5 Tips to celebrate Eco Friendly Diwali with Kids

WIth the Air pollution on the rise, with the AQI soaring the levels, why not lets plan to celebrate Ecofriendly Diwali? Read some Tips to celebrate eco friendly diwali with kids #Diwali #Deepavali #festivities #festivaltime #celebrations #ecofriendly

Yay, its again the festive time of the year, and I’m all the more excited to gear up things with my son. The festival of light, celebrations, sweets, shopping with some really lovely people in our lives, Diwali is just few days away (Diwali Date for 2018 – 7th November). But this immense excitement also gives rise to the fear which we faced last year, precisely all the years. But last year was the worst, when the AQI (Air Quality Index)Β  was at its worst and me and my son had severe Bronchitis for close to one long month. Credit, Pollution due to Crackers.

Though, I am not a fire cracker person from close to 20years(when a tragedy got me to move away from crackers forever), but I usually do not stop kids from bursting them. But looking at the air we breathed last year, I made a resolution to try my best to curtail the pollution from the crackers. And, this post goes in line as one of the actions, I have taken towards it.

Who says Diwali cannot be fun without Crackers? Its simple, search that happiness and fun in the things quoted below and I bet, you’ll be more happy than bursting mere crackers.

Do you know what does 5 days of Diwali Signify? Read more to introduce our children to the amazing world of Mythological stories?Β 

Get ready to beautify our festival and celebrate an Eco Friendly Diwali in a much rejoicing mood :

1.Replace Lights with traditional Diya’s (Earthen Lamps) :

Lit Diya's on Diwali

Diwali isΒ a festival of light, in the dark starry night. It signifies the strength of positiveness and celebrates the victory of light over darkness, love over hatred, Hope – optimism over Pessimism. Originally there were just Earthen Lamps, so let’s replace electric lights with those earthen lamps and candles at our homes. The beauty of candles and Diya’s can never be compared to the artificial electric lights. This will help :

  • Reduce the electricity consumed
  • Make our homes look more pretty in the night
  • Create an earning potential for the potters and low income group who sell Diya’s and earn their bread.
  • Try making some Diya’s with your kid using their Pottery sets, and whole family will be pleased to see their work shining in the dark sky:).

From last few year, I’m lightning candles and diya’s at my house and on complete terrace and they just look awesome when I sit in the night pondering at the sky. [Ask your kids to stay away from the flames of candles and diya’s]

2. Rangoli :

Diwali Floral Rangoli Design

Designing our floors, with beautiful colours mark the beginning of festive mood for me. Let’s replace these synthetic colours (harmful for kids as well) with some organic colours or why not opt for the floral rangoli. Well, that’s my favourite, Floral Rangoli. Easy to design, my kid loves getting engaged with me and the fragrance of flowers signifies the beauty from within. Mama’s , do engage you kids in helping you make the rangoli. They can segregate the petals of the flowers, arrange them in a beautiful design and immerse in the spirit ofΒ this glittering festival.

You can also opt for some natural colours made out of food/spices as :

  1. Yellow : Turmeric or grounded pulses
  2. White : Rice powder / Semolina
  3. Green : Fennel or Cardamom
  4. Red : Vermillion
  5. Brown : Grounded Cinnamon/cloves
  6. Reddish – Purple : Beet Root

Motivated to get started off with Organic/Floral Rangoli? Cheers, Glad you opted for something to help us stay greener!

3. House Decor :

With every passing year, I find that plastic items are regularly gaining their market share in house decor items specifically for Diwali. Why not engage with our kids and opt for some organic decoration. I love the door hangings (Bandarwar) made out of yellow, white, red flowers, they look so pretty. We get flowers, some from the market/some from our garden and just sew them up with the tick thread to make a bandarwar. You can also opt for Floral paper door hangings. Try it out, its easy and kids love to be a part.Β It is motivating and engaging activityΒ which kids will love running all across the house. Read 10 best activities for Kids this Diwali, HereΒ .

Also, I love making paper Lanterns with my son, for him its a perfect creativity and for me a house decor gets readied up. Further you can use availableΒ stolls, shawls, sarees to give a beautiful look to your house.

4.Β  Arrange family and friends Dinner :

Ask me, that is so much enjoyment with no pollution. And what can be more better than getting together with our loved ones on this festival. All you need to do is, get a music set, balloons, cook some 2-3 delicious dishes and that’s done. Let kids burst balloons all around which will never give you the missing feel of crackers. Dance with every burst, sing some songs, cherish the “old is gold” and some new stories. Eat kheer sitting in the open starry beautiful night. Bet on me, that will be awesome after doing Diwali Pooja. Atleast try doing it and get the feeler.

