Festival of Lights Goes Green: Sustainable DIY Alternatives

Traditional clay diyas have been a hallmark of Diwali celebrations for centuries, representing an age-old eco-friendly practice. While firework crackers also play a major role in the festival of lights, they are highly unsustainable, polluting the environment with noise and chemicals, and causing distress to animals, children, and the elderly. To keep the spirit alive in a more sustainable way, consider some DIY alternatives for lighting up your home. From fruit peel diyas to silent "firework in a jar" experiments for children, and lanterns made from discarded materials equipped with LED lights, these are some fun and eco-friendly ways to celebrate responsibly.

CITRUS PEEL DIYA

The sustainable clay diyas are one of the most traditional and sustainable options. Apart from those, you can try to upcycle at home by making diyas from fruit peels. Instead of discarding leftover fruit peels, especially from citrus fruits like Genoa lemons, mosambi/sweet lime, and oranges, considering their natural texture which makes them great for holding the light. Check out our 5 ways to Refash Diyas for Diwali for more DIY inspiration.

Materials required: Your choice of citrus fruit, Ghee or natural wax, and a firm wick.

Steps to upcycle your citrus diya:

• Slice your citrus fruit in half evenly, remove the pulp and its excess, and dry it with a paper towel.
• Add natural wax, or you can use vegetable oil or the traditional ghee, making it festively special.
• Place the wick in the center and light your citrus-scented diya.
• Optional: After the first use, if the peel is not badly burnt, break it into pieces and use it for potpourri by adding essential oils.

(Image and Adapted Content Credits: Citrus Candle by Ale Hickman)

DRAGON FRUIT PEEL

The tropical Dragon fruits have a beautiful natural colour and great texture in their outer firm layer which can be repurposed into an eye-catching diya from the vibrant coloured dragon fruit peel. The natural spike design brings its own design element from nature, making it a decorative special diya.

Materials required: Dragon fruits, Ghee or natural wax, and a firm wick.

Steps to upcycle your dragon fruit diya:

• Take a firm dragon fruit, cut it smoothly in half.
• Scoop the fruit for later, clean the pieces, and make sure they are dry.
• Tie wicks to a pencil and place the pencil over the two halves so that the wick stands in place.
• Pour in ghee, any natural wax, or hard and solid coconut oil into the peels.
• Optional: Try melting and using your leftover wax from previously used candles as well.

(Image and Adapted Content Credits: Dragon Fruit Peel Candle by Corrina Johnson)

SILENT FIREWORKS IN A JAR

Unsustainable fireworks are known to be highly pollutive with smoke and noise pollution. However, there is a small science experiment, a lava lamp like DIY—that you can try at home with just a few items that mimic real fireworks in a fun little way, bringing the fireworks into a jar. It's extremely eco-friendly and pet-friendly without smoke or noise, and something that children will love.

Materials required: A glass jar with water, 2 tablespoons of oil, and food colouring.

Steps to make silent fireworks in a jar:

• Take a transparent, clean glass jar, and make sure it is clear and empty, and fill the jar with 3/4 of water.
• In a separate bowl, add 2 tablespoons of oil and several drops of different food colourings.
• Stir it with a fork or a spoon until the droplets break into smaller ones.
• Then, pour the oil mixture with the food colouring into the water glass jar.
• Now for the fun part: the oil will sit on top of the water, and as the coloured droplets break open, the colours popping in the water will resemble fireworks like effect.

(Image and Adapted Content Credits: Silent Fireworks in a Jar from The Best Ideas For Kids)

UPCYCLED LANTERN

Natural diyas to light and upcycled lanterns as decor are perfect to brighten your home this Diwali and providing decor that lasts beyond the festival. Making lanterns out of used plastic bottles diverts waste into colourful decorations.

Materials required: Used plastic bottles, scissors, craft knife, yarn thread, and colourful scrap fabric or paint, brushes for paint.

Note: Carefully handle the scissors and craft knife, and supervise children using them if needed.

Steps to upcycle your own Lantern:

• Pick a bottle of any shape, remove its label or stickers and depending on its size and shape, very carefully use scissors or a craft knife to put a hole and cut them in half.
• Let the imagination run and paint the top half of the sliced bottle either from the inside or outside, with stars, dots, or floral patterns.
• Take another bottle and carefully try to just create straight slits without cutting the bottle in half and try to bend each strip from outside the bottle at the center.
• Depending on which half you are working with, poke a hole for a thread to hang the lantern.
• Attach tassels or scrap fabrics and decorate as much as you like.
• Since it's the festive time and to bring light, stick LED string lights or fairy lights inside, you can also hang it without them.
• Instead of lights, you can also use non-toxic acrylic glow paint to bring the luminous effect.

(Image and Adapted Content Credits: Discarded Plastic Bottle Lanterns by Handmade Charlotte)

NO-FLAME PAPER LANTERN

A fun DIY where you need to look for your old stash of books which are unreadable, especially the ones that you're planning to discard, and divert that into a creative, purposeful flame-free lantern. Make use of old papers to create a lantern but not light it the traditional way, for obvious reasons, since it's made of paper but with LED small bulbs or string lights at home.

Materials required: Old book pages that you no longer need, scissors, glue/adhesive, craft knife, staplers, and a scrap piece of lace/fabric.

Note: Carefully handle the scissors, staplers, and craft knife, and supervise if needed if kids are using them.

Steps to make your No-Flame Lantern:

• Simply take two pages from an old no longer needed really old book or ripped pages.
• Cut and trim the pages evenly with no uneven edges.
• Roll one of the pages into a cylindrical shape tube and add glue or staple it firmly.
• Take another paper and use your craft knife to make vertical cuts down the page, leaving both ends intact while creating lines throughout the page with space between each line.
• Wrap this around a tube that you have already made. Use glue to attach the top and bottom to the tube to secure it, keeping the strips open and rounded in the middle.
• Use lace that you have or any scrap fabric to create a handle and use a ribbon to tie to appear like hanging lanterns.
• The last step would be adding a small LED light or string light to illuminate the lantern.

(Image and Adapted Content Credits: Old Book Paper Lantern by Katie Hale)

Reflecting on the impact of our choices on the environment and those around us, embracing sustainable practices like using eco-friendly diyas and creative, non-polluting lighting alternatives preserves the essence of the festival and instills responsible practices that endure.