Diwali 2027 is on 29 October: a sweet-box ordering calendar working back from Dhanteras

Diwali 2027 falls on Friday, 29 October. Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November. So the 2027 festival arrives ten days earlier than the 2026 one.

Ten days sounds small. It is not, if your ordering dates live in the old diary. Copy them across and you will be ten days late at every step, from the first artwork to the last corporate dispatch.

Here is the short answer. Work back from Dhanteras on Wednesday, 27 October 2027, because that is when gift boxes start leaving your shop in numbers. And plan for every Diwali box, insert and outer carton to be in your store room by Thursday, 16 September 2027. Pitru Paksha begins that day, and the fortnight that follows is the last quiet stretch before Navratri on 30 September.

Checked against official sources on 28 October 2026.

I run Jagannath Polymers in Jaipur, where we have made packaging since 1997. We make tape, films and paper packaging, and our sister company, Jagannath Labels, prints labels. The mithai box itself usually comes from a box maker. So this calendar covers your whole packaging list. Some of it we sell, and most of it we do not.

You will notice there is no supplier lead time anywhere in it. That is deliberate. Every box maker quotes differently, and the time promised in July is not always the time delivered in September. Get the time from each supplier in writing and put it into the worksheet further down.

Which dates matter for a sweet shop in Diwali 2027?

Here is the stretch from Navratri to Chhath, as we would pin it above the counter. I took the dates from the Government of India holiday list for 2027 (DoPT office memorandum of 16 July 2026) and from the 2027 Drikpanchang calendar for New Delhi. The first day of Navratri, Ahoi Ashtami and Dhanteras come from Drikpanchang alone, because the holiday list does not carry them.

One regional note. The Gujarati calendar on Drikpanchang shows Lakshmi Puja on 28 October. If your customers follow it, check with your local pandit before you fix your rush days.

Why is Diwali ten days earlier in 2027?

The Hindu calendar follows the moon, and a lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year. To catch up, an extra month (the Adhik Maas) is added roughly once every three years. 2026 had one, an extra Jyeshtha in May and June, and it pushed every later festival back. That is why Navratri 2026 began as late as 11 October.

Drikpanchang shows no extra month in 2027. So the autumn festivals move forward again: Navratri on 30 September, Dussehra on 9 October, Diwali on 29 October.

Why I would count back from 16 September, not from 29 October

Most planning sheets put the festival date at the bottom and work upwards. I agree with the method. For 2027 I would change the bottom line.

Look at what your counter is doing in the ten weeks before Diwali:

1. Raksha Bandhan on Tuesday 17 August, then Janmashtami on Wednesday 25 August.
2. Ganesh Chaturthi on Saturday 4 September.
3. Pitru Paksha from Thursday 16 September to Wednesday 29 September.
4. Navratri from 30 September, Dussehra on 9 October and Karwa Chauth on 18 October.
5. Then Dhanteras, Diwali and Bhai Dooj, from 27 to 31 October.

Pitru Paksha is the only stretch in that list with no gifting festival. Many families avoid celebrations and new purchases during the shraddh fortnight, so the gift counter slows down. We think this makes it the right time to receive boxes, count them, fill a few with real sweets, fix what is wrong and train the extra hands.

After 30 September, there is no quiet day left.

A box problem found in Navratri week gets solved with whatever is on the shelf. So I would make 16 September the "boxes in store" date and count every supplier's time back from it.

The 2027 calendar, week by week

These are the latest dates we would accept for our own decisions if we ran a sweet shop. They are not supplier lead times. If the written time from your box maker does not fit between your print approval and 16 September, move the early rows earlier. Do not move the 16 September row later.

A top-up after Dussehra should be plain boxes, sleeves, tape and labels. A new printed design ordered in October is unlikely to reach you before Dhanteras, so we would not try it.

Work out your own print-approval date

We would do this on paper, with the written answers from your suppliers in front of us:

1. Start from 16 September 2027.
2. Subtract the transport time from the box maker to your shop.
3. Subtract the production time at the box maker for your quantity in the festive season. A time quoted for a quiet month does not count.
4. Subtract a buffer of your own for a delayed board delivery or a reprint. I would never plan with zero.
5. The date you reach is the last day to sign the printed proof. Subtract the proof and sample time from it to find the day your brief must go out.

If that brief date falls after Raksha Bandhan, bring it forward to before 17 August anyway. In Rakhi week, nobody at your counter has the time to check a proof properly.

What should change on the box itself for 2027?

We would check three things before the artwork goes:

1. The label panel. Every Diwali 2027 box will be printed after 1 July 2027, when an FSSAI labelling amendment comes into force. It mostly touches bulk containers and small packs, but sugar-free boxes get new sweetener wording. Our guide to the FSSAI labelling changes on 1 July 2027 goes through it.
2. The closure. The FSSAI advisory of 12 June 2026 took staple pins off sweet and cake boxes, so the box needs a closure that is designed in. See closing sweet boxes without staple pins.
3. The year. Do not print "2027" on the box. Put the year, if you want it, on a sleeve or a sticker. Then a leftover box can sell at the next festival instead of sitting in the godown.

For box types, inserts and the sample test itself, our gift box planning guide has the method.

Tape, liners and the small things

The small items run out first: tape, seal labels, butter paper, paper cups, carry bags, outer cartons for courier, and date and batch labels. Nobody plans them because they are cheap. Then they stop the packing table on Dhanteras afternoon.

Order them in the first half of September, so they arrive in the same Pitru Paksha window as the boxes. We sell tape, so read this with that in mind: I would rather you carry a few extra rolls into November than run out on 28 October.

Courier orders need their own outer cartons and their own cut-off dates. Our guide on how to ship sweets and cakes covers the parcel.

Storage when the boxes arrive in September

The 2027 boxes will arrive in the second half of September, when many cities are still humid after the monsoon. Board takes up moisture. A carton of boxes that sits on a damp floor for a month will not close crisply on Dhanteras.

We would keep the stock raised on pallets or planks, covered and away from the kitchen steam. Open one bundle from each lot on the day it arrives and close a few boxes by hand. If the flaps feel soft or the creases crack, we would tell the supplier that week, while there is still time to replace them.

Staff: three dates we would put on the roster

1. Train the extra hands during Pitru Paksha. By 30 September they should already know the packing line.
2. Diwali falls on a Friday. So Dhanteras on Wednesday to Bhai Dooj on Sunday is five straight days of heavy trade, ending in a weekend. Plan shifts, meals and rest for all five.
3. Chhath Puja falls on Thursday, 4 November. If some of your karigars or packers go home for it, they will want to leave soon after Bhai Dooj. Ask them now, not on 1 November.

What to do now, during Diwali 2026

This guide goes up a few days before Diwali 2026. The best data for your 2027 plan is the rush you are about to have, so keep a notebook at the counter from Dhanteras (6 November 2026) to Bhai Dooj (11 November 2026). Write down:

1. Boxes sold each day, by size.
2. The day, and roughly the hour, each size ran out.
3. Every box that came back crushed, opened or with a loose lid, and why.
4. The date each supplier promised, and the date they actually delivered.
5. Leftover stock by size after Bhai Dooj.
6. Corporate orders that arrived late, and how late.

In July 2027, open that notebook and shift each autumn date about ten days earlier as you copy it into the new plan.

Which box size ran out first at your counter last year? Watch that one closely this Diwali. I would start the 2027 count with it.