SINGAPORE - A Singapore record of 198 painted pumpkins on display was achieved at Seletar Mall's Halloween event on Sunday (Oct 29).

More than 200 people contributed in the record attempt, which took about three hours. A Singapore Book of Records certificate was presented to the mall for the Largest Display of Painted Pumpkins.

The previous record was 147 pumpkins.

Other activities at the family event - called Halloween Mayhem - included henna painting, a photo booth and a costume contest, which had more than 180 participants, some as young as one year old.

Grassroots adviser to Sengkang West Grassroots Organisations Lam Pin Min was the guest of honour and one of the five judges for the contest. Participants were decked out as popular Halloween figures like witches, mummies and zombies. YouTuber Tan Jianhao was the guest judge.

A group of three - mother, son and daughter - walked away with the top prize of $1,000 SPH Malls vouchers for the group category. They turned up at the Singapore Press Holdings-owned mall in Sengkang dressed as characters from the classic tale Alice In Wonderland. Engineer Damien Seah, 39, also entered the costume contest with his wife and two children, aged five and 10.

They did not have a family theme, but were dressed up as various popular characters such as Spiderman and the Mario Brothers.

"The crowd here is very sporting and it was just a fun day out for the family," he said.

Halloween, usually observed in Western countries, falls on Oct 31. In the United States, the period is marked by the harvest of the fruit but the tradition of decorating pumpkins can be traced back to early European history.