'Honk for gifts': Motorcyclists surprise road users with festive giveaway in Punggol and Bugis
A group of motorcyclists celebrated the festive season by taking to the streets on the night of Dec 20, with signs encouraging motorists to honk at them and rewarding those who did with small gifts.
They gave away around 30 presents to neighbouring vehicles who responded, as they rode through Punggol and later Bugis.
One of the riders, Nina Neo, who is in her mid-twenties, told Stomp she was inspired by a friend's similar project in 2024, and offered to bring back the initiative this year.
In a TikTok video posted on Dec 26, the group of four can be seen riding around the Punggol neighbourhood donning helmets decorated with Santa hats and reindeer horns. A sign taped to one of the motorcycle boxes read: "Honk 4 gifts".
Although the night started quietly, with few motorists responding to the sign, things picked up when a grey car pulled up beside one of the motorcycles and honked twice.
Ms Neo fishes out two gifts from her bag — containing coffee, snacks, a pen, and tissue paper — and passes them to the driver, waving to the children seated in the back.
Later, she gestures to another car that stopped behind the group, showing them the sign and encouraging the driver to honk.
When they do, she hops off her motorcycle and jogs over to hand the driver a gift. They repeat the process with another driver, then head to Bugis to continue their gift-giving.
'Such a cute way to start the holiday season'
In another video documenting their excursion in Bugis, a driver responds with a honk, but is forced to drive off when the traffic light turns green.
Undeterred, the motorcyclists follow the car to the next traffic light, giving them the gift when the vehicle stops.
One of the car's passengers later posted a video of the encounter online in a bid to track down the group.
"Such a cute way to start the holiday season, thank you anonymous santas!" the passenger wrote.
Ms Neo later gives out the last few presents to fellow bikers and motorists, occasionally tossing the gifts to riders before traffic lights turn green.
Motorists generally supportive
Speaking to Stomp, Ms Neo recalled how most drivers responded positively, with some even squinting to see the sign and reading it aloud.
On one occasion, Ms Neo had handed a gift to a fellow motorcyclist, and the biker beside them said they wanted one too.
"We both proceeded to panic as the light turned green so I shouted to him, 'Catch!', and tossed the gift over," she recounted. "Unfortunately we got a loud honk from the car behind for stalling a while."
Apart from that incident, Ms Neo said that the response from drivers and netizens has been supportive, noting that the group made sure not to obstruct traffic when dismounting their motorcycles.
'So cute and fun': Netizens respond
Ms Neo's second post amassed more than 59,000 views and 4,300 likes, with many praising the heartwarming initiative.
"Omg love this! So cute and fun," one netizen commented, while others applauded her accuracy when tossing the gifts to nearby bikers.
"Honestly very impressed by your throws," one netizen said, to which Ms Neo responded that she "had to lock in", in case the presents dropped.
"Creative ideas, very impressive," another complimented.
Ms Neo added that the group may consider doing it again.
"People have been asking us to do it for Chinese New Year so who knows? Maybe we will get together if our full-time jobs don't drain us too much and do another round of this soon."
