5 Things To Do with Your Family During Chinese New Year

As the Earth spins faster and faster every day (yes that is a fact—originally a minute is 60 seconds, but now it is around 59.8 seconds), the arrival of Chinese New Year will be just around the corner. You may or may not already have plans made of how to spend the holiday, but the following 5 things could be done during the holidays with your family and will hopefully give you some ideas of how to spend this time.

1. Write your own 对联

A 对联 is a pair of Chinese characters that are being stuck on either sides of a household’s doors with the first line on the right and the second line on the left. There sometimes are four characters on the top of the door as well. Usually, the two lines that are being placed are either side are 7 characters each and encapsulates one’s goals and desires in the following year, and the 4 or characters on the top of the door, called a 横批, is a short phrase that represents the positive outcomes that is planned for the new year. One example could of a 对联 could be “一年四季行好运，八方财宝进家门‌” (translated to “a year full of fortune, wealth from everywhere coming in the door”) and 横批 could be “家和万事兴” (everything will go as wished if the family bonds well). A 对联 may require some skill in Chinese to complete, as ideally, each character or phrase on either side should correspond with one another, such as 一年 (a year) corresponds to 八方 (every aspect), which are both nouns that represent something that is comprehensive and well in the long-term. Composing one of those could be a nice challenge among the family, and a competition could even be more fun!

2. Cooking a Chinese Dish Together

Cooking is either a nightmare or the best hobby for some, and some traditional Chinese New Year dishes such as ones that require the butchering of a whole fish or cooking up a stew that may take hours of simmering are quite daunting to make. However, there are definitely some fun and kid-friendly recipes to make as a family for the holidays. One of which, perhaps the most popular one, are dumplings. Dumplings are hands down the most popular food to eat during Chinese New Year and making them may require some professional skill, but it surely is a fun process for any child to enjoy. Adults may want to prepare the dumpling skins and fillings in advance, as they may require some cooking to do, but if your child is already somewhat skilled, they could also learn to roll dumpling skins (if that’s not possible, store-bought dumpling skins should also be easily found in grocery stores) and season fillings. Another recipe that could be made as a family that is similar to dumplings in terms of the preparation process is tangyuan (汤圆). This is a usually sweet (sometimes savory meat fillings can also be found) dish that is eaten in the southern parts of China during Chinese New Year, and its skin is usually made of glutinous rice flour instead of wheat flour, and the sweet filling varies from black sesame (the classic one and the favorite) to peanut and even chocolate! Making these requires relatively less skill compared to dumplings, but still is a great way for the family to bond.

3. Cleaning the House

I bet you were not expecting this, but yes, cleaning the house. Why? Because it is said that it will sweep away all the bad luck and keep the house nice and fresh for the new year (the concept that I absolutely love with the last letter of my MBTI being J). Cleaning the house would ideally be sweeping and deep cleansing every corner of it, as you definitely don’t want to leave any bad luck sitting in the house! Doing it with the entire family would definitely make everyone feel responsible towards the house and is definitely a great way for the family to bond. It is also important to note that this is preferably done before the Chinese New Year holiday starts as during the holiday, it is vital to keep all the fortune gained in the new year in the house rather than sweeping it away. So definitely keep the house clean before celebrations!

4. New Year Shopping

Not gonna lie, this is perhaps my second favorite part of Chinese New Year (my first being the feasts of course). But the part I like about it is not consumerism, but the vibes and crowd of the markets and stores. People are all looking for ingredients and decorations, trying to squeeze past one another, but everyone is ready for the upcoming celebrations, as well as watching the New Year TV Gala. “What to buy then?” you may ask. Well, here is a following list of things that could be purchased as well as its special meanings:

Rice cakes (年糕): the Chinese character 糕 has the same pronunciation as 高, meaning to improve and get better at somethings, making it a staple on Chinese New Year feast tables.
Snacks: snacks are bought in bulk so they can be eaten throughout the entire holiday and as pre-feast or post-feast munches. Usually, cookies, nuts, chips, dried fruit, and candy, are all snacks that could be bought for the holidays.
Groceries (or not): there could be groceries stored in the house for cooking for the feasts. However, if you are not the biggest fan or cooking, perhaps you won’t need to stock up on any groceries.
Decorations for the house: Chinese New Year house décor is very important to bring on the holiday vibes. Usually, red lanterns (some paper-made ones work as well), the “fortune” character (福) stickers, as well as some other good-looking stickers and hanging pieces could be bought to enhance the holiday feel.
红包: you might know this through the WeChat red packet, and it is exactly what the red packet it used for—giving money to those who are a generation younger than you. This is seen as a form of respect and care to the youngsters, and purchasing the red packet packages is definitely the second step to preparing red packets (the first being having all the money ready lol).

5. Setting Off Fireworks and Firecrackers

The reason why I have put this last is because setting off fireworks and firecrackers is against the rules (not necessarily the law, but if someone finds out and calls the police, the police has the right to fine you I think) due to environmental protection and pollution policies. However, if the area you are in allows this to happen, definitely do try this out as it is great fun watching it explode and turn into romantic patterns in the air. I have tried this out with my family last year during Chinese New Year and it was great fun.