11 Best Diwali Celebration Office Ideas
Our workplaces are integral parts of our lives. When we are committed to any organisation, it is normal for us to spend a big portion of our daily lives there. Consequently, we often become interested in sharing the joy of our lives and important events with our colleagues.
Diwali as an occasion is no exception. The cultural heritage, resonating welcoming of well-being, and decorating facilities with thousands of lights have made this festival unique for everyone. Regardless of religion, caste, and religious views, the festival has become a sign of eternal love, compassion, and mutual respect. In this blog, we have discussed 11 unique Diwali celebration office ideas for celebrating a colourful, happy Diwali with your colleagues.
Our List of 11 Diwali Celebration Office Ideas
Celebration knows no boundary until it is respectful for everyone in your office. Many ideas resonate with the spirit of the festival. We have listed 11 such ideas. We hope these ways to celebrate Diwali will make your office Diwali party more colourful and lively.
1. Office Decorations
The festival Diwali, also known as “Dewali”, “Divali”, or “Deepavali", comes from the Sanskrit “dīpāvali” meaning 'row or series of lights'. So it’s obvious that decorations with lights can be a large part of this festive office celebration.
Diya lamps are traditional oil lamps lit during the Diwali festival to symbolise prosperity in the coming year. They are small clay pots made from mud and could be described as 'thumb pots'. Why? Because, you press the thumb into a ball of clay and then give it a shape like a leaf.
In recent days, several types of innovative lights have added an extra layer of beauty to Diwali decoration. Led diyas, string lights, glass bottle lights, paper lanterns, floating candles, and rangoli candles are some of the extraordinary decorative pieces of Diwali.
As many business facilities are under fire safety compliance policies, using electrical lamps is far more convenient than using oil lamps or candles. Adding some rangoli and balloons is also a good idea for office decoration for Diwali.
2. Traditional Wear Contest
Diwali is a major Hindu religious festival, but Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists also celebrate it. Of course, the origin story of Diwali varies across different regions. Consequently, people with vibrant cultural backgrounds and heritage are traditionally part of this majestic festival.
Wearing traditional clothes according to one's own cultural traditions paints the day with the cultural heritage of different demographic areas. A traditional wear contest is a good idea to appreciate each other's traditions with mutual respect.
3. Diwali Buffets
Food is an integral part of any celebration. Diwali is especially known for its traditional sweets and desserts. From Samosas as a starter to gulab jamun as a sweet dessert, traditional Indian dishes can make a super delicious Diwali buffet.
In India, most traditional dishes are vegetarian. You can customise your buffet menu with non-veg dishes like mutton biryani.
4. Photo Booth
Diwali is a time of celebration with friends and loved ones and a time to create memories. Then what about establishing a photo booth in the office? Among all other festivities, employees can use it to take heartfelt pictures with their colleagues.
Decorating the photo booth makes it more interesting. The graphic design of the celebration year is cool and popular. Every picture taken in the photo booth will have the date etched on it, working as a reminder of the Diwali celebrations. There are other props you can utilise to decorate the photo booth:
- Flowers,
- Strings of light,
- Balloons,
- Neon sign spelling Diwali.
5. Make a Rangoli Pattern
To celebrate Diwali in the office, consider Rangoli art as a hit show. Rangoli is a beautiful Indian art that spreads coloured sands, symbolising positivity, happiness, and prosperity. You may draw the rangoli by mixing vibrant colours. You can use a range of materials like fry rice flour, flower petals, coloured sand, powdered limestone, coloured rocks, and quartz powder.
You can draw the Rangoli pattern in the reception area or on the office floor. Employees can work together as teams and create lovely patterns.
To make a Rangoli pattern at the office:
- First, gather the materials you have chosen to make the patterns around the office.
- Guests and employees can decide what they want to draw as Rangoli.
- Using the materials, people with better design skills can create dots and lines to outline selected patterns.
- Everyone can then participate and fill this outline using all those different coloured materials.
The pattern of Rangoli is usually designed or created from the inside out. You need to start small until the pattern grows.
Making Rangolis encourages the employees to appreciate Indian culture. Teamwork is celebrated, and new friendships are formed. Also, after the Diwali festival, you can easily sweep away the Rangoli without changing the original office floor design.
6. Gift Exchange Programs
Office employees may celebrate Diwali by giving one another presents. The gift exchanging activity can happen anytime - even during daily duties. Encourage employees to buy gifts for fellow workers as part of the gift sharing programme. What can be the gifts?
- Chocolates
- Flowers
- Tiny collectibles
- Indian sweets or snacks package
- Soft toys
Employees can purchase presents for many colleagues to guarantee that every colleague receives a memento of the Diwali celebration. After the activity, work can continue as usual, or you might make it an official celebration with music and decorations.
