Searching for a Holi celebration near me or Holi events near me in New Jersey? As a writer for Jersey Family Fun Lorelei put together a great guide to celebrating Holi with your family. We’ve updated the event listings for 2023 to reflect NJ Holi celebrations near me and you that are happening this year.
I was born in India and I moved to the United States when I was three. The two main Indian festivals I always looked forward to as a kid were Holi and Diwali. This year, Holi falls on Friday, March 18th and there are many ways to celebrate Holi in New Jersey with kids and teens. Whether you celebrate at home, in your community, or across New Jersey you’ll find there are many Holi activities you can do.
What is Holi?
Holi is most widely known for its celebration where people throw colored powder and water at each other. Holi is a joyous occasion that marks the beginning of spring. It also celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Some people in India celebrate Holi over two days. Their first day is the one before Holi and it is called Choti Holi. For this, a bonfire is lit and this symbolizes the burning of evil things.
What time of year is Holi celebrated?
This year, Holi falls on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The date changes each year since it is celebrated on the day of the full moon in March.
2023 Holi Celebrations
Last year we found that the majority of Holi celebrations were very close to the Holi holiday itself when it fell in midMarch. This year, Holi falls earlier and we’ve been finding it a bit harder to find Holi festivals and celebrations. We’ve found a few Holi events happening later in April which is leading us to believe that the Holi celebration season may last longer this year than last. If you don’t see any event local to you below, keep checking back with us. We’ll continue to search for nearby NJ Holi events until late April.
Where is Holi celebrated?
Many people think Holi is just celebrated in India but it is actually celebrated in countries all over the world. People celebrate it in Nepal, Pakistan, the United States, the UK, Australia, and more. It is a festival celebrated by people of all ages and religions. In some places, celebrations can last as long as two weeks.
How can my family celebrate Holi?
There are different ways to celebrate Holi whether it is at home, among friends, or at events in New Jersey. Holi is also a great time to try some Indian foods that are often eaten during this holiday.
Due to the pandemic, there are some events that have still not resumed but we have listed here the ones that will be happening this year. If going to an event or meeting friends to throw colored powder, remember to bring a change of clothes or some drop cloths for your car for the ride home.
Holi Celebrations in New Jersey for Kids and Teens
Holi Events in New Jersey
These NJ Holi events are listed alphabetically by the name of the town where they will be held. So far, the in-person Holi events we have found are in North Jersey and Central Jersey. If you know of more events to help others celebrate Holi in New Jersey send us an email or let us know in the comments below.
East Brunswick Briar Ridge Holi Celebration
Date: March 19, 2022- Time: noon
- Location: Behind 10/12 Winterberry Court at Briar Ridge Estates in East Brunswick.
- Enjoy a fun Holi celebration with a colorful feast.
- For more details visit our event listing. As of March 3, 2023 there are no details about this event for 2023.
East Rutherford Holi Celebration 2023
- Date: March 1, 2023
- Time: 4:30 to 5:30 pm
- Location: East Rutherford Library
- Join East Rutherford Library to celebrate the Hindu festival of colors with stories and a craft.
- Learn more in our Holi Celebration in East Rutherford event listing.
Holi Festival in Edison 2023
- Date: April 22, 2023
- Time: 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
- Location: Edison YMCA
- Price: Free
- Bollywood dance, traditional throwing of colors, food, music, and more.
- For more details visit our event listing.
Edison A Holi Festival Party 2023
- Date: March 18, 2023
- Time: 11 am to 5 pm
- Location: Akbar Banquet in Edison, NJ
- Price: $59.99 for adults and $42.99 for kids
- This will be an outdoor event with unlimited colors, food, kids entertainment, dancing and more.
- For more details visit the event listing.
Fair Lawn Holi Festival Spring Color Blast 2023
- Date: March 19, 2023 with Rain Date of March 26, 2023
- Time: 2 to 5 pm
- Location: Memorial Park in Fair Lawn, NJ
- This will be a festival for the community with colored powders being thrown, music, crafts and activities.
- The event is free.
- Tips: Wear white clothes that you do not mind having stained with colored powder. There will be a limited amount of colored powder also available for purchase at the event.
