Planning Deepavali night, hour by hour
A simple running order for lamps, sparklers and fountains that keeps the evening calm and the children happy.
Storing leftover crackers
How to keep boxes dry and safe until Karthigai or New Year.
Nearly every family has a few boxes left after Deepavali. Stored well, they will be fine for Karthigai Deepam, New Year or the next birthday; stored badly, they turn damp and unreliable.
Put every unopened box back into the outer carton it came in, or into a cardboard box, and close it. Keep it in a cool, dry room away from the kitchen, the puja diyas, water heaters and electrical boards. A high shelf in a storeroom works well. Do not use plastic bags; they trap moisture.
Keep them out of children’s reach, and tell the adults in the house where they are. Bengaluru’s monsoon humidity is the main enemy, so add a few silica gel sachets if you have them.
Opened boxes with one or two pieces left are best used up soon. Anything that has become damp, cracked or bent should not be lit; soak it in a bucket of water overnight and dispose of it with dry waste. As a rule, use crackers within a year of buying them.
