The minute we hear the word Diwali, we start thinking of greeting all our loved ones, decorating our house, preparing delicious feasts, wearing festive outfits and having lots and lots of fun. Among these joyous activities, with our deepest hearts, we pray and make a wish for the prosperity of all, and for us to make a difference in the world we live in.
But how do we fit in such major goals into just a couple of weeks of Diwali holidays?! Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with an exhaustive guide for the grand Diwali holidays that you’re looking forward to. There’s something for everyone!
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Breathe! You don’t have to be in action constantly. We’ve also got you covered for some perfect relaxing activities too.
Ready to check out our fantabulous Diwali guide? Let’s go!
Greet Your Relatives On Diwali, But Make It Unique!
Sending out greeting cards on festive occasions is a traditional practice, but buying cards off the rack with the usual messages is so old-school, don’t you think? There are so many creative ways in which you can greet your loved ones. We’ve got a few suggestions up our sleeve and we’re sharing them with you!
Digital Cards:
Create your own digital cards using freely available applications like Inshot or Canva.
Psst: With a little bit of creativity, you can even create some nice designs on the commonly available Powerpoint.
Here’s what you do: Dress up in a festive look and click a picture. Use the software to add some elements like diyas and rice lights, and choose a festive font to write your greeting message.
New-Age Greetings: Video Messages
Video messages are as fun to create as they are to receive. They are surely a memorable way to greet your dear ones. You can make it as creative as you like and as heartfelt as you feel. Gather every member of the family, and ask each one to say one line. Stitch this up together and add some transition effects, and you have a wonderful Diwali video ready!
Pen To Paper
Once in a while, it is great fun to go old school and mail out a hand-made Diwali greeting card. Even the little ones can be a part of it, by contributing with their drawing, colouring or simply hand and thumb printing skills.
Decorate Your Home On Diwali, But Make It Creative!
Diwali Cleaning
Diwali cleaning is an essential part of preparing for the festival every year. But why should parents do all the work? Kids, this shoutout is for all of you! Raise your hands if you want to be Mumma and Papa’s little helper this Diwali!
Psst: With task wheels, rewards and organisation games, this becomes lots of fun!
Here’s what you can do: Get a chart paper and cut it into a circle. Now, draw lines on it to divide the circle into several sectors, each representing one task. Add two layers of cardboard backing to it, one with the chart paper pasted on it and the other joint freely only at the centre. Put it up on a wall and let the spinning begin. Spin the wheel and take charge of the task that comes up. To make this even more fun, you can add some different options too, like “you get to choose the dinner menu tonight” or “double your tasks today!”
Rangoli Mandalas
You must have seen the elders in the house make beautiful rangolis outside the house for the occasion. You, too, can lend your hand for this fun Diwali decoration. You can make the simplest of designs like a flower or birds. Or, you can try your hand at mandalas.
Here’s what you need to do: Think of as many shapes as you can, and start drawing one within the other. For instance, start by drawing a big circle. Now within that circle, draw a square. Then, draw a triangle inside that square and then another circle within that. Now simply draw a cross within the first big circle, dividing the entire design into sections. Start filling each section with various colours, and you will have a rangoli made all by yourself!
String Of Lamps
Did you know that in Sanskrit, Diwali is called Deepawali, meaning a row of several lamps? Let’s make a row of diyas with paper craft!
Here’s what you need to do – Take a long chart paper and draw a small diya on one side of it. Now, with the diya facing the front, start folding the chart paper like an accordion. Then, cut along the borders of the diya, leaving out one corner from the folded side uncut.
Now when you open up the folds, you will have a long line of diyas. Fill it in with colours of your choice. You can even use glitter dust for the flame. Paste this on any wall or skirting, and voila! The simplest Diwali decoration is ready! You can even start out by making a small version of this for the doll house.
Enjoy A Feast On Diwali, But Make It Yourself!
Let’s make this Diwali sweeter by surprising your family with a wonderful treat that your little one can make and serve!
Flameless Recipe
Let’s make an Oreo cheesecake! It’s as simple as can be, but way more impressive when you serve it with love.
Try this recipe: Separate the Oreo cookies and their cream. Crush the cookies and combine it with melted butter. Set it in a pan and refrigerate. Now combine some cream cheese, sugar powder, heavy cream and smaller chunks of Oreos. Mix it well till it is all uniform, and then spread it over the cool cookie base. Cover it and refrigerate again for 4-5 hours, till it sets well.
Table Layout
It’s time to practice your table layout while lending a hand at home. Do you remember what goes where? Place the plates, spoons, forks and knives and keep them ready for the festive feast that’s about to begin. It’s also time to put your origami skills to the test with napkin folding. Do you know what else the table layout in charge gets to do? Choose the centrepiece! And here’s your chance to bring out one of your very own creations and exhibit it on the grand feast table.
Enjoy Your Festivities, But Make A Difference!
