Given it's relative isolation, IITKGP compensates by having some of the biggest fests and celebration within India. Beware food costs and your acads, these events are kind of amazing at destroying budgets & plans lol.
I'm not gonna elab much on these : if I do, they won't be as fun or amazing as they were for us.

Among fests, you have :

SpringFest, The Sociocultural & biggest campus fest.
Kshitij, The Tech fest.
Shaurya, The Sports fest.
A variety of smaller fests organised by Depts, such as the ones by ISE & Civil Depts.

Among Campus-Specific Celebrations, you have:

Illu/Illumination : A Diwali based competition between the halls of the campus.
Hall Days : Specific days where you can visit other halls, even those of the opposite gender.
GC : General Championship, this is a multiple month competition between all the halls in the campus: with events in Socult, Tech, Sports, everything.

Some of the more iconic festival celebrations are:

Holi, You have to be here to experience it.
Durga Puja (the Eastern variant of Navaratri).
Diwali/Illu (See above)
There are also individual celebrations organized by respective cultural socs & communities.

And of course, the non-campus events like:

Inter-IIT : Organized in the later half of December, this involves competitions b/w all IITs in Socult, Tech/Management, and Sports, and takes place in different IITs
Hackathons, Competitions, and more : Many of these often have their initial rounds online, with the finals and such in-person.

Fests

SpringFest

Tentatively 23rd Jan 26 to 25th Jan 26. Abbreviated as SF, this is the iconic fest of IITKGP. It will involve tens of thousands of people, from both inside & outside campus, and will often have some of the most talented people in India in their respective competitions in Socult.

But apart from the competitions, which are Iconic (my recommendations: Nukkad, Battle of the bands, Panchayat, among so many others), SF will also have a bunch of other events. Every day will have a concert or two at night (Behind Nalanda) involving thousands of students, and both upcoming and well-established artists. Whether you'll enjoy it or not depends on your music taste honestly, and a lil bit on the crowd. I fosho enjoyed it in retrospect.
[Do come early if you want to be near stage : 6ish. But if you're fine vibing with friends like I did, that's not a necessity.]

It will also have a bunch of cultural events like Classical Concerts & Dances, which I missed last SF, but definitely plan to view it all this time. Other eventsare also numerous here

Oh and lastly, the food. After 4 months of campus food, the pop-ups during SF will be heaven on earth. There will usually be a SF arena among which most shops/eateries are, and IMO, this is the best part of SF. You'll get a variety of food here, from Indian to Western to Eastern, and almost all are pretty good. The only issue is the cost: These are some of the costliest dishes in campus, and you'll definitely will have to save. The amount I spent is still embarrassing, TBH.

Insta (Has a bunch of Pics)

Kshitij

Tentatively 16th Jan to 18th Jan 26. This is one of the largest tech fests in Asia, and apparently the largest "Techno-management" fest in Asia. While it is predominantly tech focused (which I will talk about later), it also has a variety of Shops & eateries for you to visit (which I recommend), and even organized a concert last time.

Now to the tech/management: These include workshops, competitions and even gamefests/e-sports.

Workshops are in a wide variety of topics from Cybersecurity to Internships to Engineering, and a whole lot in between. The list will be updated on the fest website, and definitely go to anything that interests you.
Comps change from year to year, but usually involve half a dozen coding & adjacent ones like Hackathons, management ones like Case comps, and even engineering related ones like Aeromodelling (I effectively participated in it (long story ask IRL), and it's def worth it).
Events like robowars were also a highlight.
There will ofcourse be esports comps and such, predominantly in Shooters & the like.

Other than these, there will also be lectures, talks and more.

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Shaurya

Tentatively 17th Oct to 19th Oct 25. This is the sports fest of the campus, and has a huge variety of comps : From Cricket to Athletics to Chess & more. Depending on the sport and crowds, certain comps will only allow college teams (i.e. you have to be selected for college team/shaurya in selections held beforehand), while others are open to all. Do check out their website if you're interested.

They also organize events throughout the year, and one of the more Iconic ones is the E-sports competition which will likely happen in Autumn Sem, and involve major competitions.

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Minor Fests

Some depts, and even some socs organize small fests every year. These are often more oriented towards topics relevant to said dept, and as such contain some really niche but fun comps which are missed in the major fests due to their size. Definitely explore these too, fosho worth it. Most of them will happen in Spring Sem. Here's a non-exhaustive list of Society Fests (Format is Dept - Fest Name) :

Civil Engineering Society - Megalith
Instagram of the Society. Verified Active.
NAROES (Ocean Engineering & Naval Arch) - Samudramanthan
Website of the society. Instagram of the Fest. Verified active.
Mining Engineering Society - Great Step
Instagram of the Society & Fest. Verified Active.
Metallurgical Engineering Society - COMPOSIT
Instagram of the Fest. Verified Active.
Industrial & System Engineering Society (Optima) - Optima
Instagram of the Fest. Verified Active.
Agricultural & Food Engineering Society - Prakriti
Instagram of the Fest. Possibly Inactive.

Campus Celebrations

Illu (Illumination)

Happening during Diwali (So Oct), this is a partially campus organized, and partially hall organized competition. Halls are judged on two main events:

Illumination, the namesake. This involves each hall decorating/making a portrait of sorts purely using Diyas/Lamps. Many of them are multiple floors tall, and if you can see them early, they are just damn beautiful.
Rangoli. These are again intricate designs, spanning an entire room. While not as iconic as Illu, I found these even more awe-inspiring last time. DO visit them too if you can.

