This year (2020), Chinese New Year falls on January 25. The traditions of Chinese New Year are centuries old, many and varied. For thousands of years, the occasion has marked a time to honor deities and departed ancestors. Family is a big focus with gatherings, traditional meals and other celebrations.
Chinese New Year has many traditions regarding good luck and good fortune. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom to get rid of any lingering bad luck from the past year and clear the way for good fortune in the coming year. Firecrackers are lit to chase away evil spirits and welcome good fortune with their loud sounds. The lucky color red is used in decorations.
The Chinese New Year tradition I'm most familiar with is the giving of lucky red envelopes with gifts of money. During college I worked at a Chinese restaurant and when Chinese New Year rolled around the owners of the restaurant gave each of us employees a red paper envelope with a gift of money. That extra money was definitely appreciated and I loved the beautiful paper envelope that held it.
DIY Lucky Red Envelopes Celebrating Chinese New Year
Uni-Ball Signo Broad Point Gel Impact Pen Gold Ink
Neenah Astrobrights Premium Color Paper, Rocket RedElmer's Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks
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To celebrate Chinese New Year at home, I created my own version of a lucky red envelope and am sharing the pattern with you. The envelope is adorned with the Chinese Fu character, which means “fortune” or “good luck”.
To make your own DIY lucky red envelopes, just print the Chinese Lucky Red Envelopes template on red paper, cut out, fold up and glue on two sides. To decorate, I used a gold glitter marker to trace over the character and add a few more flourishes. Once you fill your envelope with money, you can tuck in the open flap or use a bit more glue.
For our most recent celebration, we took the easy way out with these frozen (but still delicious) egg rolls, but here are a few recipes that would be great for your celebration:
Traditional Bao (Dumplings)
For more fun, grab this free printable Chinese New Year Word Search Puzzle. It features 24 words all about the holiday.
For a kids Chinese New Year craft project, you can make this Chinese New year Dragon Craft.
Have you celebrated Chinese New Year? What kind of good fortune do you hope for in the new year?
Sara Phillips says
I love those red envelopes! I don’t know much about how to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the idea of buying Tai Pei and making lucky envelopes is a good one!
Diana Rambles says
What a fun celebration!
Robin Rue (@massholemommy) says
I never really did much for Chinese New Year, but I think I might try something like this with the kids this year.
Tracy @ Ascending Butterfly says
Haven’t tried the ones by Taipei yet but I LOVE SeaPak’s Spring Rolls so much! I also love the Chinese Red Envelope Tradition, but will buy them because I am not so patient when it comes to crafting and DIY! 🙂
You did a great job with yours! It’s nice that the owners of the restaurant where you worked observed that tradition.
Melissa says
We have never celebrated the Chinese New Year but this looks so fun. We may need a new tradition!
Aimee Fauci says
So cute and adorable. I’d love to make these and put them in random places for people.
Michelle says
Oh how perfect with the red envelopes! This is one of my favorite traditions, and I will definitely be making my own. Great printable! #client
Veronica says
What a fun project. I would totally love to try it
Stacey - Travel Blogger says
Your envelopes are really nice! They would be perfect for giving monetary gifts.
Jenny Temcio says
I love the Tai Pei meals. They are the perfect size!
melisasource says
These little envelopes are so cute! I am going to try this craft with my kids!
Danielle Bishop says
The tiny envelopes are so cute! I definitely want to try this project.
Aimee Smith says
Those envelopes are too cute. We get these egg rolls all the time, my kids LOVE them!
Theresa says
Those are some spiffy envelopes. We don’t celebrate the Chinese New Year, but we sure do love the food!
Jeanine says
How fun! We haven’t ever celebrated the Chinese new year but it looks like a fun little project!
Ann Bacciaglia says
These are such a cute and easy craft to do. I have not celebrated the Chinese New Year before. This might be a great year to start.
Brandy says
These look like a yummy treat! I love the envelope idea, how neat. Thanks for sharing a nice idea to celebrate Chinese New Year.
Debbie Denny says
Love the info about the new year. Cute envelopes
Beth@FrugalFroggie says
I haven’t celebrated a Chinese New Year before. But I am completely down to clean my house on Feb 19 since it is desparetely needed
Rosey says
I haven’t celebrated. I do like the idea of an excuse to power clean top to bottom though. 🙂
Kendra says
Thank you! You’ve created the theme for a party I’m hosting on Feb 20. I can’t wait to try these because I love most asian foods. 🙂
Amanda says
This is so neat! I love this! Thanks for the printable!
Chrystal @ YUM eating says
Love those envelopes. We don’t celebrate the Chinese New Year, although I am sure hubs wished we did. That is his favorite cuisine.
Amy @ Marvelous Mommy says
Mmm, I haven’t had an egg roll in such a long time! These look delicious and I love those envelopes.
Christie says
Those egg rolls look so tasty! I love celebrating the Chinese New Year
Gabriel Bregg says
My mom spent the last two years working at the embassy in Beijing and she loved the new years parties. Anything that involved a week long celebration sounds good to me.
Kiwi says
How innovative of you! I forget the Chinese New Year is actually in Feb what animal are we in this year? Super cute and creative post!
Kristin says
How fun! What a great idea for Chinese New Year! I think I might need to do a little party or dinner and give these out to my girls.
Marina John says
What a great idea! These would be fun to make with the kids. The envelopes AND the egg rolls, lol.