Is it safe to light candles in the office for Diwali? Ask the building first, light one spot, and give one person the jobIs it safe to light candles in the office for Diwali? Ask the building first, light one spot, and give one person the job

The answer depends on your building, not on the candle

Lighting candles in an office for Diwali can be safe, but only after one question: does your building allow open flames? Tech parks, malls, co-working spaces and many high-rise offices have their own fire rules, and some ban flames on the floor outright. Smoke detectors over a reception can set off an alarm for the whole tower. So before anyone buys a diya, ask your admin team or the building's facility manager. If the answer is no, the candles stay unlit. If the answer is yes, the rest of this page is how to do it well.

Five habits for a safe office Diwali flame

1. One spot, not every desk. Light candles only at the puja, the reception or one display, where people pass all the time. Desks, cubicles and pantries stay flame-free.
2. One person in charge. Name someone, usually from admin, who lights the candles, stays nearby and puts them out. A candle that belongs to everyone is watched by no one.
3. A short window. Light them for the puja or the celebration hour, and put them out before people go back to work or leave. Keep each burn to 3 to 4 hours at most.
4. A clear, heat-proof base. A brass or steel thali on a stable table, away from paper torans, curtains, flower garlands and the rangoli powder.
5. Fewer flames than you think. Six diyas on a thali look festive in a reception. Thirty tealights down a corridor are a risk and a job to clean.

Trim each wick to about 5 mm before lighting, and never leave a lit candle in an empty room.

Wax diya or oil diya at the office

In an office, a wax candle shaped as a diya has a practical edge over clay diyas with oil: no oil to top up, nothing to spill on the carpet, and nothing to carry back to the pantry afterwards. Options people buy, by kind:

• Clay diyas with oil or ghee from a local market: traditional and cheap, messy indoors.
• LED diyas and fairy lights from electrical stores and marketplaces: the answer when flames are banned.
• Wax-filled diyas and tealights from candle makers: tidy and festive.
• Raajkosh, Jalandhar: Diya Candles, Rs 449 for six terracotta-red diyas with a carved lattice rim, filled with soy wax; Sunflower Tealights, Rs 449 for ten in clear cups that hold the melt; and the Lotus Candle, Rs 349, as the centre of a puja thali.

What to do under each building rule

Our shaped candles look finished unlit, so in a no-flame office they are still decor, not a wasted buy. For a reception thali with both diyas and a lotus centre, the two together come to Rs 798 at shop prices; add Rs 79 delivery below Rs 999, or add a pack of tealights to ship free.

We hold no commercial fire safety certification, and these are decorative candles. The building's rules decide.

If the company is also giving candles to the team

Many offices pair the decoration with a Diwali gift for each employee. For that, Raajkosh takes corporate orders from 10 gifts, with no minimum order value: logo on the gift tag, the note card or a wax seal, a GST invoice, delivery to one office or every address across India, and prepaid payment as set out in the quote. Branding and lead time are confirmed in the quote. Branded gifts are not returnable unless damaged, defective or wrong. Details: Raajkosh corporate gifting: minimum order, logo and GST. The site banner says "Order by 4 November for Diwali delivery"; check the delivery estimate for your pincode on the product page.

When candles should stay out of the office altogether

If your building bans flames and you do not want unlit decor, go with LED diyas, marigold torans and rangoli. If your Diwali event is crowded and nobody can be spared to watch a flame, skip the lighting. And if the office has small children visiting for a family day, keep any flame high and out of reach, or do without.

Get the office Diwali sorted

Order the puja set from raajkosh.com/occasions/diwali. For team gifts, ask for a quote at raajkosh.com/corporate or WhatsApp +91 85958 24586.