Wishing you all a very healthy Chinese New Year and hoping you acquire an abundance of wealth too! Well this is my first post ever for a blog and I would like to share with you a project that I have been doing every single year for 10 years specifically for Chinese New Year. The happiest people who celebrate this festival are the children or those who are not married because they receive little red packets of money from their elders or those who are married.

The less happy people are the ones that are doing the giving. You can see children receiving the ‘ang pow’ (Malaysians call it that) and ‘lai see’ in Hong Kong and immediately checking how much there is in the packet. This is certainly one way to make money without much effort. But it is all in the spirit of the new year celebration, right?

The personal project that I have been doing all these years is to create my own handmade ‘ang pow’ or ‘lai see’. Each year I make a total of 400 packets to hand out to relatives and friends. It is not a small task as it involves many stages and time. This year I have created one which looks very simple but in reality is harder than it looks.

I have just moved to the beautiful country of Australia… and the money here is all made of plastic. It does not stay folded and nothing much sticks to it very well. With lots of experimentation with many types of tape and glue costing a small fortune in mistakes, I finally managed to create this version to hand out.

The idea is how to show a rat using some money to convey this. I believe you can see the shape of the rat with just one paper money and two coins. I added the tail in yellow to contrast well with the red background. This is the e-card that I have recreated on the computer for those that are not near me so I can still share with them my creation.

The real packet is like displaying the rat for all to see which is unusual for the normal red packets have money sealed inside an envelope. I have it sealed in a transparent sleeve so that it is protected from moisture and dust. Most of the people minus some children enjoy receiving these hand made cards.

The children will start to tear anything that reaches their hands. Get the money quick! Well not all of them do that.. just some

Enjoy your time with your loved ones this Chinese New Year!

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