Ranchi, Oct. 26: As the city immersed in a festive mood on Dhanteras today, many queued up for an array of contests at the Aqua World amusement park.

The park had organised Diwali celebrations in its own unique style to provide its visitors a break from the tiring cleaning and shopping work during the festival.

The evening was packed with a number of activities for kids as well as their parents.

Tiny tots aged below 12 were busy with a drawing competition in which they had to make the images of Laxmi and Ganesh.

Within a given time limit, they produced innovative and creative paintings and many even came up with thoughtful Diwali messages with their paintings.

For the mothers of the kids, a rangoli competition was held in the park. The participants had fun with colours and came up with attractive patterns using various kinds of decorative candles, diyas and sparkling material.

“I really enjoyed being here tonight. It was a time when all of the family members participated in some or the other event. Being a Sunday, it was also a good way of spending some time with the family. Besides, I needed a break from the usual cleaning and shopping activities that kept me busy for last whole week”, said Shikha Sharma at the amusement park.

However, the star attraction of the night was the bumper housie, the biggest one of the year at Aqua World, for which tickets were priced at Rs 1000 each. Prizes were a motor bike for the winner, a refrigerator for the runner-up and a colour television for the second runner-up besides hundreds of silver coins as consolation prizes.

“We started the housie after 7.30pm so that people could finish their Dhanteras shopping and then come here and enjoy the evening. We have also given a new Diwali special look to the entire place and arranged for Chinese lights, which are the most popular ones this year”, said Pratul Shah Deo, the managing director of the Aqua World.

The park also held a candle lighting competition and a sparkles lighting contest for all its visitors in which the kids performed better than their parents in many rounds.