How to Decorate for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is celebrated each year around the months of January or February. In the year 2009, for instance, the festivities start on January 26. This is a time for family reunions, and everything is in red, which is widely believed by the Chinese to signify fire and to keep negative energy and bad luck away. Every family who celebrates Chinese New Year will traditionally spend time decorating the home and making special Chinese food and cookies for family and friends.

Here's how to decorate and prepare your home for a Chinese New Year celebration.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Chinese paper decoration
• Asian cookies and sugar candies
• Lotus and bamboo plants
• Red money packets (laisee envelopes)
• Red Asian clothes
• Fruits
• Poems and red calender
• Tangerine tree

1. 
   Chinese Supermarket

   Visit your local Chinese or Asian supermarkets. Here you will find a vast variety of Asian foods and products, including many red decorations.

2. 
   Chinese Laycee

   Buy special red color "lucky envelopes" called laicee. Put some cash into each envelope to give out to family, friends and visitors. It is a tradition at each Chinese New Year celebration to give a "lucky" envelope to a young child or single female. Married people do not get the "lucky" laicee.

3. 
   Chinese New Year Offerings

   Decorate a table with Chinese candies, cookies and flowers. It is Chinese tradition to welcome guests to the home during this time and offer food and snacks during their visit.

4. 
   Chinese silk gown

   Wear red clothing. Have several choices to pick from. Visit the Chinatown in your city and you will be able to buy many of these items at very discounted prices.

5. 
   Chinese decorations

   Decorate the house with traditional Chinese red decorations that you can purchase at Chinese supermarkets or in your local Chinatown district.

6. 
   Bamboo Plants

   Place bamboo around the house. Bamboo is a sign of strength, luck and prosperity. You can also give bamboo as gifts when family and friends come to visit during this festive time.

Tips & Warnings

• This article is written for entertainment purposes only.

Resources

• Jewell TV
• JewellProductions.TV

[lawrenctopper]

on 1/21/2009 Hello and Happy Chinese New Year!!!!!!Bai Nian,Lets get some red envelopes.

[pianoman]

on 1/13/2009 Thanks for good information on a subject I knew little about.

[adampuri]

on 1/12/2009 vey very nice. i will entertain my chinese friend and will decorate my home chinese way

[FrazzledNanny]

on 1/10/2009 Thanks for the tips. My daughters birthday falls close to the celebration this year and we were thinking of doing her party in the Chinese theme

[valenzuela]

on 1/9/2009 It sounds very colorful, festive and affordable!