Pongal, Makar Sankranti & Lohri Corporate Gifts: One January Programme for Pan-India Teams

Lohri, Sankranti and Pongal fall in the same January week. Run one programme: a common branded kit, regional cards and add-ons, and mockups approved by mid-December.

Published:: 19 October 2026

Lohri, Makar Sankranti and Pongal fall within the same few days in January 2027, so a company with teams in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai can run one harvest-festival gifting programme instead of three. The short answer is to pick one branded base kit for everyone, change the greeting card and one or two add-ons by region, and approve your mockups by mid-December so gifts land before offices close. This guide covers the 2027 dates, kit choices, the rules for gourmet add-ons and a working timeline.

One week, three festivals: Lohri, Sankranti and Pongal dates for 2027

The exact dates depend on which panchang your teams follow. Treat the list below as a planning guide, and check each state's holiday list before you fix delivery dates.

- Lohri and Bhogi: Thursday, 14 January 2027, according to Divine Hindu. We found only this one source for the date.

- Makar Sankranti: According to Wikipedia, the sun enters Makara at 21:09 IST on 14 January 2027. That is after sunset, so Divine Hindu and Prokerala place the observance on Friday, 15 January. Samvat.in lists Thursday, 14 January instead, and Bhaktiras notes that the sankranti moment straddles both days.

- Thai Pongal and Uttarayan: Friday, 15 January, according to Divine Hindu (single source).

- Mattu Pongal: Saturday, 16 January, from the same single source.

In practice, offices across the country may be closed or short-staffed at some point between 14 and 16 January. Pongal is also not a one-day event. Bhogi, Thai Pongal and Mattu Pongal run back to back, so Tamil Nadu teams may be away for longer than colleagues elsewhere.

Sankranti is not only a southern and western festival either. Divine Hindu lists Maghi, Khichdi, Magh Bihu and Poush Sankranti alongside it, which means teams in the north and east are celebrating in the same window.

Why one January programme beats three separate orders

Many HR and admin teams handle January the same way they handled Diwali: each region raises its own request, picks its own gift and chases its own vendor. That approach triples the effort and produces three different brand experiences.

A single programme gives you:

- One mockup approval for the shared items, instead of three rounds of feedback.

- One production run of 7–10 business days after approval, rather than staggered timelines.

- Combined quantities for bulk pricing. On most products the discount is 3 % at 25+ units, 5 % at 50+, 7 % at 100+ and 10 % at 200+. For example, 60 kits for Delhi, 80 for Chennai and 70 for Ahmedabad, placed as one order, add up to 210 of each shared item. That reaches the top tier on eligible products.

- One GST invoice to reconcile, instead of three.

The regional touch comes from the card and the add-ons, not from changing the whole kit. If you are already planning other festive orders, our festive gifting hub shows how the same approach works across the year.

Building the common base kit for harvest festival gifts

A good base kit for January has two jobs. It has to make sense on a cold Delhi evening and a mild Chennai morning, and it has to carry your logo neatly. Drinkware plus a natural carry bag covers both.

Start with insulated drinkware

Hot drinks are part of the season everywhere, so an insulated flask is an easy anchor. The Stainless Steel Vacuum Flask Set with 3 Cup suits a festival built around family and sharing. The cups make it useful at a Lohri bonfire, a Pongal breakfast or a terrace on Uttarayan. The logo is applied by laser or UV printing on the steel.

Product Card: Stainless Steel Vacuum Flask Set with 3 Cup

If you want a more personal piece, the Coffee Travel Double-Wall Thermos Flask is a single-person option that people carry to work long after the festival.

Add a carry bag that fits the harvest theme

The Natural Jute Bag works as both the gift wrap and a gift in its own right. Jute feels right for a harvest festival, it holds the flask and the add-ons, and people reuse it for groceries or the office. The logo is applied by DTF printing.

Product Card: Natural Jute Bag

Keep the base identical in every region. That way the shared items qualify for one quantity tier and one approval.

Regional tweaks without splitting the order

Once the base is fixed, change only what needs to change. Two layers usually do the job: the greeting card and one regional add-on.

Lohri in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi NCR: warm drinkware for cold evenings

Lohri evenings in the north are cold, and people gather around a bonfire. Teams here appreciate a second warm item, such as a single-person thermos on top of the shared flask set, or a branded hoodie like the one in the Winter Festive Pack below. If your northern headcount is large, our Delhi corporate gifting page has more on gifting for NCR teams.

Pongal in Tamil Nadu: plan around a multi-day festival

Because Pongal runs from Bhogi through Thai Pongal to Mattu Pongal, aim to deliver before Bhogi rather than on the main day. A dry fruit add-on and a card with a Pongal greeting are usually enough to make the kit feel specific to the festival without changing the base.

Sankranti and Uttarayan across the west, south, north and east

In Gujarat, Uttarayan is a kite-flying day, and teams often spend it on the terrace with family. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana celebrate Sankranti, and offices in the north and east may mark Maghi, Khichdi, Magh Bihu or Poush Sankranti. Check whether each office observes the 14th or the 15th, because calendars differ. A shared flask set and a regional card cover all of them.

Gourmet add-ons for a Pongal gift hamper: the rules

Food turns a branded kit into a festive hamper, and January is a natural time for dry fruits. The Premium Dry Fruits - 400g and Panchmeva - Dry Fruits Mix are two natural choices for a pongal gift hamper for corporate teams. You can see the rest of the gourmet range online.

Three rules apply, and they affect how you plan the order:

- Gourmet items are add-ons. They are sold only together with at least one other product, so you cannot order dry fruits on their own. In a January programme this is rarely a problem because the flask or bag is already in the kit. Candles and packaging follow the same add-on rule.

