Counting down 15 days to Chinese New Year which take place on 31st January 2014! Chinese New Year happens once a year and people usually start making preparation few weeks before by cleaning and Chinese new year decoration, paying off debt owed, buying gifts for family and friends, baking traditional cookies for the Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year.
Decorating shopping complex and houses is a must to feel the atmosphere of Chinese New Year as other festival do. It has become a custom for most of the Chinese to decorate with mandarins, Chinese calligraphy, red packets, red origami and etc. Red is considered lucky for people as it is believed to drive away ill luck.
Most of the people working outside their country return home for the celebrations on the eve of Chinese New Year or a couple of days leading up to New Year. Family unity is an important aspect that every Malaysian household prioritizes. Similarly, you should restrain from sweeping the floor on first day of Chinese New Year as it believes will sweep away your wealth.
Another exciting aspect of Lunar New Year is Angpao. A small red envelope, in which money is kept and sealed, is given to small children. This is expected to bring good luck to the child throughout the year.
Here are some simple decoration ideas for you to increase the Chinese New Year ambiance in your house.
1. Paper Craft Lantern with Fairy Lights
This was inspired by RedTed. You might already have fairy lights hanging around your house from previous festival. Now, You can customise it by sticking little paper lantern on it as below. For the red paper, you can replace with Angpao. Fold it into half and cut the stripe into 0.5 – 1cm wide. You are almost there!
2. DIY Cherry Blossom
A great floral decoration during CNY. 😉
3. Horse Origami
2014 is a Horse year in Chinese Zodiac. Attached are origami of horse and a video of it. Enjoy!
4. Printable Wealth Doll
You can easily fold these 2 dolls by printing out the files below and follow the instruction attached:
Chinese Doll: