Invite friends for an Independence Day dinner. Here are some quick and easy ways to make it a joyous and memorable Saturday evening.
Invites: These can be handmade by children - plan early and let their creative juices flow around the Independence Day theme. Kite-shaped cards, cards in tricolour, fingerpainting, or old gift wraps can be cut into shapes of birds and flowers. You can use old stoles or dupattas with Indian motifs that can be artistically cut and placed on the cards.
Decor: Choose two colours from the tricolour and use as décor echoes through your space. If you use a white table cloth, the flowers on the table could be orange African violets, white lilies with greens or the auspicious and hardy saffron marigold. You could also buy a host of kites and use as décor around the house. Brighten up with tealights, diyas, candles and use natural aromas of khus, tuberose, jasmine or mogra to add a fragrant touch.
Menu: Even if it's a dry day and you can't get free-flowing alcohol, this simple punch isn't too much effort. You could alternatively do a virgin mojito. Keep the main course simple; maybe biryani and raita (taking forward the saffron and white theme) and for dessert, try your hand at a tricoloured soufflé, muffins or fruit tarts with toppings in green, red and white (buy frozen puff pastry for the tarts; easily available in all leading departmental stores across the country).
Invites: These can be handmade by children - plan early and let their creative juices flow around the Independence Day theme. Kite-shaped cards, cards in tricolour, fingerpainting, or old gift wraps can be cut into shapes of birds and flowers. You can use old stoles or dupattas with Indian motifs that can be artistically cut and placed on the cards.
Decor: Choose two colours from the tricolour and use as décor echoes through your space. If you use a white table cloth, the flowers on the table could be orange African violets, white lilies with greens or the auspicious and hardy saffron marigold. You could also buy a host of kites and use as décor around the house. Brighten up with tealights, diyas, candles and use natural aromas of khus, tuberose, jasmine or mogra to add a fragrant touch.
Menu: Even if it's a dry day and you can't get free-flowing alcohol, this simple punch isn't too much effort. You could alternatively do a virgin mojito. Keep the main course simple; maybe biryani and raita (taking forward the saffron and white theme) and for dessert, try your hand at a tricoloured soufflé, muffins or fruit tarts with toppings in green, red and white (buy frozen puff pastry for the tarts; easily available in all leading departmental stores across the country).
Movie of the moment: If your guests are keen, get some DVDs of movies around the theme of freedom or celebration. Some Hollywood options: Born Free, Lion King, The Terminal, Brave Heart, X II - X Men United, Chronicles of Narnia or go Bollywood with Rang De Basanti or Munnabhai.
Return gifts: Make the effort… Go to the post office closest to you and ask the postmaster for stamps that show different aspects of India. Fashion bookmarks using them creatively and hand out a small set each to your guests. Wrapped in saffron and green wrapping paper, or cellophane. You'll have friends remember this party for a long time to come.
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