It’s the ultimate festive time of the year when the wealthy and even the not-so-privileged open their purse. Diwali nights are lit up by Cartier blinkers and the air is filled with swish of satin fills. Elaborate card sessions, dazzling diyas, and crackers are the flavor of the season.

The party circuit perks up irrespective of economic conditions and recession. Every host wants to exude splendor. The venue resembles literally ‘mini-wedding’ scene. The food is served on shiny silver plates, and the gifts are hand-painted for that personalized touch. Invites with glittering gold-embossed logos are sent with beautiful boxes of choco-truffles. The guests are treated to an era and aura of royalty.

From designer kaftans to gazebos by the poolside, the pomp and extravagance reaches its crescendo. A touch of flamboyance is evident in everything in Diwali from designer playing cards to handcrafted boxes filled with pearl chocolates and edible diamond. This is the occasion when everybody who matters tries to ‘make a statement’. Baskets of imported Belgium chocolates, rare honey, gourmet snacks, and oysters for gifts are imported. The jazzier the offering, the better…

In gifting, giving and partying during Diwali, signature style is considered important as it is expected to reflect one’s personality. Those with exquisite taste and money in their pockets do things in a real classy way. There are Diwali melas that offer unusual stuff including Baklavas and Swarovski-studded candles.

Amidst all the ostentatious display and pomp, there are few who harp on tradition with old world décor and authentic Indian cuisine. For them celebrating Diwali is about reviving the spirit of Indian-ness. The hosts hence try to keep everything from the food and flowers to gifts traditional. On the other hand, glitzy glitterati gifts could comprise anything from a custom-made Louis Vuitton bag to a Cartier watch.

Have money, will spend, is the mantra this Diwali!

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“Gifts should be so presented that they suit the receiver’s personality.”

..so thinks Nidhi Agrawal. Importantly, she acts upon what she preaches. Want to know more about her passion that culminates business and hobby? Well, just hand over a picture of your choice to her and she will apply her imagination to convert it into a dramatic present to reflect the person’s interests.

It can be anything from a Hello magazine cover for someone who is an aspiring model, a book of personal achievements for a dotting husband celebrating his birthday, to a calendar with key dates marked on it, a fine family video, or an apron for a person who relishes cooking.

It was about three years back that the idea struck this aspiring fashion designer. She was confused as to what to offer as a gift to one of her relatives. Se then decided to opt for something innovative as well as highly personal. She presented a wrist watch that carried a picture of the recipient on the dazzling dial. The idea was received very well and she extended it into a small venture for offering functional and useful gifts.

Nidhi Agrawal’s personalized gifts make a memorable and unique choice. Using watches, cushions and even blankets as mediums of her expression, she has now moved on to visiting cards, candles mouse pads, towels and baby books. She has even tried the idea on a jigsaw puzzle.

She first designs the idea on her personal computer. She makes modifications to it till the customer approves it. She secures most of her work through word of mouth publicity. 

For example, she has devised a clock with its hands fixed at a specific time to represent ‘memorable moments in one’s life with the pictures in place of the numbers. What’s more the creator has on offer a satisfaction guarantee the gifts.

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We pointed out in our previous blog how Sachin Tendulkar was excited at the mention of his favorite gifts. According to him, the greeting cards his kids made for him were very special.

Your child might well have received some interesting gifts on their birthday. But how much you do you spend to conceive a return-gift idea on your child’s birthday? Let us check some interesting birthday return gift ideas.

A child’s birthday party is not only about the candles, musical chairs, cakes etc. It is also about nice return gifts for a child. The off-beat take-home tokens remain an integral part of the birthday celebration. Most children indeed look forward to the goodies. If they do not get any, they are disappointed.

Birthday party planners mention that often parents choose to outsource birthday party. However, but they are keen on doing their own return gifts. Their advice to the parents is avoid deviating from the basic party theme and not to treat return gifts as the least priority on their list or else they will end up getting the wrong things.

Also, spending huge money is not the way. Your gift will stand out if it is unique, and not costly. Think what the child’s friends would like take away and make the birthday party gift a memorable one. You should give back gifts that are related to their interest.

According to professional children’s party organizers, the moment ones gets a child involved in the act of decorating or working out a return gift idea, it becomes more compelling and meaningful. They advise parents to plan some activity leading to a birthday party return gift.

One example is planting and nurturing trees will make children aware of nature.  

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As Christmas approaches, Santa Claus is eagerly awaited by children and so also the goodies and gifts he brings along.

It is interesting to note that the popular view of Santa we all have today - with the sleigh, the reindeer and the chimney – was derived largely from Clement Moore’s ‘The Night Before Christmas’, the 1822 book, further reinforced further by an advertising campaign.

The Santa Claus story combined with the modern retailing phenomena and consumer culture has grown since the turn of the century to make gift-giving an integral element of the Christmas celebrations. Incidentally, there was no elaborate exchanging of gifts until late 1800’s.

The Christmas tree – apparently a German tradition – began in the early 700AD century. The tradition of a Christmas Tree gradually moved to the UK and US. Since Victorian times, people had been decorating trees with candies and cakes hung with ribbon, ornaments and candles. The first electrically lighted Christmas tree appeared in 1882. Mistletoe, representing the goddess of love (Frigga - Scandinavian), was used as a decoration in houses for thousands of years and is also associated with many pagan rituals.

The 12 days of Chistmas are the ones that separate Christmas day (December 25) from Epiphany celebrated on January 6, marking Christ’s baptism (the Catholic tradition) or the day when the wise men visited baby Jesus with their gifts. This includes great fanfare and singing. The Anglo-Saxon tradition revolved around gathering together for small, serene choirs on the scenic village green lawns to sing carols and popular Christmas songs that would entertain and please the passers-by.

This joyous festival truly enlivens our hearts with warm revelry that extends well into the new year! Gift your near and dear ones, the little children, your friends and colleagues to spread the joy of Christmas.

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We are just through our Children’s day celebrations. Many Bollywood celebrities including India’s rising child star Darsheel Safary celebrated the day. Darsheel had a great time along with children from St Catherines Home on the children’s day.

We are just through our Children’s day celebrations. But when it comes to your little angels, there is no stopping celebrating and gifting. We shall continue with the theme of gifting for children.

This time, we draw your attention to an interesting article that asked ‘How much time do you really spend every birthday of your child to come up with a return-gift idea?’ It appeared in the Mint newspaper sometime back. But this is the perfect time to bring it up again to your notice as it deals with a very pertinent theme of birthday return gifts.

The writer of this insightful piece, Seema Chowdhry, mentions: “A birthday party is as much about the candles, musical chairs and cake as it is about return gifts for a child. The take-home tokens are an integral part of the celebration. Whether you like it or not, all children look forward to coming back home with goodies. When they get dried-up play dough, boxes of chocolates or crayons, they are disappointed.

The article quotes several parents and experts. Rabiba Gidwani of Mumbai-based b’ay party planner, Clowns R Us, mentions: “About 50 percent of parents tend to outsource birthday party planning, but they wish to do their own return gifts.”

Her advice to them is not to ‘deviate from the party theme and not to leave return gifts-shopping as the last or the least priority thing on their list because they will end up scrambling, and get the wrong things. Spending huge money is not the only way of making your gifts to stand out. So, how to go about it? We shall find the answer in the next posting.

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