Diwali 2026: mithai, lights and gift prices compared at UK shops

Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026, and Leicester City Council is holding its Diwali day celebrations on the same day. If you're buying mithai, lights or gifts for friends and family today or this week, prices vary a lot. When we checked on 1 November, sweets started at £1.50 a box and LED lights at £8.

At a glance

• Cheapest ladoo: Royal Motichoor Ladoo 500g, £2.75 on offer at Morrisons (£5.50 a kg).
• Sweet shop boxes: Ambala mixed mithai from £3.50 and Diwali gift boxes from £9.
• Lights: battery LED cluster lights from £8 at John Lewis.
• Fireworks: legal until 1am tonight, rather than the usual 11pm.

Mithai at the supermarket

Morrisons stocks a range of Indian sweets online:

• Royal Motichoor Ladoo 500g: £2.75 on offer (£5.50 a kg, against a usual £10 a kg).
• Royal Jalebi 300g: £2.75 on offer.
• Royal Gajar Halwa 250g: £2.75 on offer.
• Haldiram's Motichoor Ladoo 300g: £6 (£20 a kg).
• Shayona Mixed Mithai, 6 pieces: £4.
• Bikaji Soan Papdi 200g: £1.50.

Mithai from a sweet shop

Ambala, the UK sweet maker, sells online and through its shops. When we checked, its Mix Mithai started at £3.50 in boxes of 4, 10 or 20 pieces, its Diwali Gift Box at £9 and its Diwali Gift Tin at £10. Pista and Badam Barfi started at £4.50, and Gulab Jamun at £5.

Ambala says orders placed before 10am are generally eligible for next-working-day delivery, depending on location, and it advises ordering as early as possible around Diwali. If you need sweets today, its free one-hour Click & Collect, or your local sweet shop, is the safer bet.

Lights, diyas and decorations

John Lewis had battery-powered micro LED cluster lights with 100 bulbs for £8, and 240 micro LED string lights (12m) for £15. Its hammered brass tealight holder was £8, and a beaded Diwali table centrepiece was £35.

Hobbycraft has a Diwali section with candles, home and party decorations, and rangoli and craft supplies. If you're lighting real diyas or candles, keep them away from curtains and decorations and never leave them burning unattended.

Gifts

For a gift alongside or instead of mithai, John Lewis had a Curry Smugglers Desi Snack Box (260g) for £16 and Cartwright & Butler Pistachio Truffles (180g) for £16. Cadbury Gifts Direct sells chocolate gifts and tins too.

Worked example: sweets for five households

• Five Haldiram's 300g ladoo boxes: 5 × £6 = £30 for 1.5kg.
• Five Royal 500g ladoo boxes on offer: 5 × £2.75 = £13.75 for 2.5kg.
• Five Ambala Diwali Gift Boxes: from 5 × £9 = from £45.

The Royal ladoo on offer gives you more sweets for less than half the price of the Haldiram's boxes. Ambala's boxes cost more, but you can choose a mix.

Fireworks tonight

Under the Fireworks Regulations 2004, the usual 11pm curfew is extended to 1am on the night of Diwali. GOV.UK says registered sellers can sell fireworks for three days before Diwali, and the usual autumn sale period runs from 15 October to 10 November. You must be 18 or over to buy them. Leicester says there will be no public fireworks display at its Diwali celebrations this year.

What to do now

1. Compare price per kg on boxed mithai, not just the box price.
2. Check use-by dates. Fresh mithai doesn't last as long as packaged sweets.
3. Use Click & Collect or a local shop if you need sweets today.
4. Choose LED lights with a timer to cut running costs and fire risk.
5. Finish fireworks by 1am and tell neighbours if you're setting them off.

Questions

When is Diwali 2026?

Sunday 8 November 2026. Leicester's Diwali day celebrations are at Cossington Recreation Ground that day.

Can I set off fireworks after 11pm tonight?

Yes, until 1am, because tonight is Diwali. On other nights the curfew is 11pm.

Is supermarket mithai as good as a sweet shop's?

That's a matter of taste. Packaged sweets keep longer and are cheaper per kg. Sweet shops let you choose a mix and often make it fresh.

Ways to save

See current offers at Morrisons, John Lewis, Hobbycraft and Cadbury Gifts Direct.

Prices checked on 1 November 2026 and can change. Sources: Leicester City Council: Diwali 2026, Morrisons: Indian sweets, Ambala: Diwali, Ambala: mixed mithai, John Lewis: Diwali, John Lewis: fairy lights, GOV.UK: Fireworks, the law, Fireworks Regulations 2004, regulation 7

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