Do • Serve your guests vodka-spiked jelly shots • Create makeshift swimming pools to dunk people in • Keep a stock of Bollywood beats ready, right from Silsila to Baghban to Waqt Don’t • Bother with too many accessories and colourful clothes • Serve heavy and cumbersome food

Holi party, with all its rustic charm and rib-tickling fun, is revelry redefined ? desi style. No foreign hip hop, no ultra-cool couture, no aromatic candles and certainly no delicate French patisserie. Instead, come home to the jhatak of Bollywood, the good ol’ thandai and the soothing white ethnics.

Here’s how GoodLife recommends you put together a perfect outdoor Holi bash.

Decor drama

The natural burst of colours at this festival makes up for most decor dilemmas, but a little extra attention to details is always welcome.

Go all out with traditional elements like vibrant kites and blossoming flowers. Event designer Vinod Bhandari suggests lining the entrance with multi-coloured gulal, heaped in cane baskets.

Create a couple of makeshift swimming pools to dunk all your guests in ? willing or unwilling. Stock huge tubs along with all the other buckets in the house on one side, leaving the rest of the floor space for unhindered fun.

Don’t forget to stock up on pichkaris of various sizes and shapes; make them an inherent part of the decor. Water balloons big and small, along with hosepipes, also help create the perfect Holi set-up.

Theme-based Holi, rain-dance style or Disco Holi, is common these days,” says Vinod.

Sip ’n’ bite

It’s only natural to work up an appetite after the entire morning’s running and dodging, chasing and grappling, but the menu this day is best kept short and sweet. Restaurateur Naveen Pai suggests a mix of traditional treats and innovative fare.

“Holi is incomplete without an array of chaats,” says Naveen. Enter, a host of mouth-watering delights, right from palak patti chaat to a more exciting range of newer ones like pesto-coriander potato chaat.

A light, snacky menu is recommended to keep both the hosts out of the kitchen and the revellers on their toes. “Add some savouries like corn and cheese samosas and khasta kachoris and pakodas,” adds Naveen.

The sweet tooth should also be pampered with tradition and trend.

So, serve malpuas and pantuas but don’t forget the liquor chocolate mousse and fruity tarts.

A well-stocked bar is a must to rock a Holi party. Pile it on with generous lines of thandai and spiked badaam sherbat. Another great idea, says Naveen, is to freeze vodka jelly shots.

“Add a few drops of vodka to the jelly and serve it as a welcome shot to all the guests.” Choose the jelly flavours from kala khatta, khus khus and rose or be adventurous and go for strawberry crush with orange rind.

Vinod Bhandari also recommends stationing your very own paanwalla? chances are, someone will surely want to do a Big B.

Music mania

No Holi bash is complete without a run of the Rang barse number from Silsila.

Live dhol or daphli, DJ or your portable musical system, melody magic is a must at every Holi party.

DJ Girish of Shisha fame says one flavour of the season is the Marwari folk number fused with a strong dhap background. “For Holi, many like to go back to the rhythm of the roots,” feels Girish.

so toss in a generous dose of commercial Bolly fare. Here are Girish’s pop picks for a Holi bash ? remixed or otherwise.

Do me a favour, let’s play Holi

Rang barse

Holi khele raghuveera

Holi ke din dil khil jaate hain

White wear

owy white salwar kurta, a fitted white tee, a cool white shirt, a white linen kurti? whatever the silhouette or cut, it just has to be white.

Says designer Shantanu Goenka: “You anyway end up being super colourful, so just play it down with a clean white ensemble.”

The fabrics can we varied, right from sensual chiffons to thicker cottons.

Shantanu recommends a sturdy pair of white denims or even the regular blue. “Maybe you can get the blue jeans treated after playing so that the coloured patches remain.”

The accessories should be kept to the minimum but definitely not ignored.

Shantanu feels metallics go best at this messy bash since glass bangles aren’t exactly the safest things to don.

“For women, the style to sport is very 60s ? short, tight and sleeveless kurta with a little dupatta.”

The men folk can live it up with their old kurtas or shirts.