Stuff for New Year's

Chris noticed this hong bao lantern kit was on sale from a catalog we trust. Of course, shipping & handling would be more than the current price for the kit! For those in the USA, $9 would get you:

• 90 envelopes ( enough to make three different ornaments, with 15 envelopes left over for secrets, poems, notes, or the traditional coins or dollars)
• 1 yard of cord
• 3 tassels
• 300 adhesive stickers
• Detailed, step-by-step, illustrated instructions for making the three ornaments.

hmmm... HearthSong also has their "zoo stick" attached chopsticks on sale. We finally broke one after at least 4 years of regular use - for Montessori-style pick up work as well as eating & many, many cycles through the dishwasher, which is probably not the best way to make them last.

Be careful what you are buying - Year of the Pig items should be on sale since you'd have to hold on to them for 11 years - but I noticed they are regular price at Oriental Trading still. I vote their Chinese Shirt Gift Bags the cutest, and their Design Your Own! Chinese New Year Dragon Accordion Cards "most likely for me to buy" of the Chinese New Year items. If I had a regular classroom, I would be tempted by their "Dragon Bulletin Board Puzzle". If you search for "Chinese" instead of "Chinese New Year", you might be as surprised as I was to see brush sets listed. I can't tell what quality or how long to expect them to last.

Of course, you will find higher quality things at China Sprout's Chinese New Year Page and lots of interesting things in your local Chinatown, or on Pearl River's Chinese New Year's page.

My friend Betsy usually reminds me that now, a few weeks beforehand, it the time to go to Chinatown to get new couplets and door guards for the coming year.