City likes its X’mas sparkly and plastic

BENGALURU: While we have taken leaps towards green Ganesha festival, we still like our Christmas shiny and sparkling in plastic.Sindhu Rakesh, who, along with Usha Girish, runs one of the oldest shops and largest wholesalers of Christmas decorations in the city, says that there is a negligible amount of people opting for paper baubles or trees. Sapthagiri Party Shop, which has been around for nine years on 6th Cross, Wilson Garden, supplies the season’s decorations to the entire state.Philip Boward, who runs Party Mania, too says that maybe “one in a hundred customers” ask for paper baubles.

“There is the crepe paper rolls, but it is tedious to cut them and stick them… tinsel decor, which sells the most, is easy and looks shiny”. He adds that paper decor does not last long too.“You can maybe keep them for a day, whereas people usually keep their Christmas decor for a few years and maybe even pass it on later,” says Boward. So, tinsel and plastic make better sense. Sindhu says, “We keep cut-outs of paper trees that can be stuck on walls, but these are not meant to be kept for long… maybe a day. Also you cannot really decorate these trees much.”

Christmas is big now, with malls and schools joining in, and these new revelers want their trees big and sturdy. These are best made with synthetic material and metal. Sapthagiri, which also sells decorations for parties and other festivals, keeps trees of varied heights from 1 ft to 20 ft. “When malls want taller ones, like of 30 ft, we stand a metal rod and wrap creepers around it to form a tree,” she says. These creepers are usually made of plastic and even Philip says that, after tinsel baubles, these sell the most.

“Small paper trees are usually custom-made by individuals,” says Sindhu. There are small crafters in city who make paper decor like Crafty JC.This small community is part of the subtle and slow change that is setting in, for a greener celebration. Sindhu says, “over the last two years, we are getting more enquiries for paper decorations”. In Koramangala’s Party Manao too the sales staff has noticed a change in customer tastes. One staffer says that few people, the “younger clientele”, do specifically ask for paper decor.