Five Ways to Celebrate Chinese New Year with Kids!

Living in a small town has its benefits. It’s safe, we have great schools, and we have small bases of ethnic communities that throw wonderful festivals during the summer. Last summer was our first in our new community, and we loved walking to the festivals, enjoying the music, and all of the ethnic foods. I think it is so important for kids to learn all about other cultures, religions, and ethnicities. As a Spanish teacher, I do just that everyday. I try to teach  my students about how other people live, speak, dress, and eat. Kids love to learn about something different than what they live and breathe everyday and it is our job to teach them.

That being said, living in a small town also has its disadvantages. Our diversity is limited and we don’t have a ChinaTown down the street where we can have authentic Chinese dishes for dinner and join in on their holiday celebrations. So what’s a girl to do when she wants to teach her family about Asian cultures? Throw her own Chinese New Year Party!

Chinese New Year begins this year on February 19th and I thought it would be so fun to have a themed party in our house. The Chinese New Year begins with a Reunion Dinner where the entire family comes home to celebrate and eat together. I think all families enjoy a big dinner together when all of their loved ones are present!

Decorate with Red

1) Decorate with red! Red tablecloths, napkins, plates, and definitely lanterns! Red is the “official” color of the Chinese New Year. Look how pretty these gold and red plates are that I picked up! They are going to be perfect for our celebration!

                                       

2) Do a simple craft with your kids that will get them excited for the party, Here is a simple DIY Paper Lantern you can make. DIY Chinese New Year Lantern for Kids. And this page has 10 different crafts that kids would love, including a beautiful Cherry Blossom craft! This year is the year of the Sheep, so Sheep decorations would be fun to make and include as well! Here is a coloring page you could print out that you could do with all ages of children.

Give Out Red Envelopes

3) One of the coolest New Year traditions is to give gifts of money in red envelopes. It would be fun to put small monetary amounts in the envelopes and give to kids,or you could fill them with “coupons” for things like go to bed late, get out of a chore, movie night, etc! My daughter is young so I am thinking of filling hers with play money and small candies. You can purchase the envelopes at most party stores very inexpensively!

Eat!

4)Make an authentic Chinese Dinner. Lo mein and Cauliflower Stir Fry are always favorites in our house as well as Spring Rolls and Eggrolls. To keep the party simple, Tai Pei ® Spring Rolls and Eggrolls from Walmart are absolutely delicious and are authentic. They are so loaded with meat and veggies that they can be a meal all by themselves! By making some of the food and purchasing the rest, it makes your party prep much less stressful and you can make it more about the cultural experience! We love these egg and spring rolls by Tai Pei ®. They taste exactly like the ones from our favorite local Chinese food restaurant and they are ready in minutes! I baked up the chicken and vegetable rolls for our party, but you can also purchase pork and shrimp varieties too! And I can’t forget to mention that all the spring rolls and egg rolls boxes come with dipping sauce!

You can find the Tai Pei ®  Egg and Spring Rolls in the Frozen Convenience Food Aisle at Walmart!

Dessert!