Return gift ideas for Navratri that is useful and budget friendly

 Festival season can be tiring with a 9-to-5 job and kids. To make things easier for you, I am putting together some budget-friendly return gift ideas that your recipient will use and not regift. Over 10 years of hosting Navratri, I have always loved curating simple yet useful thambhoolam ideas. Some years I have had the flexibility of choosing the gifts and shipping them from India, but sometimes I will have to shop around in stores and on Amazon and put together a return gift. With all those previous experiences, I am sharing the ideas I have used and also some budget-friendly ideas. 

I will be sharing ideas in the $5 to $15 range for a group of small items put together in an attractive basket or pouch, which will be liked by all of your guests. 

DIY prabhavali / DIY thiruvachi

 DIY Prabhavali, also known as Thiruvachi, is currently in trend, and everyone wants to incorporate it in their festive decor. Prabhavali/Thiruvachi is an arched frame that is often added as an embellishment to the deities at the temples. Still,  nowadays it has become a popular home decor as it is used in frames, backdrops, or simply as a decorative piece. While brainstorming ideas to use for my golu, I decided to use the prabhvali to frame my mini golu. But how? It took a couple of trials for me to come up with this idea of scaling up the image and splitting it. I am going to share how I did that so you don't have to make the same mistakes I did. Let's go

Flameless Diya ideas to decorate your home this Diwali

 Diwali - the festival of lights is always celebrated by lighting diyas around the home to celebrate the victory of Dharma over Dharma, light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. I personally love lighting the traditional oil lamp, but due to carpet/wood floors, fear of children knocking and spilling the oil, children touching the lit diya, etc.  I always prefer LED candle for decorating around the house. Nowadays there are lot of different LED options like water activated diyas, floating candles, etc. I like to use different varieties at various locations around the house, and I am going to share them with you all.

Laser cut perpetual calendar DIY with picture - Xtool M1 ultra

 A love for DIY perpetual calendar never fades. I have created many versions of perpetual calendars, including the Cube Perpetual Calendar, DIY Month/Date Calendar, and Round Perpetual Calendar, among others. Now, it's time to explore a laser-cut DIY perpetual calendar using XTool M1 Ultra. 

How to make customized laser cut puzzle using XTool M1 Ultra

 Are you going to try your first laser-cut puzzle using  XTool M1 Ultra ? You have come to the right place. Here I am going to share with you two puzzles I made for my 8-year-old son, who is a cricket fan, and my one-year-old, who is ready to explore puzzles. Here, I am sharing the step-by-step procedure I followed to create the puzzles.