When you catch up with friends wearing Indian finery, for lots of gupshup and a little bit of taash, you know Diwali has arrived. This weekend we had a few friends over for a Diwali party which means I finally got down to decorating our home for Diwali. It was time to practice what I’ve been preaching, and that’s exactly what I did.

Decorating For Our Diwali Party:

Between the blog and work, I haven’t had much time to give thought to my own Diwali decor. Because of the Diwali party, I finally got down to it. I looked up the post on Diwali decor ideas which I’d written about a month back, and decided to pick a few ideas from there that I would manage to easily implement. Let me quickly show you what I did…

The Entrance:

I think a warm welcome begins even before your friends enter your home. If you do up your entrance, you’ve set the mood for what lies in wait inside.

We started with marigold. It’s auspicious, and it’s orange. I love it’s colour and how it symbolises festivity and celebration and I had to have marigold in my decor. We always have the money plant hanging on the outside of the columns. I hung strings of marigold on the inside.

Rangoli is also traditional Diwali decor, so I added some around the base of the columns. It does tend to spread and smudge if you use traditional powder, so I used acrylic paint instead. It dries quickly, the colours are vibrant, and it will last till Diwali and beyond without spoiling.

Add a clay diya holder, some more marigold and that was done.

That passage looked quite long and lonely, so I added a little diya right in the centre on the opposite side too.

The red acrylic rangoli is taken out every Diwali. Add some marigold and I had a pretty little vignette.

The door is to the right of the passage and the flaming orange of the marigold brightened up the whole area.

Welcome Home!

We have a large Buddha statue as you enter our home. That large brass lamp looks great as it is and we don’t usually light it. But the festival of lamps demands that we do! I added some marigold into the lamp too, to make it look more festive.

I also added a few drops of scented oil into the fountain. As the water flowed, it spread a light fragrance through the room.

The Living Room:

Remember that gorgeous pic with fairy lights behind the curtains in the Diwali decor post? Since I have white sheer curtains in my hall I thought I could easily do that here. Only instead of white lights, I used red. I thought I’d add red accents to the orange of the marigold and give the home a complete Indian festive look. We also had lots of flower garland ideas in the post. I tied marigold garlands to the curtain rings to add some more marigold to the room.

Remember these glass jar DIYs we had done earlier? One with twine and black paint, the other with glass colours and liners. What better time to use them? I spread them around the room on various side tables to make little vignettes for the Diwali party.

We didn’t light the table lamp to allow the fairy lights and tea-lights to shine through.

Dining Table:

A huge part of the Diwali party, or any celebration of function for that matter, is the food. And if that’s laid out beautifully it only adds to the feel good factor. So I decided to dress up the dining area too.

Remember the part about ‘Hang flowers from chandeliers’ in the Diwali decor post? I loved that idea. I ordered a dozen 1 foot long marigold strings from the local flower vendor and tied each string to 1 light. The orange glow from the light falling on the marigold is beautiful.

That red table cloth is jugaad at its best. I’ve been looking for a table cloth for this table for quite a while now but this size (it’s 5′ x 5′) seems impossible to get. I finally decided to take the matter in my own hands. I ordered a red cotton sari on Amazon. (The upper and lower border had to be the same, so that I can use the border on all 4 sides of the table cloth) The tailor and I figured out where to put the joints and add the borders. We added some cotton lining, and now we have a Diwali table cloth!

I ordered a boat shaped bouquet in orange and red, and placed these Moroccan lanterns on either side to complete the look.

The fact that dinner was never served here is another story. It was eventually decided that the table is the best place for taash. Everything was removed off it in 2 minutes flat and dinner was served many hours later on a smaller table by the side. Ah well, at least I tried!

The Diwali party is now over. The friends gone home. The flowers will stay for days, brightening our home and reminding us it’s Diwali. The memories though, will last forever.

That is what festivals are about, isn’t it? Making memories with family and friends.

Here’s wishing the Diwali lamps keep all our homes and hearts filled with light and love the whole year through..

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali!

Until next time,