This Rakshabandhan, the sibling bond is being celebrated with a personalised touch on rakhis and gifts. Going by the latest trend, handmade gifts and rakhis are the flavour of the festival and so are the rakhis with popular cartoon characters like Pokemon, Minions and Chhota Bheem. Shopkeepers say these rakhis are the most popular kinds this year and are selling out as fast as they can get them.
Interestingly, even those who have brothers in other cities are going for handpicked rakhis and packaging them with personalised gifts and messages instead of opting for online rakhi gifting solutions.
New trend
Yashwant Parekh of Darling’s Paradise said “Personalised gifts like mugs with the picture of brothers are a new trend this season. This apart, boutique rakhis that are creatively made by home-based enterprises are quite popular this year. “These are different from the regular rakhi patterns and come with ‘gota’ work and kundans,” he added. Other new trends in the markets included lumbas, a sort of cousin of the rakhi meant for ‘bhabis’ (sisters-in-law) and can be tied with a thread to bangles, a popular festive custom among Rajasthani and Marwari families. City stores like Archies Gallery and Darling’s Paradise have stocked a collection of Lumba rakhis.
3D rakhis
The concept of 3D rakhis has entered the market for the first time this year. These give a much personalised touch to the rakhis. You can either get the name of your brother 3D printed on rakhis or print a short message on the rakhi denoting your love for him. These 3D printed rakhis need to be pre-ordered as the making of these is a time-taking process. Rachita Gupta of SG Think 3D completed 50 orders of 3D printed rakhis this year. “These give a unique personalised feel to the rakhis and can be used later too in many ways,” said Rachita who has her 3D enterprise at sector-1 of MVP Colony. The rakhis are priced below Rs 300.
Prakash Jain of Archies Gallery said the sale of rakhis and Rakshabandhan gifts have gone up by 30 per cent this year as compared to last year. “This year, we have seen a good demand for exclusive handmade rakhis which are camera shaped or have mini playing cards and calculators on them. These serve as a dual purpose of a rakhi as well as gift,” he said. Handmade chocolate rakhis have made a comeback this year.
Trishla Hirawat, who has a home based enterprise, said homemade rakhi boxes and decorated trays were a hit this season. “I completed over 30 orders of Rakshabandhan gifts and rakhis. Since it is a time taking process to make these, I take limited orders,” she added. Her rakhi special boxes were decorated with handmade flowers and papers.
Spreading the message of universal brotherhood and peace, Brahmakumaris will tie rakhis to the Central Prison inmates on Thursday.
