By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL PARK — All I want for Christmas... is a cardboard box soaked in the scent of a male snow leopard?
Every girl likes perfume, and Central Park Zoo resident Zoe is no different.
The unlikely gift was presented at the zoo's first ever Winterfest, which started this weekend.
The three-weekend holiday festival, which ends Dec. 18, features presents for the animals, holiday lighting displays and polar-themed performances at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Wildlife Theater.
Every Winterfest Friday and Saturday the polar bears and penguins receive fruits and fish popsicles in boxes. The penguins get their presents at 3:30 p.m., followed by the snow leopards at 4:30 p.m. and the polar bears at 5:30 p.m.
Children were delighted to see the polar bears get their gifts for the first time Friday evening.
"It was great, because they were, like, ripping the boxes, and it was funny to see them even eat the cardboard," Upper East Side resident Charlotte Steinberg, 9, said at the exhibit.
"I liked it when the polar bear was trying to open the big box," her friend Saria Massoud, 9, said, referring to when 700-lb. Gus was jumping on a box filled with fish to split it open.
Kids also had fun guessing what might have been in the box.
"I think it was fish," Long Island resident Jordan Collinsin, 5, said, adding that she liked how the bear didn't give up.
"No, it was a dolly," her sister Winter, 2, said.
In addition to Christmas presents, the animals also get the special treat of a late bedtime, staying out to play until 6:30 p.m. During normal zoodays, the winter animals are brought in at 4:30 p.m. Kids can peruse the animals, roast marshmallows and make holiday crafts.
The experience is important for kids because it teaches them about animal habitats, the zoo's curator of education, Karen Tingley, said.
"It shows how the animals learn to adapt in the winter," Tingley said. "Plus, it's just really cool to see the zoo at night."