RIYADH: Riyadh Season has served up another surprise, with General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh announcing a costume and cosplay party in Boulevard Riyadh City and Winter Wonderland on March 17 and 18.

In a tweet, Al-Sheikh urged people not to miss the Kingdom’s “biggest masquerade party” and said that whoever dressed up as an anime or superhero character on March 17 or a movie or TV show character on March 18 would have free access to the boulevard and Winter Wonderland, with daily prizes for the best-dressed people including a car and PS5 consoles.

His tweet attracted a lot of attention from the public, with a short promotional video receiving over 1.3 million views and over 5,000 retweets and people discussing their costumes and what they should wear.

“When I went to buy a costume today, I noticed that the prices of costumes and cosplays had doubled in the stores, and there’s only a few shops to buy costumes in Riyadh,” Aamer Al-Harbi, 28, told Arab News.

Shuaib Jameel, 29, said he was excited to go with his friends to the event and that he would dress up as Loki.

“I think that events like this make us connect to our childhood where we used to wear the costumes of superheroes like Spider-Man. I am definitely going with my friends, and we will be dressed up as Marvel characters,” Jameel told Arab News.

The owner of Fancy World costume shop, Hissah Abdullah, commented on the large number of customers who had come to the store, saying staff had to work on their day off just to deliver all of the orders. 

She said the majority of orders were for scary costumes, while children preferred to get Spider-Man and Disney princess outfits, and that customers had called her to ask about outfits that would be suitable for the boulevard event. 

She added that the event would help costume shop businesses in Riyadh by creating more demand and more jobs in this sector.

A few days ago, people could be seen in Boulevard Riyadh City and in other Riyadh locations dressed up as Batman, Iron Man, and “Squid Game” characters to promote the event, with images of them going viral on social media.

During last month’s Founding Day holiday, Boulevard Riyadh City was packed with people wearing traditional Saudi attire, and this event is expected to prove a major draw for many people as well