5. Share the happiness with Under privileged people :

Eco friendly Diwali with kids

Sharing gives immense happiness and why not donate some good clothes, books, stationary, distribute sweets to NGO’s which work for under privileged children or Orphans or Differently abled kids/people. Take out some time to be with them, play with them, get to understand these beautiful souls , I bet that will make the best Diwali you ever had in the past years.

There are many NGO’s which offer products as diya’s, candles and some home decor items which are made in an eco friendly manner by these differently abled people. If you can’t try making them at home, why not get few from them? In Delhi, there are NGO’s as Muskaan NGO (differently abled people), Blind School who usually deal with making of such items related to the festival. Go, visit them, get things made by them, share some laugh and sweets and your day will be awesome. You will get that inner happiness without missing crackers.

Other Thoughts This Diwali,

  • I’ll not ask you to stop your shopping, but don’t shop lavishly just for the status symbol. Get the requisites for sure, but here minimalism approach would help reducing pressure on the natural resources.
  • Though try making this Diwali with less of Crackers, still if kids cannot do that, go for crackers made of Recycled paper with less noise and air pollution. Let’s all try to make small contributions for the big impact.
  • Try to get the Bio degradable Idols/Clay Idols, you can paint them at home with your kids as well (use Organic colours)
  • Why not make sweets at home and avoid the adulterated milk/mava at this time of the year. At this time, demand is much higher than the organic supply of milk derivatives. “Coconut Barfi, Laddoo’s, Kheer (Rice + Milk), Gajar halwa (Carrot Halwa), vermicelli, can be great home sweets for Diwali. Gift cookies, cakes baked by you this season.

Celebrate this festival of Joy and lights with all its authentic traditional spirit with kids. Do ponder over my thoughts and try to have an Eco-Friendly Diwali with a blast. It will remain forever in your heart and minds. Society needs something really from you. Do you have other options for celebrating Eco-Friendly Diwali? Share them in the comment section!

Have a Glorious Diwali, the festival of lights, love, joy and euphoria! Diwali wishes from Mommyinme!

Β Β 

Jhilmil

Quest to live the life surrounded with the charming little bundle's of joy. When they speak, I sing, When they smile, I rejoice , When they hug, I hold them never to lose, Such is my passion for these Gifts of God.This love urged me to navigate separately from my Travel Blog & establish an "All-In-One" Blog for budding mothers. Mum's have multi-tasked this world ,with all her professional commitments , she still makes an extra effort to be a loving, caring and be an intellectual mommy! Cheers, for me too come from the same fraternity, post having a superb academics & close to 8 years of professional experience and blessed with a little one "who has indeed changed my life from Autumn to Spring";)

This Post Has 79 Comments

  1. Indrani

    These are some great tips.
    The peacock mural has come out well.

  2. digidukaan

    You are so right. You can also add making Fort in your society. I don’t know from where you are in Maharashtra we do that too. My baby is so excited as i allow her to play with mud to make the fort.

  3. Aditinona

    Great ideas.. we all must try and follow these.. and love your rangoli designs πŸ™‚

  4. Familyearthtrek

    That you for thinking of the nature when eveybody is forgetting about while celebrating a holiday. Christmas is coming and imagine how much pine trees that will be cut down, plastic toys, wrapping paperd ect. We use our old christmas decorating that belong to my husbands family. And the tree is plastic…sad looking ? but it really doesnt matter because we still spend a great time together at the end.

  5. Aditya

    I written about Diwali but it was about gifts more often. If you want you can check out. But I must say, this is pretty simple idea which no one wants to do. People do seriously nonsense stuff like too much showing off and saying have to blast crackers and all. Hope everyone learns that too much noise is not good noise.

  6. June Jewels

    Love love love this post! I think it’s great that you encourage your readers to buy only that necessities. We already have so much stuff! I

  7. Jiya B

    These are some amazing tips I will surely implement them this Diwali. Happy Diwali to you in advance πŸ™‚

  8. Karyn Locke

    What fun ideas to celebrate such rich tradition! I love the idea of a bonfire! Thanks for the suggestions!

  9. Shweta

    Nice tips to celebrate diwali. I will take inspiration with this.

  10. Right… This year we will celebrate eco friendly Diwali . Thanks for these amazing tips.

  11. I loved reading this article. We dont celebrate Diwali but the eco friendly alternatives that you have described here are brilliant ideas! I especially liked the idea of using flowers for the rangoli and letting the kids join in, they must smell great too! I might even do a couple of these with my kids on the 19th, having a bonfire with music and popping balloons is great!

