How To Celebrate Holi In London

This year Holi is on the 1st of March and as always, I am looking forward to celebrating my favourite festival. When I first moved to London, there was no concept of Holi and nobody celebrated it. I couldn’t do by not celebrating my favourite festival. So I called a few friends over and celebrated in our two-bed apartment. I remember it was cold and snowy but we still managed to play with colours outside in the garden. I also remember scrubbing the bathroom floor to get rid of the colour later. The gulal I used was not herbal and that wasn’t a good idea.

Over the years I have organised a few Holi parties at home. Some of them even made it to my blog. Have a look at my previous years’ holi party blog posts here and here. Last year I put in some extra effort in organising a Holi event at home. Was really pleased with the outcome so decided to share key highlights with you. 

Holi Decor  

Other than expressing myself through fashion, I also use decor as an expression of my creative side. I enjoy coming up with new decor ideas for events and parties. One thing I always struggle with is finding Indian inspired props in London. This time I tried to make a few at home and used my existing things. Here are a few setups I created.

The Holi Food Cart

We set up a small white canopy in our garden and created a food cart by using a garden table and wooden garden wheels. I got the canopy from here and garden wheels from here. I also hanged small glass bottles on the tree with a garden rope and decorated it with flowers. This was my favourite part of the decor. I then decorated the tree with paper fans which you can easily get from here. I further decorated the table with food and other coordinated accessories. Must have food for any Holi table is gujiya and after struggling to find them in London, I finally managed to get mine online from Pooja Sweets and they were delicious.  

Holi Placards

This was an easy way to add some quirkiness to my decor. I got some black card paper, folded it and used chalk to write memorable Holi phrases in Hindi. I then punched a hole in the middle and used a pink satin ribbon to hang the cards on the canopy.

Holi Photo Booth 

I used my rustic garden ladder to create a Holi photo booth. I kept the decor theme pink and white to coordinate with my other decor elements.

Paan Table

This decor was difficult to maintain because of the wind and it kept swaying away my umbrella. I got this umbrella as a gift in India and wasn’t very sure how I would use it in London. I am glad that I got it here as it was a great prop for my paan table. The paan was from Meera’s Express.  

Indoor Food Table 

Above are some pictures of my indoor food table decorated by using various home accessories I have collected over the years.

Welcome Drinks 

Growing up, making thandai on Holi used to be a customary thing in my house. I tried to create that for my kids in London. I also served shrikhand in small earthen pots, you can find similar here.

Herbal Holi Colour 

I used to source my herbal colour from India but I now I have found the best herbal and non-toxic colours here. I highly recommend these colours. They were very gentle and came off easily.

Food 

For our food arrangements, we used Chennai Sri Lalitha. His dosas were yum and all food was freshly made. The best part was that you could eat unlimited and all of us binged on the yummy food.

That’s it – a brief rundown of my key highlights. A lot of effort went into managing and organising the whole thing. I am thankful to all my friends in London who are crazy enough to participate in my madness. Here are some more pictures and videos from the party. 

This year, I won’t be able organise a Holi party due to work commitments but will still play Holi at Magic of India Holi Party. If you are attending Magic of India Holi event then do come and say hello!