Decor and festive lighting
Entry, backdrops, hanging lamps, drapes and warm lighting, built to suit the building's rules on flames and fixings.
An office Diwali and a society Diwali look similar in photographs and are planned very differently. We handle the decor, the lighting, the contests, the food and the gifting for both, and we build the evening around who is actually in the room.
Diwali brings us two kinds of booking, and the difference is not the decoration. An office Diwali has one age group, a fixed number of hours borrowed from a working day, a building with rules about open flames, and a management team that wants people to leave feeling looked after. A society Diwali has grandparents, toddlers and teenagers in the same open space, a committee budget collected flat by flat, and an evening that has to give each of them something.
We plan both, and the planning starts with who is in the room. That decides the hour, the length, whether the programme is on a stage or around the floor, how the food is served, what the contests are, and what goes home with people at the end. The lamps and the rangoli are the easy part.
From an office floor in Kharadi to a township podium in Pimpri-Chinchwad, the setup, the running order, the contests and the gifting are handled together with one point of contact. Tell us which of the two you are planning and we will send the version that fits.
Every photo here is from an event our team planned and ran.
Decide which of the two Diwali parties you are planning before anything else, because almost every later choice follows from it. Both want lamps, rangoli, food and a photograph. Beyond that they share very little. Our guide to office Diwali ideas covers themes, contests and gifting in detail; this page is about how the two versions are actually run.
Here is what changes between them.
| What changes | Office Diwali | Society Diwali |
|---|---|---|
| Who is in the room | Colleagues, one broad age group, sometimes families | Grandparents, children and teenagers together |
| Who decides | HR or an admin team with an approved budget | A committee spending money collected from members |
| Hours available | Borrowed from a working day, so short and firm | A full evening, often stretching later than planned |
| The programme | Contests, a short address, awards, music | Performances by residents, games for every age, prizes |
| Food | Counters timed around the programme | Stalls, faral and something for the children early |
| What goes home | A gift for every employee, counted in advance | Prizes, sweets and a photograph with the family |
Pick the hour first, then design what fits inside it. An afternoon slot inside working hours gets almost everyone and gives you a short, tight programme. A full evening at a venue gets a better party and a thinner crowd, because people in Hinjewadi or on the eastern side will weigh up the drive home. Whichever you choose, keep the formal part short: a few minutes of address, awards handed out cleanly, and then contests and food. Rangoli and diya painting work on any office floor because they need a corner and not a stage. Check your building's position on diyas, candles and open flames early, since many offices allow decorative lamps only in specific areas, and let that shape the design rather than discovering it on setup day. The rest of the evening's ideas belong with the people who plan them regularly: see employee engagement events.
Give every age group a piece of the evening and fix when each piece happens. Children need their contests and food early, because they will not last; elders want seating with a view of the stage and a way out that does not cross the crowd; the residents' performances need a rehearsal slot and a firm running order, otherwise one item swells and eats the prize distribution. Rangoli competitions work best with marked plots, a registration list and judging that finishes before dinner. Keep the lantern and lamp displays where people walk rather than only near the stage, and light the paths, because most of this evening happens after dark.
Build the lighting for a full evening outdoors, not for the first photograph. Lamps burn down, wind moves loose diyas and a rangoli laid across a walkway will be footprints by dinner. So live flames are grouped in one arrangement that someone is watching, the rest of the warmth comes from lighting, rangoli is laid where people stand rather than where they walk, and cables are raised and taped. Whether crackers or fireworks are allowed at all depends on the rules in force for your location and your date, and on the venue's own position, so that is confirmed before it is promised to anyone. Decor, lighting and layout are covered further on our event decorators page.
Sort the gifting a fortnight ahead and hand it out without a queue. Count heads including people on leave, people at other sites and anyone working a shift, label by floor or by wing, and decide who signs for what. Handing gifts at a table as people leave works better than calling names from a stage, which turns twenty minutes into an hour. If you want the evening and the gifting handled together, our corporate party planners do both.
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The whole evening, from the decor to the gift table. That covers festive decoration and lighting, a rangoli and diya corner, stage, sound and an anchor, contests with rules and judges, food counters timed to the programme, prizes, and gifting counted and labelled in advance. Setup and clear-up are included, so your team runs the celebration rather than the logistics.
The crowd is the difference. A society evening has grandparents, toddlers and teenagers in the same space, so the programme is split by age and the children's part happens early. An office Diwali has one broad age group and a fixed number of hours, so the formal part stays short and the contests carry the rest. The decor may look alike; the running order does not.
Headcount and the size of the setup drive most of it. The area being decorated, how much lighting you want, a stage and sound, an anchor and performers, contests and prizes, food counters and the menu, and gifting per person all move the figure. An office floor costs differently from a lawn. Share your venue and headcount and we will quote head by head.
Yes, and most office Diwali parties are held exactly there. The design has to respect the building, so we check what is allowed on flames, fixings, sound and setup hours before drawing anything. Decoration usually goes up after working hours the evening before. Rangoli, diya painting and dress-up contests all work on a floor without needing a stage.
That depends on the building, the venue and the rules in force on your date. Many offices and halls allow decorative lamps only in defined areas, and any position on crackers or fireworks is set by the location and the day rather than by us. We confirm all of it with the venue before it goes into the plan, and design the warmth with lighting where flames are not an option.
Yes, gifting is planned as part of the evening. Gifts are chosen against your budget, counted for everyone including people on leave or at other sites, labelled by floor or wing, and handed out at a table rather than called from a stage. You get a count you can check before the day, and anything left over is returned to you with a list.
About a month, and earlier for a venue. The festive weeks are the busiest of the year for decorators, sound teams, anchors and caterers, so the choice narrows quickly and prices firm up. Booking early also leaves time for building approvals, gifting to be sourced and contests to be announced. If your date is close, send the details and we will tell you what is still workable.
Pune · PCMC
Weddings · Birthdays · Stage décor
Pune · PCMCTell us which Diwali you are planning
Send your venue, headcount and the hours you have, and we will come back with a running order, a decor plan and an itemised quote.