- Learn more in our event listing.
Hackensack Holi Celebration 2023
- Date: March 18, 2023
- Time: 2 pm to 4 pm
- Location: Hackensack Public Library
- A fun and colorful celebration of Holi.
- Learn more in our Holi Celebration in Hackensack event listing.
Hoboken Holi Take Home Craft 2023
- Date: March 8, 2023
- Time: 10 am to 8 pm
- Location: Hoboken Libraries
- Visit the specified libraries to pick up a fun Craft-to-Go in celebration of Holi!
- Learn more in our Holi Take Home Craft in Hoboken event listing.
Hoboken Holi Celebration 2023
- Date: March 7, 2023
- Time: 3:30 pm to 4 pm
- Location: Hoboken Library
- An afterschool story time with books, songs, movement and more to celebrate the Holi holiday!
- Learn more in our Holi Celebration in Hoboken at Hoboken Public Library event listing.
Metuchen Family Friendly Holi – Open Air Patio Party 2023
- Date: March 4, 2023
- Time: 12 to 4 pm
- Location: The Brown Stone in Metuchen, NJ
- This will be a family friendly event that will have thandai drinks at the entrance, free food for children under 12, free white t-shirts and other goodies, unlimited colors and more. Vaccination card is required. Parking is free.
- Tips: Wear white clothes that you do not mind having stained with colored powders.
- Price: Tickets are currently sold out.
- For more information visit this event listing.
Plainsboro Celebrate Holi
- Date: March 8th, 2023
- Time: 10 am to 8:30 pm
- Location: Plainsboro Public Library
- Stop by and pick up your Holi craft to take home
- Learn more in our Holi Celebration in Plainsboro at Plainsboro Library event listing.
Sayreville Holi Celebration 2023
- Date: March 11, 2023
- Time: 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm
- Location: Sayreville Public Library
- Join others to celebrate the Hindu festival welcoming spring, love, and new life.
- Learn more in our Holi Celebration in Sayreville at Sayreville Public Library event listing.
Wallington Holi Workshop for Kids
Date: March 12, 2022- Time: 2 to 3 pm
- Location: Wallington John F. Kennedy Memorial Library
- There will be a Holi workshop that will include role play, story time and a craft. This is for ages 5 to 10.
- Learn more and how to register in our event listing. As of March 3, 2023 there are no details about this event for 2023.
Great Ways to Celebrate with a Holi Celebration at Home
The main memories of Holi celebrations I have from being young are of eating sweets and throwing colored water and water balloons at each other. Here are some suggestions of ways that you can celebrate Holi in your house. Be prepared to get messy!
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Throw some color during your Holi celebration.
Holi is a festival of colors. People usually wear white and have lots of fun throwing colored powder at each other. Usually, gulal powder is used. The colors also mean different things.
- Red symbolizes love and fertility.
- Yellow symbolizes turmeric.
- Blue symbolizes Krishna
- Green is the color of new beginnings.
To purchase some of this be sure to visit your local Indian grocery store. Gulal power is also available on Amazon.
Throw some water.
The throwing of water is symbolic of cleansing your body and mind. Different ways to do this are dumping buckets of water over people’s heads or throwing water balloons at each other. Some people fill pools with colored water or have fights with water guns filled with colorful water.
Read some books about a family having a Holi Celebration
Festival of Colors by Kabir and Surishtha Sengal
This picture book is written by a mother and son. It is about two siblings named Mintoo and Chintoo who gather flowers of various colors in order to make some powder for Holi. This is a great way to show kids the fun celebrations that occur on this holiday. My kids can relate to this since they had gathered marigolds for a class they had at the Rancocas Nature Center in the fall to use for dying some yarn yellow.
This book is best for ages 2 to 8.
Buy Festival of Colors on Amazon.
Watch a read-along of the book with one of the authors on YouTube.
Celebrating Holi: A Hindu Celebration of Spring by Sujatha Menon
If your kids are a little older they will enjoy reading Celebrating Holi: A Hindu Celebration of Spring. It delves into more details about Holi celebrations in different places where they do things like throw flowers, have an elephant festival, and more.
