is best viewed not as a coherent narrative where closure is a goal, but as the uncompromisingly vivid fever dream of a crime film buff with a great eye for visual design. Read our full review.
Sons of the Neon Night is in cinemas now.
Find this useful? Look out for our recommendations every Friday online.
Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also sign up for our eNewsletter here.


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Lifestyle

Make Sanrio-themed crafts, head to a gelato festival, clean up a beach or watch Juno Mak’s new film – the choice is yours this weekend


Make Sanrio-themed crafts, head to a gelato festival, clean up a beach or watch Juno Mak’s new film – the choice is yours this weekend.