  12. snehalboricha

    I enjoy making rangolis! This time I’ll use natural colors as suggested by you! πŸ™‚

  13. Prakhar

    Really nice thought, it must be surely done.

  14. fromroopalismind

    I second eco friendly diwali celebration. Happinesses comes from within

  15. Amber

    I don’t know much about Diwali, so it was an interesting read. A bonfire party sounds like a lot of fun.

  16. Sangeetha

    Those Rangoli designs look wonderful. Thanks for the tips, can’t wait for Diwali already

  17. Varsh

    We include kids in the celebrations by involving them in Rangoli making, lighting diyas, serving sweets and also putting up flowet malas in the house.

  18. Akamatra

    Kudos for finding so many ways to keep it eco friendly! Not many do!

  19. Laura Dove

    Great tips for celebrating Diwali! We do not celebrate it personally but a lot of these ideas can be applied to other celebrations,being eco friendly is so important. xx

  20. Nayna Kanabar

    I totally agree that we should refrain from bursting fire crackers and fireworks , there are so many other ways to celebrate Diwali.

  21. Natalia

    This is so kind and thoughtful to care for the environment around us while celebrating a special occasion! Kids should be taught to protect environment since early age!

  22. Ana De-Jesus

    Sorry to hear about your experience with firecrackers. I love your idea of an eco friendly Diwali though, I really love the earthen lamps x

  23. Stuart Brazell

    This is a brand new topic for me. Thank you for sharing in such detail and I’m sorry to hear about the fireworks. Have a blessed week!

  24. Isabelle Weber

    Aw I love number 5 – such an important thing to teach our little ones as well! Looks like a really fun festival overall πŸ™‚

  25. bestiesnotepad

    Those are some great tips out there..I have a daughter myself and pretty excited to celebrate Diwali with her!
    We also plan to make rangoli together πŸ™‚

  26. Blair Villanueva

    Thanks for your tips! I admire your artists Rangoli designs, they are very detailed πŸ™‚

  27. Elizabeth O

    I can’t believe Diwali is already around the corner again. Where did the time fly to?
    Every year, I join in on the celebrations and decorations with my friends. I love everything about it.

  28. Deepali

    These are some amazing tips. Kids can learn a lot. Thanks for sharing.

  29. Rimjhim

    Lovely tips?
    Happy Diwali!
    Organic Diwali!!
    Pollution free Diwali!!!

  30. joshitajj

    I must appreciate your environmental concern to celebrate an eco-friendly Diwali. Your tips are very useful. Loved the tip of bursting balloons instead of crackers. Diwali wishes to you!

  31. Sreekar Harinatha

    Yes here we are! Diwali time. Time for pollution and loud sounds. But having said that kids do love Diwali and wouldnt mind bursting a few crackers!

  32. Preeti Chauhan

    I liked all the suggestions and I wish to add that the earthen diyas should be paint free else they will end up dumped in rivers and the paint may harm the aquatic life .

  33. Papri Ganguly

    great ideas and tips. will try to follow your suggestion in this Diwali.

  34. Aine Mulloy

    What lovely ideas, and that mural is gorgeous – definitely important to be more conscientious around feasts

  35. Snigdha

    Ecofriendly Diwali sounds interesting… I completely agree with the ideas you have mentioned here … Happiness matters…

  36. Tiina Arminen

    Super nice tips! I try to find eco friendly solutuons and believe that there’s always an option just need to make so research. It’s a fantastic idea to create colours from spicies.

  37. Dr Bushra

    Thanks great and useful tips . Rangoli designs are awesome

  38. Minakshi Bajpai

    Very beautifully you penned down all these. I like your ideas for celebrating eco friendly Diwali. I almost does the same. I make rangoli with beautiful colours or flowers and use earthen lamps for lightning. Very useful write up for many.

  39. Cassandra Rose

    WOW that floral wall display is so beautiful. I love that this festival inspires so much creativity and kindess; I can’t imagine how pretty those lights would be strung up! I’m sorry that your family didn’t get to enjoy the festival as much last year but hope you have a great time this time around.

  40. Mrinal Kiran

    I really loved your ideas.. i have always wanted to celebrate diwali in eco friendly way.. this will really help a lot

  41. jayshreeghosh

    So true…. We should try to be exo friendly as much as possible

  42. Glow Origin

    Those are some great tips for Diwali.. Happy Diwali in advance to all readers

  43. roxyturtle

    These are such beautiful ideas! They’d go perfectly with the Fall decor we already have around my apartment. Wishing all a Happy Diwali!!

