Every Chinese New Year, you can be sure of a few things. Inevitable weight gain, incessant CNY music at every mall, and an inundation of red packets or ang baos. Here are the most intricate, ingenious and inspired designs for 2020. We’ll update this story as more designs come in, so check back often.
JW Marriott
JW Marriott combines elegance and simplicity effortlessly with a selection of multicoloured pastel red packets (though red, ironically, isn’t one of them) that come beautifully embossed with a floral design.
Hai Tien Lo
Hai Tien Lo’s red packets come traditional with a contemporary twist. Sporting a luxurious deep red, the red packets are finished with intricate maroon peonies. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though. The ang baos also come with augmented reality features – download the Artivive app to view an animation designed by 14-year-old Tee Xyn Pyn Angel, a Young Budding Artist with 10 Square Youth.
Four Seasons
Forming “four seasons of peace” in Mandarin with a stylised Chinese window lattice design, Four Seasons Singapore’s red packets come complete with songbirds and a calligraphy-esque ink smear surrounding it all – on a backdrop of either vibrant red or cream.
Yan
Yan’s red packets graduate from red to orange and adorned with colourful doves: reminiscent of the uproarious festivities and feelings of togetherness that are part and parcel of the Lunar New Year.
Schroders
Global investment manager Schroders has collaborated with local social enterprise Personalised Love to create something quite special this year. Gold-veined leaves hide a rat motif, while the whole thing comes in a handcrafted microfibre leather pouch that has been painstakingly cut, sewn, painted and debossed by hand.
Swarovski
Swarovski red packets come matryoshka-esque with a simple twist. A trio of crystals adorns the red packet to remind us what Swarovski is known for.
The History of Whoo
A refined touch, luxurious look and exquisite finish. The History of Whoo specializes in making our skin feel like royalty. Who knew that they’d do the same for red packets?
The Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton’s red packets come sealed in a hefty bordeaux-red box, with a string invitingly beckoning to me.
Marriott Tang Plaza
The packets from Marriott Tang Plaza come in a chic, deep wine-red coloured holder that’s fastened with a Chinese button knot.
The Ritz-Carlton
Pulling on it opens the box, revealing floral-inspired red packets in red, fuschia, and yellow.
Marriott Tang Plaza
The holder unfolds to reveal four grand qipao/cheongsam designs. The texture, intricacy and attention-to-detail all culminate in creating a truly wonderful red packet.
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s packets come on elegant, textured paper that’s embossed with a silver, floral design.
Design Orchard
From local retail and incubation space Design Orchard comes a series of chic, pastel pink packets printed with spring flowers – all stashed in an elegant gold-trimmed box.
Gianvito Rossi
Luxury Italian shoe crafters Gianvito Rossi have trod new ground with their bold zebra-printed red packets.
Graff
British jewelers Graff red packets come sealed away in a box embossed with tessellations of their logo in opulent gold and light red.
Graff
Flipping open the box reveals not only a New Year’s greeting and diamond-shaped decorations, but individual red packets gloriously embossed and finished in either maroon or gold.
Versace
Venerable Italian luxury brand Versace’s red packets come in a massive box embellished with a variant of their traditional Medusa logo.
Versace
Within the box are two sets of red packets. Both play on the leaf logo to create red packets that are hauntingly beautiful.
Omega
A gold ingot, a pair of rats and an intricate floral gold finish surround Omega’s unmistakable logo on their red packet to end all red packets.
On Pedder
A riot of colours and letters, designer fashion boutique On Pedder’s red packets exemplify fashion-forward thinking and innovation. Opening up the unorthodox red packets reveals several adorable rats.
Lancome
Lancome’s red packets invite you to step in 2020 with its simple and eye-catching design.
Club 21
Who moved my cheese? Apparently, luxury retailers Club 21 did – probably while designing their red packet that shows mouse motifs are not the only way to celebrate the Year of the Rat.
Clarins
Clarin’s red packets come sealed in packaging that evokes the Year of the Rat as well as its plant-based philosophy.
Clarins
Not only do the red packets boast gold New Year’s greetings on textured cream, they’re also enveloped by red, orange and carnation-pink sleeves bearing the rat and vine motif.
Marriott Tang Plaza
Marriott Tang Plaza’s red packets come with a diary-esque clasp and a crimson billfold.
Marriott Tang Plaza
Emblazoned with New Year’s greetings, floral patterns and either koi or butterflies, the red packets are finished red on gold, or vice versa.
