'Ang Baos', the 'red packets'

Chinese New Year won't be Chinese New Year without 'Ang Baos'. Just ask any kid!

Yet, 'Ang Baos' aren't just good for kids, they're great as Chinese New Year décor too. Use them generously, anywhere and everywhere. You can hang them on your chandeliers and plants, or paste them on your walls, forming propitious characters such as , which means fortune, or , which means wealth.

As with 'Chun Lians', 'Ang Baos' are easily available in most shops now. In fact, you can collect them for free in most banks and even some shopping centres.

TIP :

Remember to invert the Chinese character of "fortune", whether it's homespun or bought from shops. Why? Well, "inverted" and "arrived" are synonymous in Chinese, thus inverting the character implies that fortune is arriving at your doorsteps, thereby assuring a fortunate and lucky lunar year ahead.

Traditions and myths are so interesting, aren't they?