Lifestyle

Gift a 'green' Diwali

by Trans World Features (TWF) 05 Oct 2017, 10:24 am

The festival of lights, Diwali, is round the corner. This is also the season for exchanging gifts with near and dear ones. However, today people are moving away of the usual gifts repeated year after year and taking to new ideas, like organic products, finds Maiyankini Bose

Diwali, the season of lights, sweets and of course, gifts for the loved ones. Why not be innovative this year? Shunning the usual suspects, you can choose from an emerging field of ‘green’ products. For their utility value as well as their eco friendliness, these products are a hit with conservationists and the socially conscious.

Gift a plant: Reduce your carbon footprint and help someone breathe easy by gifting planters or organic plant pots to decorate their homes and terrace gardens. This gift idea is both creative and environment friendly. Noida based Nurturing Green, an online plant seller, offers a plethora of options to choose from. Foliage plants, braided money plants, stress-buster plants, zodiac plants, bonsai, cut-leaf bamboo and many more are available for sale in textured ceramic pots, jute or glass. Check out http://www.nurturinggreen.in/

Go organic: Breaking the norm from conventional gift items, biodegradable organic products are creating a buzz amongst millennials.  The organic items help keep the environment clean and have zero toxicity .

Bangaluru based brand, ‘Bare Necessities’ by Sahar Mansoor, a Zero Waste Living enthusiast, has innovative gifting ideas in the form of personal and home care items packaged in recyclable or biodegradable products with labels designed by botanical illustrator, Nirupa Rao. Deliberately keeping it bare, they make earth friendly handcrafted soaps, makeup remover, spa bars, bath salts, lip balm, face wash etc with 100% organic and natural raw materials minus any filters. These are even available in the form of goodie gift baskets.

Bare Necessities has collaborated with ‘Style Salad’ to launch Housewarming or Welcome Home Gift Box consisting of Citronella surface cleaners, kokum and honey hand and foot cream, table runners, luxury tropical Green Tea and Dot metal bowls lending that personal touch to turn a house into a cosy home.  There is also a Mom and Baby Gift Box consisting baby safe laundry detergent, crochet baby booties, organic cotton bib, soft toy and much more.  You can also say ‘No to plastic’ by gifting your loved ones their Bare stainless steel re-usable straw to sip your favourite drink.

Another organic label offering perfect gift options for Diwali is from Gurgaon based retailer ‘Soul Tree’. Made from forest grown natural ingredients and colours from plant extracts, they offer ethically produced bath and beauty products available in individual packs or gift combos.

Organic gluten-free bakery gift hampers:

Like any other festival, Diwali celebration is incomplete without sweets and desserts. This Diwali you can satiate all your sweet cravings, that too guilt-free. ‘Taantraa’, an organic hand bakery in Indiranagar, Bangaluru uses almond flour, multigrain and jaggery to concoct a tempting range of cakes that are vegan and gluten-free. A royal three-tiered Sugarfree Symphony cake with innovative layers of lemon-ginger cake, moong dal cake and raw cashew lemon cake is a perfect Diwali gift hamper for your friends and family. Their ‘no maida’ multigrain sugar- free cakes come in a range of natural toppings like organic sauce with almonds, Rum dipped Fruit & Nut topping, edible Rose topping, fresh fruit toppings and many others.

The special additions for this year Diwali are their vegan baked Cheese cake, Almond Blondies, Lite Granola cake, Orange Almond cake, Almond flour Choco Walnut cake, Hazelnut butter cake, Choco Peanut butter cake. Special Diwali Goodie baskets with mix and match nuts, cookies, truffles and cakes are also on offer. Taantraa also offers special deliveries for parties or festive celebrations during Diwali at your home or office with its personal touch of cupcake décor.

If you are not in Bangaluru place your orders online on www.taanraa.in or mail atTaantraa.cakes@gmail.com

Dress earthy:

Stylish yet eco-friendly clothing is a responsible gift idea this Diwali. There are brands like Ethic Attic of Bengaluru, Vadodara’s Bhusattva, Jodhpur’s Medhya, Kolkata’s Promostyl Fashion, Mumbai’s Women Weave making stunning designs using organic cotton, linen, hemp, flax, silk, banana fibre or organic fibre blends and using organic natural colour extracts of turmeric, pomegranate, beet root instead of artificial dyes. The earthy tones of the comfortable cool natural fabrics make them all the more attractive.

Check out:

https://www.facebook.com/PromostylFashion/

https://www.facebook.com/WomenWeave/

https://www.facebook.com/medhyajodhpur/

Novelty items: With the organic trend catching up fast, novelty gifts items have got a new look and feel. Be it diyas, candles, oil diffusers or home décor this category is still extremely popular. This Diwali, gift your loved ones an eco-friendly alternative to electric lights in form of traditional clay lamps readily available on amazon.in. These lamps come in a lot of colourful shapes, sizes and are stylish. Other innovative environment friendly options are floral diya, flour diya, floating candles, paper lanterns, paper cup lamps, egg carton lamps, sea shell lights, recycled lanterns and candle holders, fruity candles and many more.

Ahmedabad based, CraftsShopsIndia offers Indian handicrafts and home décor items on its online marketplace. The variety is huge and supplies pan-India.

Traditional gifts:

Nagpur based Fashion & Lifestyle store, Bird Cage, offers chic and quirky products that are niche and fashionable. Founded by duo Aditi Rai and Vidhi Wadhwani, this boutique store promotes upcoming talents showcasing interesting gift items and fashion goods.

You can also buy from exclusive retail chain of Delhi based, ‘Happily Unmarried’ offering quirky novelty products. They have store presence in all the major cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangaluru, Chandigarh, Pune, Mumbai and Raipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Lucknow, Pondicherry and Guwahati. You can also place your orders on their website from anywhere in India.

For men’s tee shirt with fun quotes explore the online store SheepStop supplying through pan- India. Not just tees they also have a huge range of merchandise ranging from mugs, fun bumper stickers, badges, clocks, frames to shot glasses, wall décor. Kiosks at Seasons mall, Pune, also display their product line .

Happy shopping, Happy Diwali!