Diwali is treated in most households as a single evening requiring a single spectacular outfit, when it is in fact a sequence of five distinct occasions across roughly a week, each with a different level of formality and a different set of practical demands.

Once you see it that way, the wardrobe question resolves itself, and the budget question does too.

Day one: Dhanteras

A daytime festival built around purchase and preparation, with an evening puja. The mood is auspicious rather than grand, and you will be moving, shopping and organising.

Register: semi-formal, daytime, comfortable.

Women: a good cotton or rayon suit set, an A-line kurta with light embroidery, or a simple saree. Yellow and gold are traditional to the day.

Men: a cotton kurta with churidar or trousers.

Children: comfortable ethnic wear they can actually move in. This is not the day to test a stiff sherwani on a six-year-old.

Day two: Choti Diwali or Naraka Chaturdashi

Cleaning, oil baths, preparation, the first diyas. It is a working day in most households.

Register: casual to semi-formal.

This is the correct day to repeat a piece from earlier in the season, or to wear the simpler of your festive sets. Nobody is photographing the day you cleaned the house, and the good clothes will be needed shortly.

Day three: Diwali and Lakshmi Puja

The main event. The puja in the evening, the lighting of the house, the family photograph, the visiting that follows.

Register: the most formal of the year for many households, and this is where the investment piece belongs.

Women: silk, brocade, heavy georgette, real embroidery. A saree, a lehenga or a substantial Anarkali. Traditional jewellery. Rich colours: red, maroon, deep green, royal blue, gold.

Men: a silk or silk-blend kurta with a Nehru jacket, or a bandhgala. Ivory, gold, maroon and deep blue all work.

Children: full festive dress, and comfortable enough that they will keep it on for the whole evening.

The safety note that matters: this is an evening of open flame. Diyas, candles, and in many families crackers. Synthetic and net fabrics are highly flammable, and floating dupattas and long trailing sleeves are the specific hazard. Pin the dupatta. Keep children in cotton rather than synthetics if they will be near flame. This is not a small consideration and it is worth the ten seconds it takes.

Day four: Govardhan Puja or Annakut

A daytime celebration centred on food and community, often at a temple.

Register: traditional but comfortable.

Cotton and silk-cotton blends, clean traditional silhouettes, easy footwear. You will likely be sitting on the floor and removing your shoes, and it is worth dressing with both in mind.

Day five: Bhai Dooj

A family occasion, warm rather than grand, with a ceremony and a meal.

Register: semi-formal.

Restyle. The kurta from Dhanteras with a different dupatta and better jewellery is entirely sufficient, and this is the day where the repeat-and-restyle discipline pays for itself.

The buying plan for a family

The instinct is to buy one outfit per person per day, which is five outfits per person and an unjustifiable expense. The correct plan is different.

1. One investment piece per person, for Lakshmi Puja. This is where the money goes, and it should be something that will still be worn at weddings for years afterwards.
2. Two mid-range sets per person, restyled across the other four days with different dupattas, jackets and jewellery.
3. Accessories as the variable. Dupattas, jackets, jewellery and footwear are what make a repeated base read as a new outfit, and they cost a fraction of a new set.

Coordinating the family without matching

Matching outfits across a family read as a costume. Coordinating them reads as considered.

Pick a palette rather than a colour, two or three shades that sit well together, and let each person wear a different piece within it. Gold and ivory with a single accent colour is a reliable and photogenic combination. Everyone in identical royal blue is not.

Buy in the first half of October

Sizes disappear, alteration queues lengthen, and delivery timelines stretch as the festival approaches. Ordering three weeks out rather than three days out is the difference between wearing what you chose and wearing whatever was still in stock.

Related reading

• Navratri Colour Guide: Nine Days, Nine Looks Festive & Occasion
• How to Wash and Store Embroidered Kurta Sets So They Last for Years Fabric & Care
• Petite, Tall or Plus: How to Pick a Kurta Length That Works for You Style Guides