New Products Show has Enchanted Forest

The Spring New Products Show is a wonderland for adults with spare cash, but for little kids it can seem like aisle after aisle of stuff that has nothing to do with them.

Spring New Products Show Place: Blaisdell Exhibition Hall When: 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Spider-Man appearance, from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission: $5; $4 children, seniors and military

But this year, along with the usual booths filled with, well, new products, the show features an Enchanted Forest built by the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center.

Next door, Spider-Man pays a visit. On Saturday afternoon, a costumed Spidey will pose for photos with show shoppers.

If he looks to the side he might notice an oversized spider web made of wood and metal, part of the Discovery Center's exploration project.

Loretta Yajima, the center's president, said volunteers have been working on their Enchanted Forest for several weeks. "It's really child-like stage sets," she said.

Expect to find many outlets for exploration and imagination, much as you would with a visit to the real center in Kakaako -- fairy wings to wear, an obstacle course of fallen logs and vines to negotiate, a spider web to weave, and puppets to meet.

The sets are a combination of pieces used in previous exhibits and newly built parts that likely will show up again in future projects. "We are such a small non-profit, all the material we use we have a multi-purpose for," Yajima said.

If you're too big for the Enchanted Forest, the show offers -- besides the many shopping opportunities -- a Nintendo Wii competition, a Fashion Alley and Art Zone, beauty makeovers and Xtreme Inflatable Fun Rides.