Chinese New Year DIY Party Favors

Chinese New Year

Year of the Rooster 🐓

Easy DIY Party Favors 

No party of mine is complete without a party favor.  For this years Chinese New Year party I sent guests home with a tangerine body butter.  Mandarin's are considered good fortune during Chinese New Year but I couldn't find mandarin body butter.  So satsuma had to do.  

I love the little details of this favor.  The gold Chinese symbol on the front of the take-out box and the cute little fortune cookie charm.  I tied the charm onto a bamboo straw with red string.  

Careful, I think that dragon is eyeing your favor.  You better go get it before he runs off with all of them. 😉😉

Supplies needed to create this party favor:
Scissors
Tape
Craft paper
Take out boxes
bamboo straws
Red thread
Fortune cookie charms
Chinese symbol stamp
Satsuma body butter

These party favors are super easy to make.  Gather all the supplies listed above and lets make one. 

1. Cut a piece of the gold glitter craft paper to fit the front of the take-box.  

2. Attach it to the take-out box with double stick tape. 

3. Write or stamp a Chinese symbol onto red craft paper and cut it out into a square.

4.  Attach with double stick tape to the gold glitter paper that you just attached to the take-out box. 

5. Tie a fortune cookie charm to a bamboo straw with the red string. 

6. Put the bamboo straw with the fortune cookie charm into the take-out box. 

7. Set the satsuma body butter into the take-out box. 

For more ideas about Chinese New Year be sure to follow my Chinese New Year board on Pinterest. 

Shop this party favor:

Styling, concept, photography by Fizzy Party 

White take-out boxes, fortune cookie charms:  Oriental Trading 

Gold sequin table linen, red thread and craft paper:  Joann Fabric and Crafts 

Satsuma body butter:  The Body Shop 

Dragon:  Uwajimaya 

Chinese New Year Dessert - Year of the Rooster

Chinese New Year 

Year of the Rooster 

Happy Chinese New Year!  It's the Year of the Rooster this year.  Earlier this week I showed you ideas for setting up a table for lunch.  Now it's time for the best part of the meal, dessert!

I picked up a bamboo steamer from an Asian market to serve the desserts in. To tie into the lunch setting I placed the bamboo steamer on a gold charger to bring the desserts to the table.  

You might notice snow in the background in this post and the lunch post.   It so rarely snows like it did this year in Portland and I couldn't resist taking the photos outside with the snow.   It was too cold to eat outside but it was so pretty for pictures. 

Tier one of the bamboo steamer contained fortune cookies.

The second tier of the bamboo steamer contained sesame cookies that I picked up at an Asian market.  Sesame cookies aren't too difficult to make but it's so much easier to pick some up at the store. It saves so much time and stress.  What happens if you make the cookies and they don't turn out?  Or they don't taste very good? What are you going to serve your friends then? Save yourself the stress and pick some up.

I also served up some gold and red candy coated chocolate candies.

It wouldn't be a Chinese New Year party without  the dragon dance.  I found this dragon at an Asian  market.

Inspired to host a Chinese New Year party?  Looking for more ideas? Follow my Chinese New Year Pinterest board.  

Here's what you need to achieve the look of this dessert table:

Styling, concept, photography:  Fizzy Party
Gold sequin table linen:  Joann Crafts 
Gold charger and candy containers: Michaels 
Bamboo steamer, sesame cookies and dragon:  Uwajimaya 
Fortune cookies, candy coated chocolates : Oriental Trading 

Chinese New Year - Year of the Rooster

Happy Chinese New Year 2017

Year of the Rooster  

Chinese New Year is January 28, 2017.

Red is a main colour of Chinese New Year and is an auspicious color.
I couldn't resist glamming up the table with a gold sequined table linen.  I've used this gold sequined linen in a lot of my parties. It's so versatile.

Paper plates get an upgrade with chargers.  I've gotten a lot of use out of these gold chargers too.

Fish is a must at Chinese New Year but I don't like the taste of fish at all.  So I decorated with gummy fish.  Eating fish is believed to bring a surplus of wealth and good fortune. 

Koi fish gummies swim in a pool of river rocks. Small details like this can add a big impact to your table.  You might think that your guests wouldn't notice small details like these but they do. They do. And it's a wonderful feeling when your guests comment on these little details you take time to add.

I served up spring rolls in a bamboo steamer and set the spring rolls atop red candy coated chocolate candies.  The candy coating kept the chocolate from melting.  And I just liked the way it looked.  It added a layer of texture and colour.