  44. Bedazzleu Esha Dogra

    I always love ṭo light earthen lamps instead of lights. It looks superb and so satisfying ❀️

  45. Prerna Sinha

    Eco-friendly Diwali, that is such a cool idea, totally in your support!

  46. Happy Diwali! Indeed this are such nice ideas and tips. Definitely a must share especially for those who are celebrating the festival. Anyway, what I personally like here is the Rongali idea. You are so talented to create those designs!

  47. Trystwithvanillagirl

    All the gifting ideas suggested by you are amazing !! Will share once I nail down on any of these. Happy Diwali!!

  48. Ali

    Wonderful advice for all of us everywhere. I have found that many candles I used to buy are toxic to breathe so I now look for the ones that don’t contain paraffin. I will be thinking about your ideas in my Fall decorating!

  49. jajwalyark

    No going to lie! Kolam or rangoli is super beautiful part of Indian culture. Apart from the dressing up fun of course! Happy Deepawali! May you defeat the asuras of your life!

  50. Margarette Puno

    Wow! This is absolutely great tips. I will even keep kids safe. Thanks for sharing.

  51. toastycritic

    I always love a great festival. And I have never heard of Diwali before. I will have to do some research into this. Thanks for all of the great information here.

  52. Eloise

    Thank you for your lovely post. I learned a thing or two from here… I love that you found eco-friendly ways to celebrate Diwali and are sharing it with your readers!

  53. eliza

    These will be great practice to celebrate Diwali – though we love to express and be festive, its always best to think about the safety and our environment too. So these are friendly to our nature, kids will have fun and at the same time celebrate and commemorate – Happy Diwali!

  54. These are great eco-friendly tips that work well (or at the very least, are super food for thought) for lots of different festivals and celebrations – not just Diwali! Thanks so much for sharing them!

  55. fashionenzymes

    Indeed, Ecofriendly diwali is need of hour. You make so stunning rangolis. could you please share tutorial for them?

  56. leighanne borders

    These look like some great tips. I think it is a great idea to be as eco-friendly as possible.

  57. Neha Jain

    Great tips! We should not forget our environment and nature in anyway.

  58. London Mumma

    I love this, it is all about family and the children at diwali

  59. Deborah Miranda

    Love the idea of celebrating with colours and lights with no pollution. The idea of giving and sharing exactly how god would want it to be..

  60. Prerna Sinha

    Like minds think alike, I have done a similar post but your rangoli ideas are really nice. Using natural colour is a great idea.

  61. Priyal

    This is the best way to celebrate, we mostly celebrate our Diwali festival in this way only, my kids help me in making rangoli every year.

  62. Jiya

    I remember i tried your tips last year . Its Diwali again and here I am to tally my list to make eco friendly Diwali. Happy Diwali to you.

  63. Ritu Kalra

    Me and my family celebrate eco friendly diwali every year..my kid is always super excited to try new ideas for the celebrations.

  64. Akanksha

    Great tips Jhilmil. I always involve my son in decorating our house every Diwali and we celebrate by lighting lots of candles, diyas and eating some yummy feast every year.

  65. Gurjeet Chhabra

    I also prefer celebrating Eco-friendly Diwali . spread happiness, not pollution. Nice tips to celebrate eco-friendly Diwali

  66. Judy

    I love making rangoli designs in front of house. Each day I love to make a new design. Apart from this I love to light a lot of diyas which are hand painted by me

  67. Bushra

    Love the way you suggested to make this Diwali celebration memorable. Buying Diyas from locals and make special for the unprivileged is absolutely inspiring idea.

  68. Misha

    I love hosting family and friends over dinner or brunch on Diwali afterall what’s a festival without guests and people you like.

  69. Humaira

    Amazing and beautiful post. Diwali is the festive of light. I like the paper lanterns idea. Very useful and beneficial tips for Diwali celebration. Great thoughts.

  70. Saarah

    Thanks a lot for this informative post on how to make this festival for Eco Friendly And non polluting.
    Really use and useful tips I must say.

  71. Humaira

    Amazing and beautiful post. Very useful and beneficial tips for the Diwali celebration. Diwali is the festival of lights. I like the paper lanterns. Great thoughts.

  72. Humaira

    Amazing and beautiful post. Very useful and beneficial tips for Diwali celebration. Diwali is the festival of lights. I like the paper lanterns idea. Great thoughts.

  73. Humaira

    Amazing and beautiful post. Very useful tips for the Diwali celebration. Diwali is the festival of lights. I like the paper lanterns. Great thoughts.

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