Navratri 2025: Festive feast planning made easy with 6 steps that simplify your host duties this puja

Add this checklist so that your host duties feel like a breeze this festive season. From preparing dishes to table arrangement, know all the essentials here.

The festive season means fun get-togethers with family and friends, featuring lavish feasts that make your guests gasp in awe at how you were able to pull it off. No desi festive season is complete without a gastronomic indulgence that leaves you in a food coma. Truth be told, that's a secret wish of every host, where guests gush over your ‘magic,’ marvelling at your menu.

Make sure your festive feast goes well with this planning checklist. (PC: IKEA)

While yes, culinary skills are essential to bring the flavours to life, the missing piece to the puzzle of organising a festive feast is meticulous planning.

The feast may be a breeze with guests cleaning their plates, licking their fingers in minutes and asking for scoops on the family recipe; in the end, it's the steps you follow that tie it all together effortlessly with a precise, cohesive vibe.

To decode the pre-planning of a festive feast, Jasmeet Sood, country home furnishing and retail design manager at IKEA India, told HT Lifestyle about the process that goes on behind the scenes.

Speaking about how festive feasts are all about the wholesome experience in the kitchen while planning the dishes, Jasmeet shared, “In India, food is the true joy that brings every festival alive. Be it recreating generational recipes or trying hands on new ones, having favourites on the menu or something for all, it’s the kitchen that is the heart where all celebrations truly begin. From the hours spent prepping, marinating, and chopping, to serving hearty meals on a beautifully set table - every moment matters. The laughter over food, the connection found while cleaning, even the quiet act of storing and sharing leftovers - these simple rituals are what truly hold families together. ”

A successful feast planning can be made stress-free when you follow a checklist.

Here are the 6 steps she shared with us:

1. Prepping

Chop all the veggies and keep them prepared before hand. (PC: IKEA)

Your feast prep begins even before the first dish hits the stove. It's a mess to cook and chop simultaneously. A basic groundwork, like chopping veggies and arranging the cookware, helps. Jasmeet also confirmed this, as she said, “Start with a clear plan. Chop and store ingredients in advance, and keep your kitchen counters uncluttered so you have space to work.”

This way, you are not scrambling around in the kitchen with panic (and pulling your hair), chopping veggies unevenly, rummaging for cookware and haphazardly putting it on the stove (not to mention the fire hazards!). All in all, very anxiety-inducing if you don't prepare in advance. It is better to pre-chop and arrange the necessary cookware before you start cooking.

2. Cooking

You may brag about your multitasking prowess to your guests when you shower them with compliments, but in the kitchen, multitasking requires strategy. Spontaneous multitasking may feel cool, but the unanticipated errors may take you back to square one. In cooking, your cookware choice helps to multitask.

Jasmeet emphasised using versatile cookware to speed up. She added, “Use versatile cookware and organise your utensils so everything you need is within easy reach. This reduces stress when you’re multitasking in the kitchen.”

3. Serving

Now comes the plating arrangement. Make sure it looks organised. Jasmeet highlighted ‘flow’ as one of the main features of a good table arrangement. She noted, “Place dishes in a way that’s easy to access and keeps the table looking inviting. Small touches in presentation can make simple meals feel festive.”

4. Eating

When seating arrangment is good, the experience of eating becomes much better. (PC: IKEA)

How they eat may seem the guest's job, but you cannot let down your host duty yet after cooking, as the eating experience is not confined to only making the dishes. Jasmeet noted that it's also the seating arrangement that defines the moment. She said, “Create a comfortable setting with enough seating and a table arrangement that allows everyone to feel included in the conversation.”

5. Cleaning

One of the most dreaded host duties? Cleaning up after your guests leave. How do you keep this anxiety at bay? By not procrastinating. Jasmeet highlighted that one should ‘clean as you go.’ She further said, “Have a system for separating waste and set up a drying area so you don’t end up with a pile of dishes at the end.”

6. Storing and organising

Leftovers are inevitable, no matter how many times your guests ask for more servings; somehow, food is left behind. And as you clean up, you see the Jenga-like pile of storage boxes with leftovers that you need to stuff in the fridge. Sounds eerily daunting? So what's the hack to stay organised so that your fridge does not turn into your wardrobe (a blackhole of unrecognisable clothes)

Jasmeet revealed a useful tip, “Label and store leftovers in a way that makes them easy to spot. A little organisation in the fridge can save time and reduce food waste.”