Mid-Autumn night «Tùng Tùng Dinh Dinh»

   Lion-dance drums, paper star lanterns and one long buffet table: this year the eighth-month full moon has an address in Nha Trang built specifically for children, inside a resort that sits in the middle of the city where the river meets the sea. The programme borrows its name straight from the drum roll that opens the festival, «tùng tùng dinh dinh».

   Champa Island follows the familiar childhood script, compressed into a single evening: the children eat, watch a magic act, dance with a junior dance troupe, play for prizes, watch cartoons, then go out for the lion dance and the lantern procession.

   What the evening includes:
A buffet dinner with a broad menu
Free soft drinks, ice cream and popcorn throughout the evening
A magic act and a performance by a children's dance troupe
A run of games with prizes for those who take part
Cartoons for the younger guests
A lion dance and a lantern procession to close the night

   It is built for families with small children who want a complete Mid-Autumn evening without assembling the tray of sweets and the lantern themselves. Parents are not left out either: the buffet is the full one, not a kids-only sitting.

   A few things worth knowing before you book. The adult rate starts at age 11, the child rate covers ages five to under eleven. Children under five or under one metre tall enter free with an adult, one child per adult. The early rate runs only until 22 September; the other offers - a free pool ticket with an adult ticket, and 10 percent off orders of ten tickets or more - run until 24 September.

   Bookings and questions: 0258 3827 827, or write to [email protected]

   Bring the children, and meet the first drumbeat with them.