Posted by Rakhsha Bandhan is a festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. This year Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi is on 22nd August. Due to the lockdown restrictions in view of the prevailing Covid 19 pandemic, it would not be possible for siblings to celebrate Rakhi in the conventional manner. However, it does not mean that the festival cannot be celebrated at all.
There are multiple ways to celebrate rakhi in lockdown without any loss of enthusiasm. Some good ideas have been discussed here.
Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is the best way to gather all the family members together irrespective of the places they may be residing. All the rituals associated with rakhi can be performed virtually through video conferencing. Exchanging greetings and even virtually stuffing each other’s mouths with sweets is enabled by video conferencing. The conversations can also be recorded and stored as memories.
Online Gifts
Since it is not possible and even advisable to visit markets to purchase gifts for rakhi due to Covid 19, the best way is to order gifts from online stores. There are multiple gift stores from where you can order online rakhi gifts. All kinds of rakhi gifts are available in a range of budgets. The stores deliver the gifts to both domestic and international locations. Thus, even if your brother or sister lives in another city or country, you can easily order a nice gift for him/her without stepping out of your house.
Some of the popular types of rakhi gifts for brothers which are widely available in online stores are as follows.
- Multiple kinds of rakhis such as designer rakhis, pearl rakhis, personalised rakhis, handmade rakhis, rudraksha rakhis, peacock rakhis and many more are offered by the online stores
- Rakhi hampers consisting of chocolate box, almonds or any other dry fruit, rakhi and roli and chawal.
- Men’s gift set containing leather belt and wallet.
- Personalised mug and coasters
- Celebration box featuring one box each of biscuits, candies and almonds
- Personalised wooden picture frame with the photo of your brother
- Whisky glass set engraved with the name of your brother
- Journal having ruled or unruled pages with suede leather cover
The types of rakhi gifts for sisters which are widely available in the online stores are as follows.
- Personalised printed cushion featuring the image of your sister
- Chocolate bouquet consisting of Cadbury chocolates and red roses wrapped together in double layer tissue wrapping
- Personalised mug bearing the photo of your sister along with Ferrero Rocher chocolate
- Celebration box containing miniature chocolates and sweet and sour candies
- Printed or embroidered kurtis of various designs
- Beauty care hamper containing shampoo, face wash, lip balm and deodorant
Digital Gifts
You can also opt for digital rakhi gifts instead of conventional gifts. Digital gifts are suitable particularly for siblings who are staying far away and cannot visit due to lockdown. Common digital gifts which can be purchased include digital posters, e-gift cards, musicians on-call, e-greeting cards, personalised digital messages, e-caricatures and many more.
Cooking Food
If you and your brother or sister are under the same roof in this lockdown period, then cooking the favourite food of your sibling is a simple yet enjoyable way to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. Apart from the traditional festival food of Poori, Chole, Halwa and Kheer, you can also cook continental food that your sibling would relish.
Sweets
You cannot visit a sweetmeat shop to buy sweets in the lockdown but Raksha Bandhan is incomplete without sweets. You can either make sweets at home or order online. There are many online stores delivering good quality sweets right to your doorstep. Order the favourite sweet of your sibling. The online stores have wide selections of sweets gifts such as gulab jamun, rasgulla, kaju katli, laddu, barfi and many more.
Indoor Games
The whole family can play a lot of indoor games such as ludo, carrom, scrabble, poker, dumb charades and many more. There are a lot of creative indoor family games which can be searched on the internet. Organise competitions to make the games more exciting.