This year’s Lantern Fantasy at the Chinese Garden in Singapore is extra-special for Sanrio fans, because it features Hello Kitty and friends!

Called "F8 - Hello Kitty Go Races!", lanterns are paraded about featuring Hello Kitty, Dear Daniel, Badtz Maru, Pom Pom Purin, My Melody, and other well-loved Sanrio characters participating in various sporting events. These include car racing, surfing, sailboat racing, and more.

The event started on 29 August 2008 up to 28 September, so if you have the chance, do catch it!

Here are some photos from the event, courtesy of eTour Singapore:

Special stationery and commemorative stamps  featuring Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel in traditional Japanese garb have been released for serious collectors!

One set includes a sheet of stamps and 20 stationery sheets.

Here are some images of the stamps and the stationery:

Dying to know what’s happening at the Black Wonder event? Check out these pictures and see what the Sanriotown booth there looks like - and join in the fun!

Here are some photographs from Kuromi’s dungeon  too! Kudos to this Hong Kong blog for the pictures!

Know someone who’s about to give birth? Give them Hello Kitty or Dear Daniel sweets to celebrate the new arrival!

 The package comes complete with a sugar Kitty (for girls)/Daniel (for boys), candies, and actual mini-cakes.

What makes the package cuter is that you can actually have the name of the baby appear on the mini-cakes! This means that the cakes are hand-made and actually created specifically for each order.

Because of this, each order will only be available after 10 days.

The Kitty/Daniel sugar candy is 3.5 x 3 x 2.5 cm. The mini-cakes are 3 x 2.5 x 2 cm. each.

Each package costs 1,260 yen.

From all of us here on SanrioTown to all of you: Happy Chinese New Year! May you be prosperous and happy in this coming one!