Here’s How EHD Stylist, Hina, Designed Her Beautiful And Budget-Friendly Diwali Celebration

Hello EHD Readers! My name is Hina and although most of you have never heard of me before, I have worked alongside the EHD team since 2019 when they were shooting for Em’s second book (mostly as a PA). I continue to work with EHD alum (briefly with Velinda & Grace for VHD, various EHD productions, ongoing as an assistant to Bowser & Erik as well as alongside Veronica where she shoots and I style for other brands).  So I am pretty EHD adjacent even though this is my first time officially contributing to the blog! 🙂

I’m excited to share how I host one of the most special times of the year for me which some of you may already know. Diwali, also known as the festival of lights, is a prominent celebration observed by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains around the world. Last year on Diwali, I was actually with Emily, Bowser & Sara on set at the Mountain House and was able to share the celebration with them. It was small, but intentional as I brought up some Indian snacks & sweets along with some twinkle lights to make the day special. I usually host an annual Diwali celebration and missed it the last 2 years for obvious pandemic reasons, so I was extra excited to kick it off again this year. I would love to bring you along to share how I weave in Diwali decor throughout my various hosting zones.

So first off, what is Diwali and how is it celebrated? Diwali is celebrated in either October or November each year depending on the lunar calendar. As mentioned above, Diwali is the festival of lights and it celebrates the conquering of good over evil or light over dark. It is celebrated in a variety of ways but one of the most prominent ways is by lighting diyas (clay lamps). This symbolizes illuminating an inner light and protection from darkness. Many houses are adorned by lighting diyas around the home. There are also beautiful displays of rangoli (elaborate patterns made of colored powder, flowers or dyed rice), fireworks/ sparklers, lots of yummy food, and tidying/cleaning the home to invite in Lakshmi- the Goddess of prosperity and good fortune. This all amounts to celebrating the new year (at least for Gujaratis – Gujarat is the region of India my ancestors are from). The new year involves visiting family and friends and exchanging all the wonderful Diwali homemade snacks by each household. Celebrating Diwali helps me feel connected to my family & friends who I’ve lived away from for the past 6 years (I hail from Toronto and my husband is from Sydney, neither of us commonwealth citizens have family in LA let alone America in general).

Even though I am not religious, I associate Diwali with cultural belonging and resonate with the concept of remembering there is light even in dark times. The past several years have been heavy with devastating blows around the globe- climate change, social unrest/injustice, and the pandemic being forefront of so many of our lives. It feels even more necessary to honor and hold on to any symbolic or spiritual ritual tied to hope and being reminded of the beauty of the light that still exists especially in darker times. Getting to share this occasion with friends in LA who may or may not know much about the celebration is very special for me.

Now that everyone has a basic concept of what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, I’ll dive into how I planned a Diwali celebration centered around Indian food & Diwali decor that’s easy to execute. I kept things simple, accessible, and beautiful (after all, I am a stylist at the end of the day!).

My first step was creating zones and using a different Diwali decor for each zone: The 3 zones are savoury snacks with florals, sweets a.k.a. mithai with diyas/ candles and a drinks area with rangoli.

Zone #1: The Savoury Table

Diwali food is usually vegetarian, and I’m biased but Indians do vegetarian dishes WELL! My savoury table has a mix of hot food snacks and dry snacks (I’ve seen dry Indian snacks like Bombay mix at Trader Joe’s and depending on what city you live in, you can find similar Indian snacks at local grocery stores). I purchased most of the food from an Indian store and added in a crudités platter and a charcuterie board of dry Indian snacks mixed with some berries and chocolate balls to add pops of freshness and colour. LA admittedly has an amazing flower market that I was able to purchase most of these blooms from, BUT I’d say 35% of these flowers are from Trader Joe’s. Local grocery stores come in clutch when hosting and are a much more accessible way to bring in fresh florals to your home! 

