Festivals
Navratri invitations
4 designs
Free with an account: your invitation as a link, a QR code and a short video for WhatsApp.
Bandhani
Tie-dye dots and mirror discs from Gujarat and Rajasthan, made to carry far.
About this design
Tie-dye dot fields and mirror-work discs, Gujarati and Rajasthani, at the loudest end of this file. It is the one family designed to be seen from across a school gymnasium, which is where the research found garba actually happens in the United States. Motion is festive here and on only two other families.
Marigold
A garland and toran at the head of the page, drawn as geometry.
About this design
A garland across the top and a toran hung at the head of the page, drawn as botanical geometry rather than as photographs of flowers. Warm by construction: the marigold is what a doorway wears on the morning of almost every occasion in this taxonomy, which is also why the family suits so many groups and leads none of them.
Kolam
Dot-grid geometry from Tamil and Telugu doorsteps, drawn at dawn.
About this design
White dot-grid geometry on a warm ground, the way a Tamil or Telugu doorstep is drawn at dawn. Named kolam and not rangoli on purpose: alpana in Bengal and aripan in Bihar are cousins with their own names, and this family draws only the South Indian one.
Lamp-lit
Lamps, a garland and gold words on an arch; a lit room at night.
About this design
A lit room rather than a dark colour: lamps and a lantern drawn in gold geometry at the head and foot, a garland along the top, and the words on an arched panel in a gold display serif. Built for Diwali and every evening celebration where the lamp is the point; the restraint is what keeps it from reading as a shop window.
Marked by Hindu families. Usually at home, a temple and a hired hall, for family, friends and the wider community. September to October, nine nights. Free invitation designs with RSVP and calendar, and no account for your guests.
Each one is a different visual tradition rather than a recolour of the same card. Tap a colour underneath to change the palette; every design carries your own wording, date and place.
About Navratri
- When it falls
- September to October, nine nights
- Who is usually asked
- family, friends and the wider community
- Where it usually happens
- at home, a temple, a hired hall and a clubhouse
- How the invitation speaks
- Warm — first names, and it sounds like the person sending it
- Customary opening line
- “Join us for Navratri”
- Colours it is associated with
- A different colour is worn each of the nine days
- Marked by
- Hindu
Wording that works
Navratri golu at ours
Nine steps, nine evenings. Drop in any night after 6.
Questions people ask
- Do my guests need an account?
- No, and they never will. A guest opens the link, types their name and taps Going, Maybe or Can't go. No password, no phone number, no app. If a page ever asks your guests for a password, it is not us.
- Can I text my guests?
- Only the ones who asked to be texted. A guest gives a number on their own — on our page, never yours — and confirms it with a six-digit code before we will send anything. You never see the number. Texts are limited to three per event so an invitation cannot become a mailing list, and cancelling or moving an event is never counted against that.
- Does it work in WhatsApp?
- That is what it is built for. Pasting the link shows a picture of the invitation with the date and who is hosting, before anybody taps — and the page opens in whatever browser your guest has, on any phone, including the ones that are not iPhones.
- Can guests add it to Google Calendar?
- Google, Apple, Outlook and anything else that reads a calendar file. There is a button on the invitation itself, and it works before anybody answers. If you change the time or the place afterwards, their existing entry updates — it does not add a second one — and cancelling removes it.