The season of festivities has started across the country with Ganesha Chathurthi. Onam just went by. Soon we will have Navrathri followed by Diwali. After 2 years, this time I had people over for the Gowri Puja at home. I love to deck up my home during the festivals. Here are a few tips that I follow.
Getting Into The Festive Mood!
It is considered auspicious to start the festivities with a clean home. So if you have been lazy like me, this is a good excuse to pick up the slack and dust and vacuum away. Don’t wait until the last minute as cleaning can become a huge task.
Our festivals are all about color, glitter & light! And your doorway should reflect this. Not only does this add a spark to your house and make it a nice welcome for people visiting, but it is also considered to attract positivity.
A Welcoming Entrance
Torans and decorative hangings on the doorway add the festive touch like nothing else. You could have one made of natural marigold flowers and mango leaves. Or you can choose embellished ones of cloth or beads or wood, that can be reused. These days you get many made from mirrors, pearls, and sequences, which last long and are easy on the pocket as well.
Of course, Rangolis are an integral part of the entrance decorations. If you are artistic, you can draw the Rangolis and fill them with colored powders. Or you could make one with flowers. If both don’t work for you and you are looking for a quick fix, the market has loads of ready-to-use Rangolis made on transparent sheets with kundan, beads, pearls, etc. You can just use them whenever you want and store them in a box or cover. These come as separate pieces that have to be assembled, so you could even use individual pieces around the house to pep up other decorative pieces.
Flower Decorations
String flowers of marigold, jasmine, or rose add an auspicious touch and can immediately transform your home. Natural flowers also bring a heady fragrance with them, which we so associate with festivals. If you are allergic to the smell or don’t want them to wither, you could choose from synthetic flowers which will give you a similar appearance and can be reused too. If you have the time and are good at craftwork, you could create paper flower strings too. There are many DIY videos available that give you a detailed tutorial.
Shine The Metals
Get out your silver, copper & brass lamps, and figurines. What better time to shine them and display them around the house. You can place them across the house on side tables or the foyer or consoles. Brass urlis are big bowls that can be filled with fragrant water and you can float petals and tealight candles. If you don’t have one, you can use glass bowls too. They look very pretty and add that extra zing & warm glow!
Add The Glow!
The mood of any space can be transformed with lights! This is true for festive lighting too. Lighting an oil lamp is considered auspicious. You can play tea light candles in festive holders or put up string lights to add that extra glow! Antique lamps and lights can be used as statement pieces too.
Hope you liked my tips to get ready for the festivities. What are the other things you do to prepare for the festivals? Do write in…I would love to hear your ideas!
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla and sponsored by BakezbyDaizy.
Lovely! a home looks its best during a festival. We love doing up our home for the festive seasons too. And the best thing is to switch it up differently every year. Some lovely ideas here. Thanks.
I like marigold flower decoration. Specially door decorate with flower garland. Urali is the second one I have. Using only in festival. Rangoli is the traditional part of Diwali decor. I still use powder rangoli. Last year I use flowers for rangoli. Lovely post at the right time.
I love Diwali! Specially the lights and rangoli. Making diferrent sweets, farsan. Visiting friends and family. I go crazy with the decorations and new clothes. The diya in your post is so beautiful!
Home decorations with flowers, Rangoli, toran, lights and many other things are part and parcel of festive months in India. I too love decorating my house in such festivals. In North Rangoli with colors are popular, In Bengal we have alpana, in other places Kolam, Alpan and other art forms used to decorate home entrances. You highlighted some of them in this blog and I loved it.
I love your recommendations. Natural flowers, lights, and diyas always give it a lovely feel. Looking forward to sprucing our home too.
Whaw, since childhood I have loved to watch rangolis. Tgey add a different charm to your celebrations.
Lovely tips Vasu, will follow as festivals are almost here. thanks for sharing these valuable tips.
Diwali is a time to go all out decorating the house. I particularly enjoy rangoli with flowers. And diyas have their own charm that no twinkling lights can match. Thanks for sharing some excellent ideas.
Refurbishing or re-decorating of homes for the festive season ahead uplifts our spirits and sets the mood for the year of festivities. You have shared nice ideas. thanks for sharing these valuable tips.
Decking up our home for festive season is one of the best ways to get into festive mode. This time round we’re getting new wallpapers done and are adding new home decor items. So much fun!
I must admit, I love Indian festivities despite not celebrating them. The way you prepare for it, all those decor you do and even how you dress is truly one of a kind. These decors are really great and amazing to see! I hope you have a great time with your festivities especially now that you can all celebrate it once again as what it used to be before the Pandemic.
We just got our house renovated but the painting is yet to be done! Your post is a good reminder that we need to get our home festival ready soon .
All these activities are also so good for our mental health!
I absolutely agree to your idea about lighting up. I especially see the fact that none of the corners of my house remains dark. This automatically lifts up a cheerful mood.
I am a bengali-marathi so during celebrations some things are different. Like in Maharashtra there is toran and in bengal we have alpana drawn in and out of the house and there are many such things but no matter what I love decorations.
Decorating the house is a stress buster too Vasu… n when u see the finished look… it makes u so happy. you’ve written about some really do-able things but although simple, they make a huge difference to the overall appeal and bringing in positive vibes in the house. nice suggestions👌
Such simple tips for festive decor. I wonder why people spend and hire huge amounts to decorate their living spaces. Flowers are a joy and now even the artificial ones look similar. I usually use fresh flowers like rangoli too
How lovely! I’m not as assiduous as you about festive decor but this year I did a lot of similar things because we hosted a Diwali party at home.