- No bulk discount on gourmet. The quantity discounts that apply to most products do not apply to food items. A hamper of 300 units still pays list price for the dry fruits, while the flask and bag earn the discount for their tier.

- Packs are priced item by item. When you order a ready-made pack, each item is priced on its own. Eligible items get the bulk discount, and gourmet items stay at list price.

Ask us for the best-before date and label details for the batch you are buying, especially if gifts will sit in a mailroom during the holidays. The gourmet range is mainly built on nuts and dry fruits. For employees with nut allergies, the simplest option is a non-food version of the kit with the same flask, bag and card.

Regional greeting cards and message text

The card does most of the regional work. The Greeting Card - 4"X6" is digitally printed, so the design can carry your logo, a festival illustration and a short message from leadership.

A practical approach:

- Write one core message in English that works for all three festivals, such as thanks for the year and good wishes for the harvest season.

- Add a festival-specific greeting line for each region: Lohri for the north, Pongal for Tamil Nadu, Sankranti or Uttarayan for the south and west.

- If you want the greeting in Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi or Gujarati script, ask us before you finalise the design. We will confirm what can be printed and include it in the mockup.

- Send final text as an editable file, and have a native speaker on your team check the mockup. Do not rely on unchecked machine translation for a message that carries your company's name.

Tell us early if you need different card versions within one order, so we can confirm whether and how each version can be matched to its delivery address.

Two ready-made packs that suit a January harvest programme

If you would rather not build from scratch, two of our festive packs already combine branded items with gourmet and candle add-ons, so the add-on rule is met automatically.

The Festive Warm Swag Pack pairs a branded mug and steel bottle with a scented candle, dry fruits and chocolate in a magnetic gift box with a greeting card. It works well as a single pan-India kit in the ₹1,500–₹2,000 band.

Product Card: Festive Warm Swag Pack

The Winter Festive Pack adds a branded hoodie, an insulated bottle and a tumbler to dry fruits, a candle and a card. It is the stronger choice for Lohri teams in the north, or for a programme where everyone gets a warm wearable. It sits in the ₹2,000–₹3,000 band.

Product Card: Winter Festive Pack

You can compare these with the other options on our preset packs page. If you want the flask set, jute bag and a regional add-on combined your way, use Build Your Box to put together a custom kit and see it priced item by item.

Shipping harvest festival gifts to many offices and homes

We ship pan-India from Ahmedabad. After production, delivery usually takes 2–4 business days by air and 5–9 business days by surface. Express is available only on selected items, so ask us if your dates are tight rather than assuming it.

To keep a multi-city order simple:

- Send one delivery sheet with each office address, contact person, phone number, headcount and card version.

- If some employees work from home, list their addresses separately, and ask us how the split will be handled before you approve.

- Allow for reception and mailroom closures around 14–16 January. A kit that arrives on the holiday itself may sit unopened until the following week.

GST invoices and pricing for mixed hampers

Every listed price includes standard logo branding and excludes GST, and every order comes with a GST invoice. GST rates on food and gift items are revised from time to time, and the rate on a hamper that mixes food with a flask or bag can depend on how the supply is classified. Our GST guide for corporate gifts explains the questions to ask. Your CA should confirm the treatment for your company before you set the budget.

If GST matters to the per-head figure, ask for your quote both with and without the gourmet add-ons. You can then see how food changes the total before you decide.

Order timeline from early December for January delivery

Working backwards, a sensible target is to have kits at every office by about 11–12 January. That is our planning estimate, and it leaves a buffer before the 14–16 January holidays. Here is how December 2026 can look:

- 1–4 December: Confirm headcount by region, choose the base kit and the budget band, and decide which regions get which add-on.

- 7–9 December: Share logo files, card text in each language and the delivery sheet, and check logo placement on the products.

- By Friday, 11 December: Approve the digital mockups. Production starts only after approval.

- Last week of December: Production of 7–10 business days completes, depending on the items and holidays.

- 28 December to early January: Surface dispatch reaches most cities within 5–9 business days, and air within 2–4.

- By 11–12 January: Kits arrive, and local teams have time to distribute them before Lohri.

The Christmas and New Year week slows approvals on the buyer's side, so do not leave sign-off until then. If you miss the 11 December mark, switch to air delivery or ask us whether express is possible on your chosen items.

Ready to plan your January programme? Request a quote through our contact page with your headcount by city, or try your logo on the flask set and jute bag in Mockup Studio first. If you want to share options with your team, download the catalogue.

Frequently asked questions

When should we order Pongal and Lohri gifts for January 2027?

Start in the first week of December and approve mockups by about 11 December. Production takes 7–10 business days after approval, and surface delivery takes another 5–9 business days. That timeline gets kits to offices by around 11–12 January, before the 14–16 January holidays.

Can we order only dry fruits for the festival?

No. Gourmet items, candles and packaging are sold only together with at least one other product. Most buyers pair the dry fruits with a branded flask, bottle or jute bag, which also gives the gift a lasting reminder of your company.

Why don't dry fruits get a bulk discount?

Gourmet food items are not part of our quantity discount structure. Most other products get 3 % at 25+ units, rising to 10 % at 200+, but food stays at list price. Packs are priced item by item, so the branded items in a pack still earn their discount.

Can the greeting card differ by region in one order?

Ask us when you plan the order. Send the text for each version and the matching delivery addresses early, and we will confirm the setup before production. For Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi or Gujarati script, check with us first and have a native speaker review the mockup.

What GST applies to a harvest festival hamper?

It depends on what the hamper contains and how the supply is classified.