Playing Holi | Tips and Advice for a Healthy and Happy Holiday

Holi is one of our family's favorite springtime traditions.  We go crazy with color and chasing after each other. 

It is a beautiful holiday.   

It is about renewal and faith in God.  It is about community.   It is about pure joy and love.  It is about family.

We played on actual Holi at home and at the temple Radha Madhav Dham in Austin on Saturday.  Lakshman has also been having a great time playing with the leftover Holi powder in the backyard whenever he can. Play Holi Everyday, right?

I wore this outfit both times.  The first day my mom washed it and it came out white.  The second day I washed it and the lace was stained orange even with bleach. Go figure. 

Some things to consider : 

📷: Spring Festival of Color

1. Clothing will likely stain no matter what.  If you keep them dry and oil/sweat free before washing you may have a better chance of getting things clean.  Also, shaking off excess powder before washing will make a big difference also.  Bleach is always an option but I usually do this only if clothes need a second wash.

2. Keep your mouth closed while playing.  A good idea to remind kids of this too.

3. Do not spray Holi in the face.  Another good rule to emphasize with kids.  This prevents inhaling it which can irritate your throat and lungs even if the powder is non-toxic/organic.

4. DO NOT USE YOUR DSLR.  I have ruined a camera and lens this way.  A few direct hits and the camera is totally done.  Organic powder seemed to be a worse offender because the grains were fine and made more of a mist, which created an uncleanable layer of dust on all surfaces, lens, mirrors, sensors, etc. Our iphones seem to be okay and we can get some great images with portrait mode now anyway.

5. We use small re-usable buckets from the dollar spot at Target to dole out manage-able amounts of Holi to the kids.

6. Playing at home can be a lot of fun. The powder can easily be washed off the patio with water and is fine for the lawn.

7. Use old sheets or towels to protect your car on the way home.  We used old crib sheets we were about to toss and they were the perfect size. This helps to minimize or completely avoid the need to vacuum your car after. Again, shake off as much of the excess powder as you can at the venue.

8. Be respectful.  This is ultimately a religious holiday.  Take a little time to honor the traditions it stems from.  Learning about it is a great way to do that. Nadya Agarwal's article on cultural appropriation and the Color Run offers a really good perspective on the issue.

9. The crowds at big events can be a little overwhelming.  If you have little ones, plan on staying off to one side to start.

It is so much fun!!

Holi Festival | A two-page scrapbook layout + full photo page

The Holi festival is the Hindu holiday of colors celebrating the arrival of spring and the winter harvest. 

I used the Ali Edwards bond story kit and the March Studio Calico kit here.  I typed my journaling with extra spaces to fit the stamps in.  The rainbow is made from patterned paper and I think it would look cute on a St. Patrick's Day layout, or any spring themed project. 

The journaling reads:
     Holi is probably one of the most special holidays for our family. We have so much fun together.  We get messy, dousing each other in color.  We laugh, chasing each other.
     Growing up in the US, away from all my extended family with two working parents, and a mom who worked almost every single holiday, we didn’t celebrate them in a big way. So I never learned how other people did most things.  I could see the decorations, and had some small inkling of the special food but didn’t really understand the time that people put into it. The thing that I really never saw was the ways that families would spend time together. That is something I am still learning.  How holidays make spaces for families to create special memories together.
I had seen my parents pictures of them celebrating Holi together in India.  It has such a magic around it.  And always seemed so romantic to me, since their pictures were taken as newlyweds.
     When Ryan and I got married we took our first trip to India together and got to play Holi with each other for the first time but we didn’t play it again for many years.  Not until Avinash was born and we moved to Houston.  They play Holi in a big way there! We haven’t stopped since.  In Houston we always played with our close friends Garima and Sameer.  After Nandini was born we played Holi outside on our patio a few days later.  A new tradition was created and the kids and I would play colors out there all the time.  In Austin we wasted no time finding a temple to play Holi together.   We played Holi at Nandini’s birthday party in the park one year.  Her classmates were so delighted to get experience the holiday with us. The kids loved being able to share their culture with their friends too. The next year I surprised the kids after school at the same park with color.  We ran around, just the four of us getting messy and having a blast.
     I am still figuring out how to be a good Mom.  I want the best for my family.  I want a strong bond between us and our children that will last a lifetime.  I want them to know we will always be there to share in joys and sorrows, no matter how big or how small.  Holi has become an amazing time for our family to connect and I am so glad it is such an important tradition for us now.  Avinash and Nandini look forward to it every year.  Lakshman has always had fun with Holi, getting messy and throwing color but I think this will be the first year he really can remember it and I can’t wait. Holi Hai!!

Check out another fun and colorful hybrid project:

December Daily | Handmade Holidays Day 1

Happy Holi | Holi Ke Din Dil Khil Jaate Hai

Growing up this was the type of Holi celebrations my dreams were made of.  I would pore over the pictures of my parents playing Holi together in India with utter amazement.

Growing up in the 80's in Pennsylvania we just didn't have regular access to Indian stores and I never remember seeing any stocked with Holi color.  It is always too cold there to have much fun anyway.  Playing Holi was the unattainable.  The long lost and left behind celebration I could only dream about.

I think a lot of people are more familiar with it now as the Color Run.  But that is based on an actual Hindu holiday and custom.  It is not a race or competition.  It is about renewal and faith in God.  It is about community.   It is about pure joy and love.  It is about family.

This is what the Holi of my dreams looks like now.  Sitting down trying to open up more bags of colored powder while I get ambushed by these three.

And, it is way better than I ever imagined.

Fun to the core.

Joyful, a time to let go, get messy and run around wildly together.

 Does life get any better?

Of course I never get stressed the mess going all over? NOT A BIT. 

Ok, a bit.  

But, the car is easy to clean, we go straight in for showers and baths. I worry about the rugs, I do.  Though I make everybody put their clothes in the washing machine as soon as we get home.

I also wrapped my camera body up in bandages so the powder wouldn't get stuck deep inside the mechanism.  It seemed to help.

 Nandini loved it.  Chasing Avinash and running around with their newly made friends.  She was so excited about the new white dress we bought together the day before.  Right at the end she started to worry that her dress was "getting messy".  Really, where?  I don't see anything unusual. 

She totally didn't buy our, "It's getting more beautiful" line.  Smart girl.

Lakshman loves anything that involves chasing his kids around.  They were pretty good about keeping the powder off his head.  They would lovingly dab his legs and feet, just make my heart melt why don't you? Most of that on his face is from me.

Happy Holi everyone!