Traditionally, floral garlands are used in Diwali decor, but if you’re short on time like I was, arranging some mini bouquets and sprinkling flower petals around the food added so much colour and beauty, even if it’s not in the traditional sense. Fun fact, marigolds which are often used in floral garlands (and are in season this time of year) are edible, so go ahead and sprinkle them onto the food as a garnish for a little extra pop as well.

Wall Mural | Small Framed Art | Stoneware Pie Dish

Having varying dish shapes and sizes gives more visual interest and dimension to the table especially because most of the food was in a yellow tone. In addition, keeping the dishware colour palette in line with the overall colour theme kept everything feeling cohesive. 

Zone #2: The Sweets Table

Tea Light Holders | Glass Tulip Glasses | Marble Tray

The next zone I focused on was the sweets table. Indian sweets are very rich and indulgent so a little goes a long way! Different types of sweets or mithai are also a great way to incorporate more colour into your food coupled with dynamic flavours of mango, cardamom, rose and different nuts. I made a simple mango mousse out of mango puree, heavy cream, and agar agar powder, but also love incorporating easy-to-acquire sweets like chocolate on my sweets table (Ferrero Rocher is always a hit and the gold wrapping reflects the glow of your diyas or candles so well!). 

This zone is where I included most of my tealight candles. I have a few traditional clay diyas, which require ghee and cotton to light, but truthfully I’m not as skilled as my parents at preparing them. So instead I used them to display some mithai by lining them with mini cupcake liners and placing them in the diyas. This felt like a fun way to incorporate a more traditional element and give it a multi-use purpose all while keeping the lighting process more simple for me! I love how this zone really sparkles and gives the feeling of warmth the holiday season is all about.

White Sun Plate | Gold Plate | Pink Tall Votive

Zone #3: The Drink Table

Side Table | Mirror | Console Table | Wood Tray | Mint Green Thermos | Sconces (vintage but from here)

My final zone was for drinks where I incorporated a floral floating rangoli on a nearby table. I made masala chai ahead of time using Diaspora Co’s chai spice blend (which is truly phenomenal if anyone is interested in an authentic chai flavour by an ethically sourced, queer, WOC-owned brand!) and put it in a thermos to make it easy for self-serving along with some sugar cubes. I love having tropical juices on hand as mixers or for non-alcoholic drink options in mango, passion fruit, or lychee, but in this case, I stuck with some good old Trader Joe’s sparkling lemonade. I decided to do a floating flower rangoli (because I already had the florals on hand) and it contained the flowers for simple cleanup once it’s time to compost. If you’ve ever made rangoli from colored rice, powder or flowers on the floor, you know the process of cleaning up after is not fun and you can be sure to find remnants of it for months on end afterward lol. 

Rangoli can be as simple or intricate as you’d like. You can also easily print a design/stencil from the internet if you’re wanting a bit of guidance on a pattern you’re happy with. I decided to extend my pattern beyond the bowl of floating flowers since I had more space on the table. I placed each Dahlia in a mini pinch bowl with water to keep them fresh and sprinkled flower petals around the whole design to fill any additional negative space. I’m really happy with how it turned out and found the process to be quite meditative. After all, going inwards and reflecting on how we want to live with intention and illuminating that which we keep in the dark is what this time of year is all about! At the end of the night, I gave all my guests leftover flowers to take home as a party favour and will continue to enjoy all the different areas of fresh flowers in my home for the coming days.

I hope this post serves as inspiration to go ahead and celebrate Diwali in a way you love even though you may not have access to the most traditional ways of celebrating, or you just want to forge your own path on how to celebrate such a rich festival. I also hope it enlightened anyone who wasn’t familiar with Diwali and has given you an appreciation of a festival so many hold dear to their hearts. Thanks for coming along for the journey readers. Wishing you all a Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak (Happy New Year!). xo

*Styled by Hina Mistry
**Photos by Veronica Crawford