Chinese New Year Red Envelopes

Red envelopes are given to children during the Chinese New Year as beautiful way to give a simple gift. Cash is placed inside of the red envelope and then given to the children when they visit their family members and friends. Children may have to kowtow to their parents before getting their Red envelopes or the parents may hide it under their pillow while they are sleeping.

Red is a lucky color in the Chinese culture and cash is the common gift in China for gift giving occasions. And money is the traditional gift for any occasion; weddings, funerals, birthdays, graduations...everyone gives money.

Usually the children are allowed to keep out some money to spend on snack foods, a trip to KFC or some new toys. Then mom and dad take the other portion and save it in the child's savings account where it will sit and be added to until the child becomes and adult.

I recently asked some students this question and they answered that it all depends on who it is and their relationship. Anywhere from 50 to 500 yuan was said to be typical. My son usually gets 200 each from aunts and uncles but more from grandparents. Family friends usually give 100.

My students said they know people who get 2000 to 10,000 yuan in total during the Chinese New Year. I think my son gets less than 2000 but that's also because we don't give him any. He's only three so there's not much point in it yet. Actually, we've just always added it to our bank account...because my husband figures that since we give an equal amount of money to other kids (mainly the cousins and close family friends) and that we provide everything for him, it's all the same. I think once he's a little older we will keep it seperate, in his own account, but for now, that's what we do.

Red Envelopes are also given out for weddings and births. Money is the most common gift for all gift giving occasions and is usually given in a red envelope. You can even reuse the red envelopes, if no one has written on it. However in my experience, only about 10% of the cash gifts that we've gotten have come in red envelopes. Most is just folded up and handed to us.

When we give gifts, I always try to get crisp new bills and buy a red envelope.