“Life should be a continual celebration, a festival of lights the whole year-round. Only then can you grow up, can you blossom.” 
Festivals are meant to be special coming together of people as it brings excitement, enthusiasm and festive food. But this year the entire energy has subdued because of the coronavirus pandemic and has caused massive disruption in our lives.

Our socio-cultural life is enriched by festivals and cultural events in which we mingle with each other and celebrate together, thus maintaining social distancing is antithetical to the spirit of bohemia and the collective celebration. The question that rises in minds is the right way to celebrate in the new normal.

It is essential to plan safe celebrations following the norms, social distancing and hygiene protocols. The celebrations amidst the pandemic can be carried on with few changes.

1. Plan indoor celebrations
Working on ideas to celebrate at home and making the occasion special is the new go. Travelling to hometowns, eating outside involves huge risks. Create a setup at home for safe celebrations and lifelong memories.

2. Go digital
Festivity is all about togetherness and strengthening bonds. But this year, lets try adjusting with the new normal by finding innovative ways to send wishes and greetings to closed ones. Its easy to plan for digital surprises like music night on video call, special wishes from all the family members, celebrity wishes etc.

3. Limit the gathering
Larger the gather, higher the risk of infection spread. To ensure health safety of everyone, it is advisable to plan a gathering with limited number of people. Also keeping in mind that everybody wears mask, maintains hygiene and takes all the safety precautions.

4. Consider DIY Decorations
Travelling to market, going from one shop to the other and looking for the right decoration material can be time consuming. Instead, DIY decoration kits can be taken up as they are custom made and are easily done with home stuffs. It was make the area look visually ready for celebrations.

5. No assumptions related to health problems
Planning a gathering at this stage involves lot of responsibility and mandatory precautions. Anyone suffering from low immunity or have recently recovered from Covid – 19 should stay at home. Any wrong assumption can ruin the entire celebration.

This year lets celebrate sensibly and ensure that our families, friends and everybody around are safe and healthy. With the festivities, lets not forget that health remains paramount.

Covid-19 will reshape our world. By the time it ends, the world around us will look a lot different. Lets stand together and fight against it by making our health the priority.