The gift shop is located next to the Shoreline Cafe, and offers the chance to take home a little souvenir of your visit, or purchase gifts for those who weren’t lucky enough to join you this time round!

You’ll find everything from fluffy toys to DVDs, as well as arts and crafts kits for the kids.

Speaking of arts and crafts, the gift shop is currently running the Paint A Canvas competition. Buy any of the canvas art kits on sale, let your inner Picasso run free and return your finished masterpiece to the gift shop, where it will be judged by a panel of the nation’s most esteemed art critics (or the gift shop staff, depending on availability). The piece that impresses us the most will walk away with an art hamper, and perhaps the confidence to pursue a burgeoning career in the arts.

The competition closes on 5 January 2013, so get out those paintbrushes! Winners will be announced on 8 January.

If you’re not feeling very creative and instead are feeling lucky, you can also spend R100 or more on an art kit and pop your till slip into the marked box for another chance to win.

On 20 December, Jackie Reed will be demonstrating her mosaic art kits. She will be showing you how it’s done, and what your finished product will look like.

Also running at the gift shop is a fluffy toy competition – buy any Born In Africa soft toys to the value of R100 or more, and you could win a soft toy hamper! Just leave your till slip in the marked box to enter.

Stay in touch: For daily Aquarium updates, follow us on Twitter (@2OceansAquarium) and become a fan on Facebook.