Chinese New Year Cards and Lucky Red Envelopes

Perhaps one of the most famous cultural festivals in the world is Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year occurs on a different day each year, as it is determined by the Chinese calendar, invented by the Emperor Huangdi in 2637 BC.

In 2008, Chinese New Year will be on January 7. This year will be the Year of the Rat, and worldwide, people of Chinese descent are gearing up for it, and non-Chinese are looking forward to parades, dragon dances, and fireworks. Chinese children are excitedly awaiting the gifts of Lucky Red Envelopes filled with good luck money, which can be either real money or chocolate money.

You can celebrate the Chinese New Year with your own family, even if you are not Chinese. Some traditional activities include a thorough cleaning of the house, paying particular attention to sweeping every corner of every room, which is known as "Sweeping out the Old" in order to make room for the new year. Give your children a new set of clothing and shoes, preferably in the colors red or orange, to secure a safe and lucky new year for them. And of course, you can purchase or make Chinese New Year cards to wish luck and prosperity to your friends and family.

Decorate your house with bright colors of red and gold. The red is for happiness and the gold is for wealth. Have on hand Li-chi nuts, and give two to each child who visits, as happiness comes in twos.

Place fresh flowers around the house and a bowl filled with tangerines or oranges to symbolize both good luck and wealth, and will help to ensure a prosperous and fortuitous new year. Add a "tray of togetherness", an eight sectioned tray filled with dried fruits, candies and sweets of different types for family and friends to enjoy when they visit, and serve a special meal on New Year's Day for your family and your friends.

Some people

The Chinese New Year cards that children like best are Lucky Red Envelopes. You can make your own lucky red envelopes and Chinese New Year cards. Here are some simple ideas for doing so:

Lucky Red Envelope:

Materials needed:

(At the local office supply store you can purchase heavy card stock paper in very bright colors. A package of red card stock is wonderful for these projects.}

To make a Lucky Red Envelope you will need: bright red paper or card stock. A pencil and a ruler for marking dimensions. Glue. Very narrow red and gold (or orange) ribbon. Gold metallic pens, and black pens both with varying point sizes. Chinese character stickers representing Good Luck, Happiness, Wealth, and Health, Chinese dragons, (check your local scrapbooking supply store for these and the pens!), and/or stickers of rats. A pair of scissors. Crisp new one dollar bills, or foil wrapped chocolate coins.

Measure a one dollar bill and trace its outline on the back of the red paper, adding an eighth of an inch total to each dimension, length and width. At the narrow ends, extend your line by another quarter of an inch, and do the same on one of the long sides. On the other long side, extend the line until it is again as wide as the envelope. Cut along the outlines you have made. Fold the wide flap in, then fold up one short end flap and glue it into place. Also fold in your other long edge and glue into place.

Let the glue dry and turn the envelope over and apply a sticker or three in an attractive layout. Make sure that one of the stickers is centered on the envelope, and cut two pieces of ribbon, one red one either gold or orange, and slip them under the sticker before adhering it into place. You want the ribbons to lay flat on the envelope and extend an inch or so at slight angles from each other.

Finally, when the glue on your Lucky Red Envelope Chinese New Year card is dry and the front is decorated, slide a crisp, clean new one dollar bill or several gold foil wrapped chocolate coins inside, fold down the final flap, and seal it with another sticker. Make enough of these to give to each child you are expecting to see on Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Card:

For adults, you can make Chinese New Year cards. Red and gold are again the theme colors for these, as they symbolize happiness and wealth in Chinese culture.

Materials needed: Red or bright orange card stock. Red or bright orange standard weight paper (to make envelopes). Pencil and ruler. Gold metallic pens and black pens. Chinese themed stickers such as were used for the lucky red envelopes. Scissors.

Fold a piece of the card stock in half to form a greeting card. Measure half an inch in from the three open sides and mark using your pencil and ruler. Using the scissors, trim this section off from your card. You may use scroll edged scissors such as those used in scrapbooking if you like - this will give a fancy and attractive look to your Chinese New Year cards.

On the front of your Chinese New Year card, place an attractive Chinese themed sticker, either one symbolizing wealth, health, happiness or luck, or one symbolizing the year of the rat (see the end of this article for a listing of the next twelve Chinese years, with their correlation in the Gregorian calendar).

With your gold metallic pens, write a Chinese couplet, such as those found here: http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/new_year/images/education/couplet.gif - remember that Chinese writing is read from top to bottom. If the intended recipient of your Chinese New Year card can't read Chinese characters, you can use a black pen to write the sentiment neatly across the bottom of the card.

Inside the Chinese New Year card you can write your own sentiments and thoughts of good wishes for the new year.

To make an envelope, simply trace your Chinese New Year card in the center of a sheet of standard weight red or orange paper, and follow the instructions for cutting and folding the Lucky Red Envelopes. You can decorate the outer envelope if you wish, or just write the recipient's name in gold metallic pen. If you are sending this Chinese New Year card through the postal service, use black pen to address it. If you wish, slip a golf foil wrapped candy coin inside the envelope, then seal it closed with a sticker.

You can also send Chinese New Year cards over the internet. At the end of this article you will find some links for beautiful e-cards, and also some links for Chinese New Year stickers and for sentiments to write on your Chinese New Year cards.

Here's wishing you a very happy new year! Gong Hay Fat Choy!

Western year - Chinese year - Chinese zodiac sign

2008 4706 Rat
2009 4707 Ox
2010 4708 Tiger
2011 4709 Rabbit
2012 4710 Dragon
2013 4711 Snake
2014 4712 Horse
2015 4713 Ram
2016 4714 Monkey
2017 4715 Rooster
2018 4716 Dog
2019 4717 Pig

Every twelve years, the Chinese zodiac repeats itself, so for the Gregorian year 2020, it will once again be the Year of the Pig.

Links:

Chinese characters to use on your Lucky Red Envelopes and Chinese New Year cards:

http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/new_year/images/education/couplet.gif
http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/new_year/images/education/outline_couplet.gif
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/extra/character/bls_c_special.htm
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/picks/aatp_luckysymbols.htm

This link has four separate sets of Chinese characters in PDF format, some of which are great for Chinese New Year cards:

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_character_cards.htm

Some lucky Chinese figures that you can draw or print onto your Chinese New Year cards:

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/clipart/c2/blsl05.htm

Chinese New Year Cards to send over the internet:

http://www.123greetings.com/events/chinese_new_year/
http://www.chinesenewyearecards.com/
http://www.greetingsnecards.com/events/chinesenewyear.html