A packing day in the room above our Chandpol shop
Cartons in, gift boxes out: how six people pack about 300 boxes a day in the three weeks before Diwali.
Gift box or loose crackers: which to give
When a ready box makes a better gift, when a hand-picked set does, and how the cost compares for the same budget.
Customers often stand at our counter weighing up a ready gift box against picking loose items and having us wrap them. Both make good gifts; they suit different people.
A ready box, like the Rajwada at ₹1,950, is balanced for a family evening: sparklers to begin, ground spinners and flower pots in the middle, a few colour shots to end. It arrives ribboned, with a card, and the person receiving it does not have to think. Ready boxes suit relatives you see once a year, office colleagues, and anyone with young children, because we choose the mix with them in mind.
Loose crackers make sense when you know the family well. If a cousin’s children only want sparklers and the grandfather loves the peacock fountain, buy exactly that. We pack loose items in the same ribboned box with your card for ₹120 extra. The total is often a little lower than a ready box for the same number of items, because you skip what nobody will light.
For ₹2,000, a ready Rajwada box gives you 30 items across eight kinds. Loose, the same money could buy two packs of peacock fountains at ₹420, two boxes of big flower pots at ₹340, two boxes of 30 cm gold sparklers at ₹180 and the wrapping, which is fewer items but each one bigger and longer. If you are unsure, choose the ready box for a household you do not know well and loose for close family. You can also mix: a ready box with one favourite item added on top.
