How to celebrate Lunar New Year 2023: What to decorate and gift
2023 Chinese Rabbit Window Stickers
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Decorate your windows with these adorable paper cuttings of Rabbits to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. You can also adorn your walls or doors with this display and its cute design will make it a favourite with children.
Tupa 20 Pieces Red Chinese Lanterns Decorations
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Deck out your home with 20 red paper Chinese lanterns that are perfect for all celebrations.
Personalised Chinese New Year Red Envelopes
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For parents and couples who are looking to gift Chinese New Year red envelopes, pick these sweet envelopes from LilDimSumUK which have adorable illustrations of dim sum baos and rabbits printed on.
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Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year are set to happen this week and its holiday that is all about happiness, health and prosperity. Welcome a new lunar year with your loved ones and celebrate with delicious food, drink and gifts. The New Year is happening on Sunday, January 22 so get into the festive spirit and decorate your home with seasonal greetings for the Year of the Rabbit, this year’s Zodiac animal.
Chinese New Year is specific to Chinese culture, while Lunar New Year is a celebration of all the Asian countries that celebrate the New Year including Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and more. Although they have similar meanings, Lunar New Year is a more inclusive term so it’s widely used more. In addition, Lunar New Year incorporates lots of cultural rituals from Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and more.
Each year, Chinese New Year falls on a different day in the calendar and is a 15 day celebration that will end on February 2, 2023 this year. The Year of the Rabbit celebrates prosperity, longevity and is predicted to be a peaceful year of hope. This year celebrates the water rabbit, and its extra prosperous to decorate your home with rabbit decorations and symbols.
Whether you’re planning on celebrating all the traditions or want to incorporate a couple into your home, enjoy family-friendly activities and cook delicious meals. Here’s a guide on how to celebrate Lunar New Year at home for 2023.
Clean before the day
According to Chinese tradition, it’s bad luck to clean on the day of Chinese new year as it sweeps out any good luck so to stick to customs, make sure to clean your home on New Year’s Eve. Wipe dirt off floors and windows, clean clothes and bed linens, and be sure to organise everything including dishes and bowls.
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What to decorate your home with
Make your home into a festive celebration and decorate with red and gold celebrations. This is the Year of the Rabbit so it’s prosperous to decorate your home with symbols and imagery of the Rabbit. Look for paper cuttings, lanterns, and Rabbit-themed designs to make it easy. The most common decorations include the character “福” (fu) which means fortune and good luck. To make it extra lucky, hang the 福 upside down at home as this symbolises that luck has arrived on your doorstep. Other easy ways to decorate including adding a bowl of tangreines, oranges or kumquats around your home as these fruits are perceived to bring happiness to your home. Do avoid the colours black or white as it’s unlucky. Plus, you can find Chinese New Year decorations on Amazon from 75p up here.
What to wear
Whether you want to wear traditional dresses or casual clothes, make sure you wear lucky colours as they are important symbols for the new year and key colours to wear include red, gold as they symbolise luck and prosperity. Avoid wearing black or white on the day as these colours are worn to funerals. It’s also important to wear new clothes as the custom states that buying new items symbolises getting ready for a new start to your year.
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What to cook
Food is a central part of Lunar New Year’s celebration and its important to share a family dinner on New Year’s Eve and throughout the days of Lunar New Year. Tesco has partnered with Taiwanese-born British Chinese chef Ching He Huang who is sharing her recipes for this year’s celebration. Ching He Huang said: “According to Chinese myths, the duck is a noble and lucky animal and as they mate for life, they are a symbol of fidelity and love.” She added, “Traditional Chinese Peking duck recipes involve marinading the duck and hanging it to dry for two days, however, my take is more akin to the Cantonese Roast Duck from Hong Kong.”
Ching’s Hong Kong Style Honey Roast Duck – Serves 4
Ingredients
For the duck
- 1 whole duck
- 4 litres of boiling water
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Chinese five spice
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled, sliced into coins
- 3 spring onions, washed, top tailed, sliced to 2 inch pieces
- 1 star anise
- 4 tsp honey
For the sauce
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp golden syrup
- 200ml vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp premium light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp premium dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp cornflour plus 1 tablespoon cold water
For leftovers
- 8 wheat flour pre-made tortilla wraps
- 4 spring onions, washed, top tailed, julienne, set on a small serving plate
- ½ cucumber, deseeded, julienne, set on a small serving plate
- 3 tsp hoisin sauce, set in a small dipping sauce bowl
Method
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What to give
It’s Chinese custom to give lai see or red envelopes during Lunar New Year because it’s a gesture that shows adults blessing children with luck, happiness and fortune. Red envelopes typically contain money and it’s a tradition that’s carried out by married individuals and elders as a symbol of well-wishing. Seasonal blessings and greetings are normally said during the red envelope exchange as a sign of respect. While you don’t necessarily need to give out money, you can also give out chocolates and sweets that are wrapped inside a red envelope.
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Lunar New Year Food Deals
If you don’t fancy cooking or want to treat yourself to a restaurant meal, then you’re in luck as Deliveroo is offering free food to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Available now, you can get free items from over 600 Asian restaurants including Dim T, Chopstix, YO! Sushi, Sushi Daily, Kokoro and Thaikhun. Running from now until Thursday, January 24, 2023, simply browse online at Deliveroo to see the offers available and add it to your basket. Sheng Goh, Head of Chinese Category from Deliveroo said, “We hope free items from our partners will bring some added excitement to customers celebrating the Lunar New Year at home. Whether it’s a free bubble tea or gyoza’s on the house, we hope to bring you some extra good fortune when delivering mouth-watering meals from your favourite Asian restaurants.”
Here are some of the best freebies you can get now:
- FREE Gyoza (worth at least £7.35) – YO Sushi (42 locations around the UK including Exeter, Liverpool and Glasgow)
- FREE Tofu Skewers (worth £7) – Murger Han (7 locations in London)
- FREE Medium Mudflip Milk 黑糖珍珠粉圓 (worth £5.95) – Yifang Fruit Tea (14 locations around the UK including Cambridge, Nottingham and Newcastle)
- FREE Chicken Gyoza (worth £5.95) – Sushi Daily (35 locations around the UK including Bath, Brighton and Reading)
- FREE Brown Sugar Deerioca Milk (worth £5.40) – The Alley Bubble Tea (5 locations in London)
- FREE Vegetable Spring Rolls (worth £4.95) – Daddy’s Dim Sum (18 locations around the UK including Cambridge, Bath and Aberystwyth)
- FREE Mix Veg Dim Sum (worth £4.75) – Dim T (5 locations around the UK including London and Winchester)
- FREE Red Bean Osmanthus Porridge (worth £3.60) – Liangji Wraps (6 locations around the UK including London and Sheffield)
- FREE Vegan Prawn Crackers (worth £3.50) – Thaikhun (8 locations around the UK including Glasgow, Southampton, Oxford)
- FREE 5 Piece Spring Rolls (worth £3) – Chopstix (48 locations around the UK including Liverpool, Birmingham and Aberdeen)
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