Celebrating Diwali This Year? It's Time to Start Decorating!

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The religious Hindu festival Diwali (often referred to also as the Festival of Lights) originated in India and is celebrated by different communities around the world, including Jains and Sikhs. This year, the festival falls on November 12, 2023. The holiday represents new beginnings, light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. The five-day celebrations naturally involve spending time with family and friends, consuming delicious food, exchanging gifts, and filling the home with Diwali decorations.

Like with any holiday, it's important to deck out your living spaces with pieces that embody the energy and cheer of the special day. Traditional Diwali decorations include lights, diyas (oil lamps made from clay), flowers (like these marigold garlands), torans (decorative door hangings), and rangoli, a type of intricate art crafted by flowers, colored powders, and rice on the floor or table. To start, make your house or apartment glimmer with string lights—wrap them around your front porch, stair railings, or even above the entryway of rooms.

According to Rupali, who runs the blog, Enhance Your Palate, the main entrance to a home serves of great importance. She suggests using a mix of flowers, diyas, and torans. Rangoli can be drawn at the entrance, too, as it's said to welcome the gods into your home and bring good luck. If your building doesn't allow for so many outdoor decorations though, this Diwali door wreath or these peacock banners will give you that same festive vibe.

When decorating indoors, embrace Diwali's festive colors: red, yellow, magenta, and blue. You can drape golden marigold garlands across the fireplace, lay them across the table while weaving in decorative diyas, set out silver plates with mithai, place floating flowers and candles in an urli bowl, and hang lights. Don't be afraid to go above and beyond here, as lights and lamps are said to help the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, find her way into peoples’ homes in order to bring prosperity. For those who want to keep the lamps lit overnight, skip the open flame and opt for this LED option instead.

As you think over what type of decorations you want to buy and where to place them, we'll help you get started with an array of festive items that embrace the tradition and spirit of the holiday.

Diya Shape Flower Decorative Urli Bowl

Make this the centerpiece on any dining room or coffee table. Once it's lit and filled with water and floating petals, it will be a sight to behold.

Marigold Garland With Green Leaves

For a marigold garland you can display on the table in lieu of a runner, snag this 4.5-foot piece. It comes in a pack of five though, so you may want to find other spots in the house for the rest—or split the rest among your friend group.

Handmade Rangoli Set

You'll have to buy the wax or candles yourself for the little holders, but otherwise Etsy shoppers said this Diwali decor set looks great in real life and is well-made. Should products be damaged during transport, reviewers also said that the customer service was responsive and speedy.

Happy Diwali Bunting Banner

Banners are an easy way to inject the holiday cheer into your home, especially when they are as colorful and fun as this set. They don't take up much space either, so when you're done with the banners, simply fold them up and put into a small box or drawer until you're ready to break them out next year.

DIY Diwali Rainbow Lantern Craft Kit

It's fun to buy premade Diwali decorations, but if you have the time, it's even more fun to make the decor with your kids. This Diwali craft kit comes with seven rainbow-colored, pre-cut sheets you can roll into a lantern (instructions are included) and ribbons so you can hang them up.

Marigold Garland

These gorgeous orange-gold marigold garlands are five feet long and come in a pack of five, so you can buy several to use as a backdrop for photos or hang them from your ceilings. Though they're easy to fluff up by hand, one Amazon reviewer says you can use a dryer, too, to get them to look full and bouncy.

Artificial Floating Lotus Flower

In Hinduism, the lotus is seen as a symbol of fertility and purity; it's also a dominant symbol in the icon of Lakshmi. You can incorporate this motif into your outdoor decor with these realistic-looking plants that float serenely in a pool or small pond.

Rangoli Stencils

Keep the kids busy while you cook and prep by giving them a fun arts and crafts activity. You can make it feel more on-theme with these rangoli stencils that they can trace with. Reviewers say they seem to work the best with paint when used on a small foam roller, round brush, or sponge.

Binny's Diwali

We count books as part of a home's decor, and charm, so why not switch out your children's books, or perhaps change up your coffee table reads, to incorporate one that celebrates Diwali? Though the illustrations are aimed at kids, adults will enjoy reading this too while snacking on pedas.

Marigold Garland

This handcrafted marigold garland measures five feet, so it can stretch across your fireplace mantel or door frame, depending on where you want to hang it up. The hues will blend in seamlessly with your existing autumn decor.

Diwali Wreath

This beautiful wreath with an auspicious Shubh Kalash is handmade using silk flowers, plastic peacock feathers, and golden leaves. You can personalize yours with text like "Happy Diwali" or "Shubh Labh" and choose from two wreath sizes: 16 or 18 inches.

Diya Tea Lights

If you have little ones running around and prefer not to have any open flames around, these LED-powered lights, inspired by diya lamps, are the perfect solution. They're waterproof too, so if there's a slight drizzle during your outdoor celebrations, you don't need to move them inside.

Yellow & Purple Diwali Table Runner

This marigold and purple table runner adds the right amount of festiveness to your dinner celebrations. If it gets a little dirty during the party, don't fret because once everyone leaves, you can toss this into the washing machine on a gentle cycle then line dry—all is good!

15-Piece Set Diwali Decorations

Not sure what type of decor you want yet? Well, the world is your oyster with this 15-piece set that includes lotus wall hangings and floor rangoli. According to Amazon shoppers, the decoration quality is excellent and after the festivities wrap up, you can store the items in the reusable box until next year.

Happy Diwali Porch Banner

Incorporate a bright banner into your existing outdoor Thanksgiving or fall decor once November 12 hits. This peacock option features all the Diwali-approved bright colors like yellow and blue.

10-Piece Multicolor Clay Diyas

You don't have to light these diyas if you don't want to: they look pretty as is thanks to all the different vivid colors. You can place these on your bookshelf, the dining room table, or around the coffee table.

30 Pieces of Flower Strings

While the garlands we recommended so far veer into the orange and gold color territories, you can absolutely go for red and pink options too. These artificial flowers come in a set of 30, which is more than enough to decorate your house with.

Curtain Lights

This 9.8-by-9.8 foot curtain light will instantly transform your home into the coziest and most serene space. It also comes with a tiny remote, so you can control the pattern of how the light flashes. Style this with garland on top for a festive feel.

Diwali Personalized Round Plate

You can't have a Diwali celebration without food and sweets, so these personalized plates are perfect for holding bites like kaju katli and jalebi. If you're attending a neighbor's celebration, consider writing their family name on the plates as a cute host gift.

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