7. Talent Show
Talent shows are fun activities that employees can participate in during this great festival. These activities allow employees to interact, spend some quality time, and relieve stress.
To organise a talent show:
- Ask the employees to feel free to take part in the show.
- They can choose to draw, sing, paint, dance, cook or show off any exceptional talent they believe they have.
- A panel of judges will oversee the event.
- There will be a set time limit for each participant to show their particular performance.
- The judges will make a shortlist after each participant finishes their performance.
- The top acts will get prizes.
The talent show can become more fun if guests and employees centre their performances around the Diwali festival. Think about singing Indian songs, cooking native Indian meals, performing a Bollywood dance, or drawing a Rangoli. This event will ensure that everyone enjoys fully and a greater workplace relationship is forged.
8. Musical Chairs Rangoli
The musical chairs Rangoli is an exciting and creative activity. To make it a hit, you will need a set of painting materials such as paint, pencils, watercolours, and a drawing board.
How to play:
- First, arrange up to ten seats and desks in a circle. Provide each participant with a drawing board and a set of materials to paint or draw.
- The goal is that, the employees will sit at the arranged tables and draw a Rangoli. When they are seated and drawing, music will play over a loudspeaker.
- The music will stop suddenly and randomly. When the music stops, participants have to leave their seats and move to the next seat. This shift has to be done before themusic starts again at a random time.
- However, if anyone fails to take a seat during the pause, he/she will be out. You have to remove the seat and drawing of that person. The music will start again, and the play will continue.
- Here's the fun part: after the shift, participants will find themselves in front of a different drawing. When the music resumes, they need to add to that new piece of painting till the next pause.
- This game will continue until only two players are left.
- The first player to finish the Rangoli before the music stops again wins.
It's an extremely enjoyable event that gives the employees a good laugh. Employees can take home their unfinished, ridiculous, but memorable drawings. It also gives great joy to think that other fellow co-workers have somehow contributed to your drawing!
9. Dance Fest
Dancing always will be a major part of any celebration be it casual or formal. So, during the blasting Diwali festival celebration, keep one slot for a dance fest.
You can ask some traditional Indian dancers to show your employees a couple of steps. With some native Indian tunes over the loudspeaker, the guests can dance out in sync with the beat and show their skills.
Turning the event into a competition and arranging prizes for the best dancers will make the occasion more fun and exciting. Loosening up, engaging and having fun is always possible when there's a dance party!
10. Diwali Game Day
Games are the best tool to encourage employee engagement in workplaces. How about introducing a Diwali game day? Everyone has to participate in multiple games based on Diwali and rightfully celebrate the festival! These sports activities help employees to interact, engage and enjoy Diwali at the same time.
To go simple, you can include board games, card games, a Diwali special treasure hunt, or tug-of-war. You can also arrange a set of games into one that has a prize at the end for teams or groups to win.
Some useful ideas:
- Separate different games into different stages. The team members have to work together to pass the first stage before moving on to the next one.
- However, when creating the teams, make sure that everyone feels inclusive. Employees can play in groups of three or in male and female groups. The exercises need to be balanced.
- If the budget obliges, you can make sure that the winning teams get prizes after each game.
Good friendships, sense of unity and increased co-operation among employees are the biggest benefits of gaming activities for any office. Take pictures of each activity during the event and hang them around the office to make things even more memorable.
11. Share Diwali Sweets
A great part of the Diwali celebration is sharing sweets with friends and families. Indian sweets are famous all over the world, and you'll be surprised to learn about the many varieties. So, you can step a bit further and introduce this tradition to the office. It can be a "sweet" way to appreciate and value fellow co-workers.
Traditional Indian sweets like Kaju Katli, Gulab Jamun or Rasmalai are absolutely mouthwatering choices. You can choose multiple items in single units and arrange them into small packages. Then, share them with your employees as gift packages!
You can also take everyone to a luncheon at local Indian restaurants. You will find a great variety of desserts there to enjoy to the fullest.
The Indian restaurant setting has another key advantage. All of you will get to learn more about their Diwali activities and celebrations, greatly interact with other customers and build more employee connection.
Conclusion
Diwali is an inspiring celebration of lights, colours, and emotions. It connects with the aspirations of life and encourages more compassion for all those around us. Celebration of Diwali with our colleagues strengthens the bonds between us as co-workers. At the same time, it sparks the team spirit.
All the office Diwali celebration ideas we have shared are amazing and effective. However, no party is a great party without excellent food. Don’t need to bother about the food preparation if you have other important things going on. Here in Sydney, Catering Zone can assist you with nearly every possible type of dish you might be looking for. We have expert bakery chefs to make the celebration even more crunchy and sneaky. Call us today at 02 93262365 for any type of catering service you may need!