Do note that both, and especially Illu are extremely time-sensitive events. You will be given a schedule of sorts for visiting different halls, and most Illu is best seen within 30 minutes of the given time. Crowds will also be extremely high, so make sure you have a good plan, and it might be worth visiting something less crowded even if not as hyped. Also do note, judges are let in first and you're only allowed after they finish, so you might have to wait a bit even if on-time.
For example: Azad hall, which won Illu last time, had most of its diyas out by the time I visited (About 30-45 mins in, because of crowd & judges) and thus wasn't all that great compared to other halls IMO.

Hall days

These are a tradition started by the student body, and continued in collaboration with the Campus. These will likely happen for about 10 days in March, a week or so before Gymkhana (Student Body) Elections.

Each day, around 2 halls will be "opened" to all students, both boys & girls from 7PM to 11PM, though if you're the same gender as the hall, you can stay longer (usu 1-3 AM). Opposite gender students will be required to register before entering, but other than that, there's not much bureaucracy.
Coming early (6:30-7 PM) is recommended, especially if you're a boy coming to a girl's hostel, since it will get extremely crowded by 7:30-8:00PM.

Most hall days will involve visiting your friends' (if you're a fresher, that's your senior friends) room and exploring the hall in general. There is often a lot of snacks (you can comfortably skip Dinner at times) and drinks, along with a lot of music, dancing & games. Deep talks & just vibing around is common too.

Some Illicit substances (just mainly drinks) do pass through, but these are limited to within specific rooms, and pretty much never involve freshers, especially in Senior halls.

While you don't need to worry about safety and such, given the huge amount of students & security guards, the crowds might become a lot at times. My recommendation: go early, and always travel with your friends. Getting lost in a hall can be disorienting if you're alone, even thought nothing will happen.

GC

General championships are a collection of comps that take place during the first half of the Spring Sem. These are comps between all halls, and involve a variety of events: From Debating to Music Comps in Socult, From Hackathons to building planes in Tech, From Chess to Volleyball in Sports; and everything between. The winning hall of each competition get a certain number of points, and those with the highest points wins the GC cup.

[Ok gonna give some unsolicited advice. The biggest problem with LBS was the lack of organization. If you boys can organize yourself well, and try and prepare for many of these competitions for weeks (instead of the days we did), LBS can genuinely win. Hopefully my hall doesn't disown me for saying this lol]

Festivals

Holi

Depending on your luck, this might come on one of the hotter days of spring sem. Regardless, it's just as fun, even if hot. Holi will be mostly celebrated at the Gymkhana, though people do celebrate it in halls, and on roads too,
GymK will involve a lot of music, tonnes of color, and a huge crowd, and is fun af. Best times are 9-10:30, and after 12, but this can change, so make sure to ask your friends.
Water holi is rarer, but people do find spots, such as behind Heritagem where there is water. I'm still pissed I missed this, while be my plan next Holi.

Rando strangers won't break your door and ask to play, don't worry. Your friends on the other hand... Well let's just say we had to pay for damage costs for how determined certain friends were at opening rooms of their friends.
That being said, be careful in hall, celebrations start the previous night itself, and is predominantly water. You might become collateral damage as I did when I had the wise idea to wash clothes.

Also water is usually shut down between 1pm and 5pm, as the water supplies run low. My recommendation is to take a bath earlier than this, though you can keep a bucket of water for emergencies (Saved me). Water usually gets over floor by floor topdown, so you might be able to get some in lower bathrooms for a bit (again, like I did).

DurgaPuja

Well, you might spend most of this away from IITKGP, as it's also the autumn sem break. That being said, if you do stay, be ready for some amazing food, awe-inspiring structures & light shows, and so much more.
Do note, I had all this after my vacay, so the vacay time will be even more fun.

That being said, my recommendation would be to go home: It will be a nice way to relax after 2 months in this new place. Stay back another time.

Diwali

See Illu, under Campus Celebrations. This is the biggest diwali Celebration in campus

There's also bursting firecrackers & such, and for the diwali week, good luck sleeping well.

Culture-specific

These are celebrations often organized by a state/communities committee for state/culture-specific celebrations. Onam for Kerala, Pongal for Tamil Nadu, etc. Depending on the nature of the celebration, many of these are only open to those part of that committee, while others are open to all.

There are also food fests, where a state or two's group within college will make different dishes, available to the entire campus at a decently high price. That being said, these food fests often have the most authentic and best tasting food of the campus IMO, so def try them out.

Cultural requirements are also accommodated when possible, such as Sahoor being made available in the mess during Ramadan.

Non - Campus events

Inter - IIT

Organized in December, these are collection of competitions between all IITs, and the winner gets bragging rights for a whole year.

The competitions are again divided into 3 categories, and each category often takes place in a different IIT (with exceptions) :

Socult : These are primarily music/english based competitions.
Tech : Hackathons and case-comps & the like
Sports : As the name says

The selection for these will take place usually in late October, and anyone can try it out, with some exceptions (If there's a specific society for an event, there might not be selections, but this is very rare). Contingents are usually a combo of people from different years.

3rd Party Comps

Throughout the year, a variety of competitions will be going on that are organized by 3rd parties. These include, but are not limited to Hackathons, Case Comps, Quizzes, and much more.

These are usually multi-stage competitions, with the first rounds being online, and the finals being offline in another city. If you're representing the college, you can also get permission to miss classes/exams for this, but this is not assured.

Even if you're not part of a soc, most of these competitions have no such requirements, so you can try them on your own too. My friend did so, and came 2nd in one such comp.

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