EnvelopeDock
OEM · Wholesale · Factory Direct
Custom Chinese New Year red envelopes are the printed money packets brands hand out at the festival — to staff, to customers, and to the families who keep the tradition going. We print them factory-direct on the same die-cutting, folding and foil-stamping lines as our envelope range, in the formats Chinese New Year orders actually use: 80 × 170 mm portrait, 158 × 80 mm landscape and 90 × 90 mm square. Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February 2027, so artwork and quantities are best locked well before the festival.
Chinese New Year is dated by the lunisolar calendar, so it moves every year. These are the dates a 2027 print order is planned around.
| Date (2027) | Day | What it means for a red packet order |
|---|---|---|
| 5 February | Friday | Chinese New Year's Eve — family reunion dinners; packets begin to change hands |
| 6 February | Saturday | Chinese New Year's Day — the festival date everything is worked back from |
| 20 February | Saturday | Lantern Festival — the close of the New Year period, around 16 days after New Year's Day |
| Zodiac animal | — | Year of the Goat (also written sheep or ram) — the motif most brand sets carry |
2027 is a Goat year — in the sexagenary cycle, Fire Goat. English sources are not consistent about the animal: 羊 covers goat, sheep and ram, and international media has used all three, so a set aimed at an English-speaking audience is usually safer decorated with gold numerals, prosperity characters and a general festive motif than with an animal name. Traditional packets carry gold lettering and messages of prosperity as a matter of course.
Because the date moves, the ordering window moves with it. If you are sourcing for the 2027 festival, the planning constraint is not the festival itself but the manufacturing calm that precedes it — see the ordering timeline.
Red packets are given far beyond the family table. Understanding who receives them is what decides how many a brand actually needs — and in what sizes.
| Giver | Recipient | Packaging implication |
|---|---|---|
| Parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles | Unmarried children in the family | Small volumes, wide size range, heavily motif-led |
| Close friends & neighbours | Children in the households they visit | A handful of packets; the same sets are often shared |
| Employers | Staff — as a year-end bonus | Volume order, staff-count driven, usually corporate branding |
| Companies | Customers and clients, as a thank-you | Volume order with premium finishing — this is what a printed set is usually bought for |
The amount inside is not something a printer decides, but the conventions are worth knowing. Amounts containing 4 are avoided — it sounds like the word for death. Amounts containing 8 are considered lucky. Crisp, new notes are preferred, and coins are avoided. Beyond that, the figure depends entirely on the relationship, the market and the year, so we do not publish a scale — the people filling the packets set it.
What we do supply is the packet itself: a printed set that carries the brand, matches the year's motif, and comes in the size the note needs to sit flat. If you are ordering for staff or customers, tell us the headcount and the format and we will quote from there.
The festival has several English names and the packet has several more. On a purchase order they all mean the same object — but the wording shifts with the market.
| Term | Where it is used | What it means in an order |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese New Year red envelopes | General English, US & UK | The standard purchase wording — the term this page is built around |
| Lunar New Year red packets | International, inclusive usage | The same product and the same specifications, under the broader festival name |
| Red packets red pocket | Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong | The dominant term in Southeast Asian B2B enquiries |
| Ang bao ang pao, ang pow | Singapore, Malaysia | Spelling variants of the same thing; the Singapore trade usually quotes 80 × 158 mm |
| Hong bao | Mandarin-speaking markets | The Mandarin name for the same packet |
| Lai see 利是 | Hong Kong | The Cantonese name; Hong Kong orders often specify large-format packets |
If your brief says "lunar new year" rather than "Chinese New Year", nothing about the specification changes: the same formats, stocks and finishing apply, and the zodiac motif for 2027 is the same. The only thing worth settling early is the wording on any printed insert card, because corporate sets in North America often use the broader Lunar New Year phrasing while sets for Singapore and Hong Kong markets usually use the local term.
In practice the same 80 × 170 mm packet is ordered as lunar new year red envelopes for a North American audience, as a lunar new year money envelope when the set is a corporate gift rather than a family one, and as ang bao or lai see in Southeast Asia. The die-line, the stock and the finishing do not change — only the words on the card do.
For the full product range — sizes, paper stocks, finishing and the ang bao / lai see / hongbao naming map — see our custom red packets range.