Saint Laurent
No embellishments or embossing needed here. A muted ‘Saint Laurent’ in gold font on burgundy card-stock is all you need. That being said, these red packets come in a magnificent case that epitomizes luxury.
Mary Chia
Homegrown beauty and wellness firm Mary Chia’s red packets come in rose pink or peach and are glamorously decorated with vibrant roses.
Aston Martin
British luxury auto manufacturer Aston Martin has encased its red packets in an impressive matte clamshell box.
Aston Martin
The red packets are subtly finished with sporty stripes and Aston Martin’s iconic wings.
Tumi
Tumi goes purple with scattered traces of gold. The box opens at its center with a fitting motif of a Rat.
Tumi
Inside, a scarf bearing a whimsical illustration by celebrated artist Victo Ngai dominates. Lunar New Year is a time of homecoming for millions across the globe; Travellers occupy a space of flowing colours, patterns and festive symbols as they return to reconnect and reunite with loved ones. Perfect Journey Home is reproduced on the red packets, and as a bonus, stickers of the travellers are also included.
Shanghai Tang
Shaped square with jarring, contrasting colours, Shanghai Tang’s red packets have taken a leaf out of Andy Warhol’s book.
Givenchy
It took us awhile, but Givenchy’s red packets are not a play on Rorschach inkblots. The pattern conceals a quartet of hidden mice.
Burberry
Burberry’s red packets bring its modernized logo into 2020 with its unique play on the Year of the Rat.
Diane Von Furstenberg
Go wild with Diane Von Furstenberg’s purr-fect leopard print red packets.
Sulwhasoo
Sulwhasoo’s simple but refined red packets evoke harmony and balance, the very values the beauty brand strives for.
Porsche
Porsche gives us a tactile reminder this Lunar New Year that the dream of a perfect car never ends.
Sheraton Towers
The intricacy of the golden floral finish, coupled with the quiet subtlety of the embossed peonies, make Sheraton Towers’ red packets a true beauty.
Rémy Martin
French cognac producer Rémy Martin’s red packets celebrate its formidable reputation in cognac distillery while making for a visually-pleasing red packet.
Vacheron Constatin
Vacheron Constantin’s red packets come in a behemoth of a box, peppered with the signature Vacheron Constantin cross.
Vacheron Constatin
Opening the box reveals four different red packet designs that flow together to create a tapestry that commemorates the Year of the Rat.
MSIG
MSIG’s red packets feature a repeating fan motif along with the Rat on red or blue. The kicker? They’re sustainably sourced and packed plastic-free.
Piaget
Piaget’s red packet hides an elusive mouse in plain sight, proving that the luxury Swiss brand knows how to do cute as well as regal.
Raffles City
Floral prints reign supreme on violet and hot pink Raffles City red packets. They come with an elegant velvet purse complete with faux pearl, as well as floral stickers.
Hermes
Hermes have fully embraced the rat motif with their quirky gold finished red packets.
Hermes
This is one for the kids: Hermes have included a foldable finger puppet.
IWC Schaffhausen
Lunar New Year crimson knot decorations with faux gold coins on IWC Schaffhausen’s red packets come in a luxurious, heavy pullout box.
Beam Suntory
Beam Suntory red packets bring elegant Japanese-inspired watercolour featuring ingredients that make their premium spirits oh so special. Only available with purchases from the Beam Suntory Lazmall store.
Cartier
Hailing from 1948, the majestic reclining emerald-eyed panther flecked with black enamel has been indispensable to Cartier’s identity. It’s no wonder they are front and center on Cartier’s multilayered red packets surrounded by a flowing lattice on textured card-stock.
Mini
‘Good fortune comes when you share yours with the world’. Mini fights for good with its quartet of beautiful red packets depicting a world free of problems that plague our time – if everyone could just help out a little.
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc’s red packes feature a detailed golden finish of a rat toting a bottle gourd, once believed to contain magic life-giving nectar. Now, it is seen as a symbol of longevity and good fortune.
Bentley
Bentley’s red packets come in a resplendent multi-tiered golden box finished with serene imagery of migrating birds and mountain ranges.
Bentley
These are reproduced on Bentley’s red packets, coming in both gold and red.
Cindy Chao
Taiwanese jewellery designer Cindy Chao brings her characteristic verve to her red packets with the rat motif coyly peeking out of a Mandarin character, complete with auspicious maroon decorations.
Bulgari
Bulgari’s red packets come along with spring festival couplets and other Lunary New Year decorations.
Bulgari
The red packets themselves are finished with intricate golden decorations – sealed in a box bearing the luxury brand’s Roman headquarters at Palazzo di Piazza Nicosia.
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