How To Fundraise With Colour Powder
Here at Ministry of Colours we want you to make the most of your fundraising event so here are some tips that we have gathered over the years that might help.
Firstly, you’ll need a method to collect the donations, our sister company Care Fundraising Supplies has a selection of charity collection items in a variety of colours and sizes. All can be provided with bespoke labels to your specific event.
Think about offering plain white t-shirts to wear during the event. These are ideal as your participants can protect their own clothes and also have a colourful reminder of their day. Remember to tell everyone that the colours wash out of most materials, but to avoid wearing their new shiny, white trainers!
Although our colour powder is very safe, eye protection is recommended and can also be an opportunity to raise extra funds. We have a range of great value sunglasses and sun visors that are very popular to sell on the day too.
Medals go down well too - these are bespoke medals that need ordering in advance, but we have our standard colour run medals in stock that are a great addition.
Offer a selection of fun and colourful accessories to continue the theme; headbands, wristbands and flower garlands are all extra fundraising ideas that are easily available from us that boost your fundraising efforts. We find that the dressing up aspect is almost as important as the colour powder.
Most importantly, have a great time.
Party safely!
My First Holi Festival
POV: A Yorkshireman At Holi
As a relatively uncultured Yorkshireman, I had no idea what to expect when I was stationed to work at the UK’s largest Holi Festival at Beaver Works in Leeds. Now most festivals I have attended in the past have a ‘no mess’ policy, but not this one! At Holi you are encouraged to make as much mess as possible with safe and natural powders that come in 7 vibrant colours. Celebrating my first Holi festival was an exciting and colorful experience filled with joy and tradition. One that will be remembered forever. I soon found out that Holi was more than just a party, it’s a time for friends and family to forget differences and come together in a spirit of unity and love.
Holi, also known as the festival of colors, is a Hindu festival originally celebrated in India but now celebrated all over the world. It marks the arrival of spring and signifies the victory of good over evil in Hindu mythology. During Holi, people come together to play with vibrant colored powders, known as gulal, creating a beautiful kaleidoscope of hues. Each colour at Holi represents something different:
- Red symbolises love and passion and is the most beloved color during Holi.
- Yellow is the sacred colour of India.
- Blue is a symbol of courage, love, calm, and serenity.
- Green holds the essence of energy, new beginnings, harvest, and hope in Hindu culture.
- Pink is a favorite colour for girls and women, and it is seen as the most attractive and energetic color.
- In Hinduism, the colour orange symbolises the sacral chakra, the energy center related to sexuality and self-awareness.
- Purple is always connected to royalty, wealth, and power in India.
Thankfully, I was prewarned to join in the festivities by wearing budget sunglasses to protect my eyes, and old garments that I didn’t mind getting stained with colours. Lucky, I also managed to narrowly avoid wearing the Sequin Rainbow Skirt I was told all first-time Ministry of Colours employees must wear… I did settle with a Leis, however. I instantly saw that Holi is a time to let go of inhibitions and within the first few minutes of opening, I was covered from head to toe in colours. Mostly purple, which must have been a mistake as my attributes don’t tend to signify royalty, wealth and power. I then got to tuck into some traditional sweets like gujiyas and thandai that are also enjoyed during this festive occasion. These delicious treats will certainly be making their way onto my shopping list in the near future.
Ministry of Colours in the News
In the two months since the launch of the new Ministry of Colours website and colour powder products we've been had some great interest from the regional and national press.
We've had a lovely article written for us by the Huddersfield Examiner. You can read the full article online on their website
How Much Colour Powder Do I Need?
What is Holi Festival? – The Top 10 questions on Google answered by our experts
- What is Holi Festival? Holi is a Hindu spring festival originally celebrated across India and Nepal. As Hinduism has spread across the globe, so has the Holi Festival. Also called the Festival of Colours, events are normally held around the start of March each year to celebrate the coming of spring.
- When is the Holi Festival in 2018? Holi Festival takes place around March 2nd 2018. Colourful events will take place globally around this time. The 2019 date is March 21.
- Why is colour powder used as part of the Holi Festival of Colours? The clue is in the name. Thought originally to be part of banishing away the winter blues and celebrating the start of spring, the throwing of colour powder has become synonymous with Holi festivities.
- What is Holi colour powder made from? Originally pigment made from natural plant-based dyes like turmeric was mixed with corn starch to create the dried colour powder. Now a global phenomenon, the demand for colour powder means that modern manufacturing processes have been introduced to meet stringent safety standards and vast quantities required. We alone sold 60 tonnes of colour powder in 2016.
- How do I make my own Holi powder? There’s no secret recipe, it’s just corn starch and coloured dye. However, recent times have brought about strict control over the production and use of Holi colour powder, especially for events held in the UK. Ministry of Colours hold EN71 certification for our colour powders.
- What do I need to run a Holi event? The rule of thumb is anything colourful will work. You don't need a huge, organised event to celebrate Holi - gather your friends and family together and play Holi at home with our colour powder. Remember we are blowing away the winter cobwebs here, so the brighter the better. Alongside the obvious colour powder, you could perhaps look at introducing some modern touches with neon sunglasses, leis and colour hand cannons?
- What colours can I get the colour powder in? Traditionally the colours of powder were restricted to what could be produced with natural dyes. With the introduction of modern manufacturing processes the range of available colours has grown to include pretty much every colour of the rainbow.
- How do I clean colour powder off my clothes? The straight forward answer is you can’t 100% guarantee clean clothes after attending a Holi colour powder event. Perhaps wear clothes that you don’t mind a stain or two on? Many people wear white t-shirts to colour powder events, and use their clothes as a blank canvas upon which they can paint with the colour powder.
- Can you get colour powder off the floor? If you are running an event, it’s best to make sure you have a clean-up plan in place. The powder will leave a temporary stain on surfaces, but it does disappear in time. Mother nature is the best cleaner, with a good rain shower cleaning pretty much everything away. Perhaps you could consider covering the floor with a plastic sheet where you think intensive colour throwing will take place? We have also heard of event organisers hiring leaf blowers to collect together the bulk of the post event powder.
- Can I use the Holi colour powder inside? Remember you will need to clean up the mess, perhaps it’s best your colour powder is thrown outside? There are also doubts over the safety of some coloured powder brands when brought into contact with live electricity.