Sizes are given as width × height on the finished, glued packet, so a portrait packet is written 80 × 170 — not 170 × 80.
| Format | Finished size (W × H) | Opening | Typical Chinese New Year use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait / pocket | 80 × 170 mm also 80 × 158 mm | Short edge | The traditional tall packet — corporate sets, retail giveaway, staff packets |
| Landscape / wallet | 158 × 80 mm | Long edge | Singapore-standard ang bao; a flatter, more modern look |
| Square | 90 × 90 mm | — | Smaller sets, hotels and F&B, creative runs |
The finished size is the outer dimension. The usable inner size is usually 2–3 mm smaller on every edge because the side seams and flap take up space — so if a note has to sit flat, build that allowance into the die-line. Artwork needs 2–3 mm of bleed so trimming never exposes a white edge.
Larger formats exist for people who want a banknote to go in unfolded: a 90 × 171 mm portrait packet or a 169 × 85 mm landscape one. Full dimensions, inner sizes and the banknote comparison are on our red packet sizes guide.
Foil on red is the classic Chinese New Year look, and it is the finish with the tightest artwork rules. These are the tolerances to design to.
| Process | Typical Chinese New Year use | Design constraint |
|---|---|---|
| Foil stamping | Gold logo, numerals and prosperity characters | Keep foil lines ≥ 0.2 mm wide and ≥ 1 mm clear of other artwork — thinner or crowded foil breaks up |
| Emboss / deboss | Raising the logo or the year motif off the face | Blind embossing on pre-coloured red card avoids printing large solid areas |
| Spot UV | Gloss highlight on a matte red base | Keep spot UV away from the edges and separated from other finishing layers, or trimming chips it |
| Soft-touch lamination | Premium corporate sets, often with spot UV | Works best over a heavier coated stock |
| Die-cut shapes | Contoured flaps, windows, non-rectangular packets | Requires a cutting die — supply a die-line or let us work from your outline |
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Stock | Usually 120–200 g/m²: gloss or matte art paper at 128–157 g/m², pearl paper at 120 / 160 g/m², or pre-coloured red card for foil-only designs |
| Digital printing | Available within our 1,000-piece minimum; supports variable data, so a packet can carry a recipient's name |
| Offset printing | Runs of 1,000 pieces and up; holds colour consistency and lowers the unit cost |
| Artwork | PDF, AI or PSD in CMYK at 300 dpi or better; logo as high-resolution vector; text converted to outlines |
A corporate Chinese New Year set has to work twice: as a festive object, and as a piece of brand collateral that is kept rather than binned.
One motif per lunar year. For 2027 that is the goat — but because the English animal name is contested, many brands lead with gold numerals and prosperity characters instead.
Face, flap or reverse. The convention is restraint: a foil logo or crest, with the festival motif carrying the colour.
A printed card behind the note — a greeting from the company, or space for a handwritten name. Common on sets given to customers.
On digital runs each packet can carry a recipient or branch name — useful when a set is distributed to named staff.
Black and gold, deep green or brand colours for a more restrained corporate look, still recognisably a festive packet.
Sets are usually handed out in a box or sleeve — worth planning with the packets so the whole thing is one print order.
This is the part of a Chinese New Year order that catches buyers out: the constraint is the manufacturing calm before the festival, not the festival date itself.
Chinese manufacturing slows ahead of the festival — published supply-chain guidance puts the pre-holiday production slowdown at around two to three weeks, with workforce availability recovering gradually afterwards. The effect is wider than a single factory: a printer can be back at work while the mill or component supplier it depends on is still closed, which is why a schedule that only counts the festival date can still slip.
For 2027, note that the official mainland China public-holiday calendar had not been published at the time of writing, so any specific closure dates you see quoted for 2027 are provisional. Treat the sequence below as the planning frame, and confirm the actual dates with us when you request a quote.
Portrait 80 × 170 mm, landscape 158 × 80 mm, square 90 × 90 mm — or a custom die-line. Quantity decides whether digital or offset is the right press.
Paper weight first, then foil, emboss, spot UV or lamination. Say which effect matters most and we will price around it.
Print-ready files with 2–3 mm bleed, text outlined. This is the step that most often delays a festival order, so it is worth starting early.
We come back with factory pricing, the 1,000-piece minimum order and the production dates — including how the festival period falls for your order.
Packets are light and compact to ship, but they still share sea and air capacity with everything else leaving before the holiday.
If you are ordering a printed set for staff or customers, get the format and quantity agreed first and send artwork as soon as it is ready — the earliest completed briefs get the widest choice of production slots. Request a quote and we will confirm the schedule for your specification.
Send the format, quantity, stock and finishing you have in mind — rough is fine — and we will come back with factory-direct pricing, the 1,000-piece minimum order and the production schedule.