There are also some more details about the stories that led to Holi and how many people celebrate the life of Lord Krishna during this time. Celebrating Holi: A Hindu Celebration of Spring also has photos of many of the events that occur so it gives the reader a great overview of the entire holiday.
Celebrating Holi: A Hindu Celebration of Spring can be purchased online through Ebay, Amazon, or used book stores. It may also be at your local library.
Teach your kids about colors.
This is a great opportunity to teach your kids about colors. This is a good time to do a lesson on color mixing or rainbows. Kids can also try and create their own colored powders to throw at home (Ex. turmeric with rice or gram flour can make yellow powder).
Celebrate Holi with Your own Holi Celebration in Your Community
Try some local Indian cuisine.
There are many different foods and drinks that are popular at Holi.
Popular drinks during Holi
The most well-known drink on the holiday is thandai (milk with almonds and various spices). My favorite drink is mango lassi.
Popular food to eat during Holi
My favorite food to eat is papdi chaat, which is a popular appetizer eaten around the holiday. It is commonly eaten in North India. It is a mixture of papdi (crackers made of fried flour) chickpeas, chutneys, potatoes and yogurt. When you eat it this must be eaten right away so it does not get soggy. Another popular thing to eat is samosa. This is a salty fried pastry with various fillings. My favorite ones have peas and potatoes in them.
Desserts to try during a Holi Celebration
There are also many desserts and sweets eaten at Holi.
- My favorite is rasmalai. It is paneer cooked in a syrup of sugar and then it rests in thickened milk.
- Another popular holiday dessert is gujiya. This is a sweet dumpling deep fried in ghee and often filled with some dried fruit.
- Gulab jamun is another popular dessert that is often seen in restaurants. This is made up of fried balls of dough in a sweet syrup.
Often friends and neighbors give sweets to each other during this time.
Indian Restaurants in New Jersey
- One of our favorite places to eat is the Palace of Asia in Lawrenceville, Maple Shade, and Kingston. Tasty things to try: Aloo Papdi Chaat, Chicken Tikka, Paneer Kulcha, Garlic Naan, Chicken Makhani, Paneer Masala, Kheer.
- Another favorite restaurant of ours is Ming for its Indo-Chinese Food. Mind is located in Edison, New Jersey. Tasty things to try: Drums of Heaven, Vegetable Manchurian, American Chopsuey with Chicken, Singapore Noodles, Date Pancakes.
- Also in Edison is Moghul. Tasty things to try: Buffet, Moghul Bread Basket, Mulligatawny Soup, Murgh Tikka Makhani, Malai Kofta, Murgh Tikka, Kulfi Falooda, Rasmalai.
- Asian Halal Meat & Kebab House in East Windsor. This location only offers takeout. Tasty things to try: Chole Batura, Shahi Paneer, Chicken Makhani, Chicken Seekh Kebab, Chicken Malai Kebab, Chicken Tikka Biryani.
- Monsoon in Mount Laurel. We haven’t eaten there but other friends highly recommend it.
- Cross Culture in Princeton. Tasty things to try: Paneer Tikka, Chicken Cashmere.
Try cooking some Indian Food
When I was growing up my grandmother would make samosa, gujiya, and shakkar paare for Holi. This month there will be different Facebook Live events where you can learn to try different South Indian recipes through the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. For ingredients needed see the links below. Events will be through Vailabi Talati on Facebook Live.
- Paneer Wraps on March 7th at 6 pm: https://bccls.libcal.com/event/8900778
- Masala Puffs on March 21st at 6 pm: https://bccls.libcal.com/event/8901358
Visit Oak Tree Road
Oak Tree Road is also known as Little India by some people and is worthy of a visit as you make plans to celebrate Holi in New Jersey. It is full of shops and restaurants similar to ones that you may find in India. I visited here a lot to purchase items for one of my own wedding ceremonies. Our favorite restaurant to visit is Ming for its Indo-Chinese Food such as American Chopsuey, Vegetable Manchurian and Date Pancakes. We also like Jassi Sweets for its Chole Bhatura.
Read Little India in Edison to learn more about things you may find there.
Have we inspired you to celebrate Holi in New Jersey? Come back and let us know your favorite part.