Now I totally could have made my own Chinese food but I cheated and went to Panda Express.   It's just so much easier.   I like Chinese food but many recipes call for a lot of ingredients that I would never use up before they expired.  And Panda Express is 2 miles from my house and by picking up food to go I save myself time and stress so I can enjoy more time with my friends at the party.

Red envelopes are given to children and seniors and have money inside.  I filled mine this year with chocolate money.  In past Chinese New Year parties I filled the red envelopes with lottery tickets.

Next up: Chinese New Year dessert. Be sure to come back by.

Inspired to host a Chinese New Year party?
Here's where I got everything so you too can achieve this look.

Styling, concept, photography: Fizzy Party
Gold sequin table linen:  Joann Fabric and Craft 
Gold chargers:  Michaels 
Red and gold candles: Fred Meyer
Rooster paper plates, Koi gummies and red candy coated candy: Oriental Trading 
Red envelopes, bamboo steamer and gold coin chocolate money: Uwajimaya 
Chinese food: Panda Express 

Chinese New Year- Year of the Horse

The last two years I've had a few friends over to celebrate Chinese New Year.  See the other two parties here and here.  I keep this party small, inviting three friends to fill my four seat table. I decorate the table only and if you'll notice, I reuse some of my decorations. Nothing wrong with reusing.

2014 is the Year of the Horse and my friend Karen, who loves horses helped with the table décor. She brought over her horses from China.

When hosting a party, always check if your friends have something that you could use for décor. Friends like to help out and you can add some items to your party without having to spend more money. You'll find that your friends want to be involved with the party and help if they can.

For drinks I mixed orange juice, sparkling water and ginger ale. I had found this recipe in a Sandra Lee magazine. You just mix equal parts of all three ingredients. My friends noticed the small touch and enjoyed the bamboo paper straws I used to tie into the theme.  Thank you to my friend Tara who sent these to me. You can read her adventures of a city girl moved to Montana here.    

Red envelopes filled with money are traditional at Chinese New Year.  I filled mine with a lottery ticket, hoping my friends would win a little money. I picked these because they had Chinese New Year colours of red and gold.

For food I did a combination of homemade and take-out.  For homemade I did  Spring Rolls and Pot Stickers. The spring rolls weren't a big hit. I over cooked the veggies a little, oops, so they were a little mushy. And one of my friends admitted to me, she's not a veggie lover. The pot stickers however were delicious. They were easy to make and my guests really enjoyed them. The recipe makes a lot but you can freeze them :) 
Take-out rounded out the rest of the food. Why stress yourself out by making everything homemade. Kristina brought some take-out too.

Gold take-out containers served as party favors filled with Pineapple Tart Cookies.

Cookies were wrapped in red foil and I added a caramel Lindor truffle for a touch of gold.

Pineapple Tart cookies and Almond Cookies were served for dessert. My guests and husband really like the almond cookies. My guests thought the pineapple tart cookies had a nice taste. I found them to be a little dry and wished they had more filling.  These cookies were a little labor intensive.



A big thank you to my guests Karen for bringing her horses, Kristina for bringing some take-out, and Tara for sending me those great straws.
I hope you throw a mini Chinese New Year party too.  Never under estimate the FuN of a small party.

2015 will be the Year of the Sheep

CNY: Year of the Snake 2013

No it's not a new crime show, it's Chinese New Year (CNY).  Every time I write CNY to my friend I always think of CSI.   You won't find any crime scene tape at this party though.  Last year I threw a mini Chinese New Year party  and had so much fun I wanted to throw one again this year.

For party favors I put candied orange slices in the mini take-out box's.  Oranges are given out at Chinese New Year because the word for orange sounds like luck.

For food I made Crispy Baked Asian Chicken Wings,, and my friends brought spring rolls and chicken noodle dishes.  For dessert I made Chinese Almond cookies.   My husband really likes these.

It was a small mini party, just 4 of us.  We ate, talked and had a good time catching up. I highly recommend mini parties.

Chinese New Year party

Welcome Year of the Dragon. This is my brother's year, he's a dragon.  I have to wait until 2019 for my year, I'm a pig. Oh you bet my brother had a good time making fun of me for that. I prefer wild boar, they're feistier than pigs.  This is my first Chinese New Year party.   I had a mini party with 3 friends. I'm feeling the mini parties this year. Are you going big or mini this year?

I love the colours of the Chinese New Year. Red and gold just POP!

Party favors.

Wind up dragons for the Year of the Dragon, Gold nail polish, and Lindt chocolates in red and gold.

May the Year of the Dragon bring you good fortune and happiness.