Festivals are fun when they are celebrated with fervour. Traditional practices passed on from generation to generation are a great way of bonding with your family. But starting some new practices to keep up with the times, and learning new values that are the need of the hour are wonderful traditions that can become a part of your celebrations. Here are a few ideas that might inspire you.
Compost Your Waste
With a grand feast comes a large amount of wet waste. Have you ever taken a peek into the kitchen to see what happens to all the vegetable peels, fruit seeds, stems of the greens and other food surplus? It usually goes in the waste basket without much segregation. This year, you can make things go differently. After all the cooking in the kitchen is done, you can take over and do something amazing with all the food surplus. Did you know that you could make your own compost using this waste? All you need to do is gather some soil, dry leaves or brown waste and add it to your compost bin between layers of biodegradable wet waste. Cover the biodegradable waste completely so that the compost remains free of flies.
Leave this to degrade over the next month. When the kitchen waste stops showing, and the bin starts smelling like earthen soil, you can consider your compost to be ready!
Save half of this for making your next batch of compost, and use the remaining in your kitchen garden to grow organic plants without any fertilisers. You know what this means? Your next summer holidays can be spent enjoying gardening using your own fertilisers.
Donate All The Surplus
Festivals mean a generous amount of food laid out on the table. But, are we able to finish all of it? Relatives, friends, colleagues and clients send tonnes of sweet boxes on this occasion. But how much of it do we actually end up eating? We see a lot of food go to waste during times of celebrations. How about this year, you share some of your happiness with those in need? After all, Diwali is all about spreading light and love! Can you think of some homeless family that you can share the joy with? Or a children’s home where you can share your treats? Everyone can help with this cause!
Relax During Your Holidays, But Make It Memorable!
Read A Book (Or Books!)
What’s more relaxing than sitting back in your cosy corner enjoying a lovely book? And we have a wonderful suggestion for you. Okay, you got it out of us, when we thought of Diwali and all the sweets, how could we not recommend….. drumroll please!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl! This book is an emotion that is rife with imagination, where you get to read about Umpa Lumpas and so many wonderful chocolate creations in Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
Among your Diwali festivities filled with sweets, desserts, chocolates, candies and lots of other treats, this book too will give you the much-needed sugar rush that is a must during times of celebrations! This book by Roald Dahl has wonderful lessons on kindness, honesty, friendship, bravery and hard work.
If you’re looking to find more options to pick from, don’t forget to check out his entire range of stories, Enid Blytons, Oliver Jeffers for younger kids, or even Sudha Murthy’s book collection these holidays!
Watch A Movie (Or Movies!)
Are you curious about the story behind the celebrations of Diwali? This story of how Lord Ram defeats Ravana and returns home victorious with his wife Sita, brother Laxman and friend, Hanuman, is talked about in the epic saga, Ramayana.
You may not have read the book in its entirety, but you can learn the story through an entertaining and engaging medium- A movie! Ramayana – The Epic is an animated film made in 2010 that will tell you all you should know about the story behind why Diwali is celebrated with such enthusiasm.
If you want a choice of other movies (after you’re done with this one!), here are some recommendations – almost all of Disney and Pixar can make this list – Up, Sing Along, Coco; you can even look at Tales of Arcadia for older kids, The Blue Umbrella, Chillar Party, Stanley Ka Dabba and more!
Go Back To School, But Make It Grand!
It’s soon going to be time to return to school. And, you know what? Your classmates and teachers are curious to know what you have been upto during your holidays. Let’s share all these fun stories with them, but in a grand way!
Write An Adventurous Diwali Story
Want to amaze everyone with an adventurous Diwali story? Let’s cook one up (well, partly!) Use some of the events from your actual experiences, add in some events from your craziest imagination, and write an exciting story.
Here’s how to go about it: Say for instance you want to write about the Diwali cleaning you did. Now, imagine that while scrubbing your toys clean, one of your toy came to life! Wouldn’t that be an interesting story to tell? Imagine which toy came to life, what it did, how it added to the celebrations on Diwali day, and how the situation was resolved.
Or, if you want to write about a dish you prepared for the Diwali feast. And while mixing in the ingredients, you accidentally dropped in some glittery mix. You served it anyway but turns out it had become a magical dish! Now work out the other details: What magical property does the dish have? What happens to those who take a bite of it? How does this make your Diwali special, and how does this situation resolve in the end?
Write your own adventure story and read it out to the class. It’s going to be a super hit!
Make A Photo Journal
Made-up stories don’t float your boat? Let’s tell everyone a real one. Keep a log of everything you did throughout your holidays, whether going to a holiday destination, visiting relatives, or enjoying homely celebrations, and make a scrapbook. Click lots of pictures and print them out. Dedicate each page of your scrapbook to one day of your holiday and paste all the pictures on the pages with small notes of what is going on. Write the date on top of every page to give it a time stamp. Draw some Diwali symbols on the blank spaces or paste some stickers to decorate your scrapbook. This would make for an awesome account of your Diwali holidays and will also serve as wonderful memories years later!
