Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Happy Chinese New Year!
Wishing you all a happy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit!
To celebrate the occasion, I’ve been making lanterns. I made a Year of the Rabbit lantern (note the bunnies on the wrappers) to hang in our hallway. If you’d like to make one of your own, I wrote a step by step tutorial here last year.
This year I added these sweet shell-shaped lanterns, easily made from a single ang-pow (red envelope) packet.
Begin with an ang-pow wrapper or similarly sized envelope or piece of thin cardboard…
Fold the wrapper in half lengthways. With a sharp pair of scissors and cutting from the folded edge, snip into even strips, cutting almost to the edge.
Turn the angpow wrapper over and curl the opposite corners towards each other. Bring corner A to corner B, overlapping one onto the other…
Join the two corners with a staple…
Finish by stapling a red cord or string to one corner. Now find a good spot to hang your lanterns for the fifteen days of Chinese New Year!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Blessings for an auspicious New Year at Figjam Central. May your chickens keep laying and your garlic divide and your bread always rise!
Happy New Year !!!
I have some brightly patterned origami paper that I’m going to use for these. No money envelopes here. :( I had some that I bought in NYC-Chinatown some years ago- but I used them all up decorating one year.
These are charming, thanks again for sharing, Celia!
Hi,
Happy Chinese New Year to you too. I love the little lantern. It looks great.
Have a wonderful day.
Adorable! Happy Chinese New Year to you, too :)
Btw … one of my readers said they are in Australia and it was over 100F. Wicked! It’s like 6F here… and covered in a blanket of snow. So funny how different the weather can be on our little planet :)
Beautiful work, Celia – a very happy new year to you too!
Oh these look like a good rainy day make-and-do activity. I’ll get HoneyB to apply her artistic genius to a plain old envelope :-)
Happy CHinese New Year Celia!
Monkey Boy just caught sight of your lanterns…”so shiny and pretty!”
Happy Chinese New Year to you all!
Joanna, perfect CNY wishes, thank you so much! :)
Heidi, hope you had fun with them. These ang pow wrappers were so pretty, and I ended up with fingers covered in gold glitter!
Monique, Doc, thank you!
Sasha, it is funny, isn’t it? We’re in the midst of a five day heat way!
Gillian, Brydie, small people love making lanterns – try using plain red envelopes and getting the kids to decorate them before you make up the lanterns! :)
Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the Rabbit be a wonderful for you and yours.
Happy Chinese New Year! And a happy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit to you too! Any traditional feasts in the works to celebrate that you’ll be sharing with us?
Very neat. Just wondering how these shell shapes might be fashioned from pastry or pasta, then baked or cooked.
Happy New Year to you Celia – Hope Fig Jam & Lime Cordial & all who live within her have a wonderful year :)
I remember making lanterns like that when we were little…., awwhhh……, the memories huh :)
How fun! Reposting now!
Happy New Year, Sweet Friend!
Maz
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Happy Chinese New Year, Celia! Hope you and your family have a happy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit.
I’ts been around 20 years since I last made a lantern…wow..20 years…
Happy new year to you and your family, Celia. And thanks for sharing your lovely, bright lanterns, too.
Happy Chinese New Year to you and yours, Celia.
Your lanterns are very pretty. They look easy to make. I think my children will enjoy making some. These are prettier than the ones I remember making in school.
Thanks for the idea!
happy chinese new year sweet celia!
may love, health, happiness, creativity and prosperity reign over you and your beloved ones every day!
thank you for sharing with us your pretty gold rabbit lantern! love! :)
Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! Thank you all for your kind wishes – may the year of the rabbit be wonderful for you all as well!
Nancy, the big get-together dinner (reunion dinner) is always held on New Year’s eve (at least in our family), so tonight is spent eating leftovers. Lots of “good luck” dishes – noodles, chap chye soup, and we always eat lots of roast duck! :)
Peter, I suspect it might be ok as pastry, wrapped around something, but I don’t know how well it would work as pasta. It might just turn into a flat mass on boiling?
Soy, Anna, time to make lanterns again! CNY goes for 15 days, so plenty of time to decorate the house! :)
Manuela, I hope the kids love this! And Maz, thanks so much for the reposting! :)
Have a wonderful night, folks, and a great fifteen days!
Happy Chinese New Year. It is celebrated with much enthusiasm here in Mauritius.
Your lanterns are lovely, both from last year and now.
:-) Mandy
Your lanterns are beautiful. Thank you for the tutorial too, I’d like to make some.
Happy New Year to you.
Hope you took the money out of the envelope first Celia! Do you have any food traditions with your family?
How simple and effective! It would make a pretty party decoration any time of year with different envelopes too.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Mandy, that’s nice to know that it’s celebrated so enthusiastically in Mauritius!
Gill, hope you have fun with these!
Chef, definitely no money in those envelopes! :) We usually celebrate with a big dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve!
Claire, thank you, I think they’re very pretty too! :)
Happy New Year to you and your family Celia – I hope the coming year is prosperous for all of you. Thank you for sharing the lanterns – they’re beautiful.
Happy New Year!
This is a fabulous idea. Your lanterns are so beautiful. I’m bookmarking this for next year. Thank you
Wow Celia, wished I found your post before CNY so I can make those latterns. Gorgeous. Gong Xi Fa Cai and wishing you and yours lots of happiness and peace.
C, Deb, thank you both! I hope you have a wonderful year of the rabbit! :)
Amy, they’ve been great fun, and there’s lots of instructions on YouTube as well!
Quay Po, thanks for stopping by! It’s not too late, remember we get to hang the lanterns for 15 days! :) Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and yours as well!