Chinese New Year begins on Sunday, February 10th this year. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday/festival of the Chinese calendar. February 10, 2013 kicks off the year of the snake. You can read more about Chinese New Year on Wikipedia. Here is a collection of various ways you can celebrate Chinese New Year.
Red Snake Envelopes- Steph of The Silly Pearl has some great CNY printables. Download them here.
I printed out the square envelope graphics and we made them at our last Girl Scout meeting.
Beaded Snake Craft- In my daughter's left hand above you see the snake we created at scouts. For this craft you need pipe cleaners, pony beads, and googly eyes. I got the pipe cleaners, heart shaped beads, and eyes from Dollar Tree.
I cut red pipe cleaners into fourths. We made a loop out of one end of the pipe cleaner to create the head. Then we threaded beads before cinching off the end. We folded the piece of red over the end of the loop and twisted it to create the snake tongue. Then topped it off with glued on eyes. I loved the girls' creations!
Paper Snake Craft- Kirstin of Craftiments has this awesome snake craft made our of paper and a cardboard tube. Find the directions here.
Fabric (Valentine) Snakes- Sky from Capital B came up with this great idea that combines fabric and a felt heart to create a cute snake. Perfect with Chinese New Year & Valentine's Day in the same week! Find the directions here.
Tissue Paper Snake- Aubrey of The Mother Huddle created these cute tissue snakes. Find the directions here.
Books- Here is a collection of some of our favorite Chinese New Year books over the years!
Traditions-We have created a few different traditions over the years. I always get my daughter a new stuffed animal to match the new year. Most snake stuffed animals are ugly, so I ordered this one off Etsy. It arrived and my daughter is excited to get it on Sunday. It's SUPER cute!! We also have a little Christmas tree that we decorate for Chinese New Year. We create handmade zodiac animals for it each year. We have a CNY year meal, often out at a restaurant.Here are some photos from over the years.
Bentos- Here are last year's CNY bentos that I made.