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!

Tags: gifting india, gifting to clients, corporate gifting for employees, Popular corporate gifts, Gifting occasions, promotional gifts, Corporate gifting, Best business gifts, business gifting, Corporate gifting India

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Sportswear has surely made its way out of the rough n tough gym bag to enter the high-flying wardrobes. As a result, most fashion labels are getting sportier.

For example, Boss Hugo Boss last year launched its brand Boss Green to complement its popular Boss Black range of formal wear in India. The brand manager of Boss Hugo Boss, India, mentioned in an interview: “It’s a collection for those who don’t mind doing business at the golf course. They probably wanted a choice of luxury sportswear that wasn’t available at all. Those who earlier would (compulsively) wear blazers to after-work parties have switched to golf wear.”

The reasons are obvious; the look is rather simple and informal with golf T-shirts, jerseys, jackets, trousers, and shoes. Designer Narendra Kumar’s captivating collections for men have had a sporty edge. His collection for Spring/Summer 2009 at LFW 2008 went a step further.

The line was inspired by sportswear with cropped cabin jackets, denims and formal track pants. India saw a funky fashion-sport tie-up when Reebok got a psychedelic makeover - shoes in bright colors like orange, pink, silver, red and blue, topped with superb Swarovski and sequins as well as activewear under the Reebok label Fish Fry.

High fashion is indeed meeting mainstream everyday clothing. The trend is quite pronounced in the West and is catching up fast in India. A big workout culture is developing.
Take the case of actor Deepika Padukone who likes to wear short dresses to go with metallic sneakers & hip hoodies with three-fourth trousers. To party with friends, Nina Manuel often slips on her black Puma dress with orange-n-white boots from the Missy Elliot line. She might pair shorts & stockings with a purple halter Puma top.

Malaika Arora Khan often shares her sister’s liking for tracksuits. So the next time you are shopping for someone who is sporty type, you know where and what to look for.

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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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It is not a complete surprise to see corporate offices planning a Valentine bash for their employees. Being an official event of sorts, it is important that the party does not cross the limits of the unwritten code of office behavior.

You can add a dash of naughtiness while sending the invitations out, though – a sprig of mistletoe inside the envelope never did anybody any harm and lets the recipient know that the party is about, after all, having fun. And Christmas was only a little over a month back so it’s not too late to use the cute little plant! Carry the thread of humour forward with funny romantic cards and ironic quotations about love kept at various spots in the room.

Refrain from using mistletoe at the actual party, however, and skip the clichéd roses to find fresh flowers signifying love and friendship like the bluebell and pansy and primrose. Remember, flowers draw attention to a space so they should be displayed in attractive vases in key spots and should be well-lit.

While surveys do show that the Indian workplace is ready for Ally-like romantic intrigues, a game of Spin-the Bottle would be highly out of place, as would skimpy clothing and going overboard on the booze.

A post party, thank you gift could be as simple as a box of chocolates to a unisex piece of clothing (read funky tee shirts), a decorative item for the home to a useful item for the workplace. A small bottle of liqueur is a great parting gift too. Whatever it may be, it should be wrapped well, thereby displaying your professional ease with everything and everybody.

Tags: Gifting events, corporate gifting for employees, Cheap corporate gifts, gifting etiquette, , Corporate gifting India, Business etiquette, Popular corporate gifts, Gifting occasions, gifting to clients

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