Animated creatures, giant snowmen and plastic Santas are displayed throughout North Grand Mall in preparation for the holiday season.”We really wanted to provided a unique experience for our shoppers,” said Niki Peterson, marketing director at North Grand Mall, 2801 Grand Ave. “We’d like to start a tradition.”Peterson said the response has been positive about the decorations. “We’ve had teen-agers say ‘that’s one big dude’ about the snowman and kids squealing with delight,” she said.Meredith Baker, sophomore in agricultural education, said the decorations are appealing.”They’re beautiful and gorgeous,” she said. “Younkers has their usual, but I didn’t know they had animated creatures.” Amy Berger, junior in management information systems, said she saw the decorations at the mall last year and enjoys this year’s variety.”It looks better than it does last year,” she said. “It’s very festive, [it] puts you in a festive mood and makes you want to shop.”A North Grand Mall snowman, standing 16 feet tall, dominates the center court of the mall, and animated snowmen and reindeer complete the ensemble and the winter scene. “The head alone, on the snowman, weighs 250 pounds,” Peterson said. “It’s more than five feet wide and a ladder had to be built inside of it to put the head on.”While the snowman has not been named yet, Peterson said children ages 12 and under can register to name it. She said a committee will review the names, and the winner will receive a $100 gift certificate for the Explore Store.In conjunction with the “Let it Snow” theme, Peterson said the mall is also giving away “snow dough” to lucky winners. “People can register in center court to win $100 in gift certificates in the mall and winners will be listed in center court,” she said.Peterson said the staff at North Grand Mall spent Sunday night putting up decorations. “We worked from 8 p.m. Sunday until 7 a.m. Monday getting the bulk of it up,” she said, adding that it only took them a couple afternoons of steady work to get the finishing touches completed.Another change in the mall is the Toys for Tots program, which Peterson said is replacing the Bear-to-Care Tree that was featured last year. Peterson said people can begin donating toys to the program Nov. 24, which will then be picked up by the Marines and KASI Radio.Peterson said people can also drop off their wish lists for Santa into the mailbox in the mall to be sent to the North Pole. “The Ames Post Office will collect the mail and forward it to the North Pole,” she said. “Santa will arrive special delivery in a postal service vehicle at noon, Nov. 24.”