Two festivals a day apart in mid-January, and most of the gifting sits in one specific corner of them: a first Lohri.
For everybody else these are food festivals — rewari, gajak, groundnuts, til and jaggery handed round a fire or across a doorway. Good gifts, low stakes, and nobody is counting.
The one that is actually an occasion
The first Lohri after a wedding, and the first Lohri of a newborn. Both are celebrated properly by the family, and both come with real expectations.
| Whose first | What typically happens |
|---|---|
| A newly married couple | The bride is dressed up and the celebration is partly for her; the in-laws give clothes or jewellery |
| A newborn | The larger of the two — extended family gathers, and the baby’s maternal side gives generously |
| Nobody’s first | Sweets, and an evening round a fire |
If you have been invited to somebody’s first Lohri, that invitation is the signal. It is not a generic festival evening; it is a family occasion with a subject.
What to give at a first Lohri
For the couple. This is the same territory as any first festival after a wedding — a year in which two families are working out who marks what. The safe register is warm and slightly conventional. The first Diwali after a wedding
For the baby. Clothes and gold are the traditional answers and both are crowded. The uncrowded one is anything that records the first year, because a first Lohri usually falls within months of the birth and the family has thousands of photographs and nothing printed. Gifts for a new baby
For the household hosting. Sweets, dry fruit, or something for the table. Nothing elaborate is expected.
⚠️ The direction of giving is not symmetrical, and it catches people out. At a first Lohri much of the giving flows from the maternal side — the bride’s family towards the marital household, or the baby’s mother’s family towards the child. If you are on that side of it, more is expected of you than of the guests around you, and it is worth asking somebody in the family what was done last time rather than guessing at the scale.
Makar Sankranti, and what it asks for
The day after Lohri, and celebrated far more widely — under different names and with genuinely different customs.
Til and gud. Sesame and jaggery, in some form, almost everywhere. In Maharashtra it comes with a line said as it is handed over, roughly take this and speak sweetly, and that exchange is the gift.
Kites, in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Uttarayan is a rooftop day. Anything kite-adjacent is a real and welcome gift there and means nothing at all elsewhere.
Pongal, in Tamil Nadu. A four-day harvest festival with its own customs, and it has its own page. Onam and Pongal gift ideas
The practical consequence: do not treat Makar Sankranti as one festival with one gift. What is right in Ahmedabad is irrelevant in Pune and wrong in Chennai.
When a made object fits, and when it does not
Honestly: not for the festival itself. These are same-day, food-centred occasions, and a designed object is out of scale for an evening of gajak.
It fits for the firsts — a first married Lohri, a first Lohri with a baby — because those are milestones that will be looked back at. Something made from the first year of a marriage or the first months of a child is a January gift that survives January.
If you want that for a mid-January date, order in the last week of December. Dispatch is weekly, on Mondays, and the window is 5 to 14 days from order to doorstep. Ordering for a fixed date
Frequently asked
What do you give on Lohri? Rewari, gajak, groundnuts and sweets for an ordinary Lohri. A first Lohri — for newlyweds or a newborn — is a real occasion where the family gives clothes, jewellery or something lasting.
What is a first Lohri? The first one after a wedding, or a baby’s first. Both are celebrated properly and both come with gifting expectations that an ordinary Lohri does not.
What is given on Makar Sankranti? Til and jaggery in some form nearly everywhere. Beyond that the customs differ sharply by state, so a single gift idea does not travel.
Are Lohri and Makar Sankranti the same festival? No, though they fall a day apart. Lohri is largely Punjabi and centres on a bonfire; Makar Sankranti is observed across India under many names.
When should I order something made for mid-January? The last week of December. The window is 5 to 14 days, and dispatch runs once a week on Mondays.
Part of our guide to personalised gifts by occasion. See also: the Indian festival gift calendar · Diwali gifting etiquette.
For a first Lohri: Photo magazines from ₹499 · All 12 keepsakes