Which of these 30 Chinese New Year 2026 luxury brand hongbaos screams your personality?

In these ultra-consumerist times, it’s not like we have a lack of red packet options. But of course, not everyone does it like the luxury brands.

While it used to be that the elders would compare hongbaos between banks, considered the height of privilege back in the day, today the annual excitement comes from how each luxury house is interpreting the new zodiac year, if at all, and the exclusivity of these envelopes typically reserved for preferred clients.

And let’s be honest: There is certainly a degree of status signalling when doling out such sleeves of joy. The more covetable the brand, the more impressive you’d look.

Here is our curation of the most desirable luxury brands and their latest red packet designs, some of which are gifted with the prettiest treats. Feast your eyes on them, and perhaps a couple of them would resonate with your cash-distribution style.

Chopard

Wow! A set of figurative galloping golden horse hongbaos and a 70 per cent dark chocolate cashew praline sea salt horse sculpture from Janice Wong. Between us, Chopard is one of the best special-occasion gifters, with their boxes always a whimsical surprise. The Swiss maison’s red packets, however, are always classic and elegant crowd-pleasers. Lively and shimmering, the stallion brings to mind the universe of animal creations by Caroline Scheufele.

Van Cleef & Arpels

How dreamy is this depiction of a Chinese ceremonial showhorse? We are gushing over the sheer artistry of Van Cleef & Arpels here, which lives up to the maison’s heritage of blending light-hearted charm with refinement. The pink and champagne gold cloud, floral, and fan motifs — yes. The soft, pastel-warm colour palette — yes. The lavishly adorned steed — yes. The desert-meets-nature-meets-Oriental background — yes. Best angpow award goes to this French house.

Ode to Art

The most psychedelic red packets we’ve ever seen. The illustrated box belies the explosion of auspicious horse-themed sayings, colours, and motifs inside befitting of an art gallery. No mere envelopes, these Ode to Art babies are your Chinese version of Wheel of Fortune on a palm — yes, you may spin each wheel to receive your desired blessings. We like the TOTO one.

Bvlgari

Every year, we look forward to Bvlgari’s Chinese calligraphy scrolls, and this time, the gift box also comes with a beautiful fabric horse charm and a set of cleverly designed red packets encoded with the maison’s signature emblems. The circle framing the Fire Horse (don’t you love the mane?) is decorated with the Divas’ Dream mosaic-inspired patterns, while twinkling Roman stars link the design to the house’s heritage. And the hongbaos come in a lucky set of eight stored within an envelope that fans open, so that you may dole it out with drama.

IWC

Customers of this Swiss watchmaker would know that the maison has one of the most consistent hongbao aesthetic year to year. They are always smart and modern — just like the brand. The red here is a darker burgundy, reflecting the dial colour of the new Portugieser Automatic 42 Year of the Horse watch, while the central golden sprinting horse motif is taken directly from the timepiece’s oscillating mass design. Slow clap, and thank you very much, IWC, for the bak-kwa (not pictured here).

Tiffany & Co.

It’s a horse! It’s a unicorn! It’s Pegasus! Against the robin egg blue box is an illustration that honours Tiffany & Co.’s Lunar New Year Pegasus campaign, as well as Jean Schlumberger’s iconic Bird on a Rock and naturalistic garland necklace aesthetic, plus the key decorative elements of Chinese culture. This smorgasbord of elements work so well together, and we wish the red packets also come in the American jeweller’s signature blue.

Omega

Accompanying Omega’s gorgeous hongbaos referencing the sculptured horse chess-piece is this lavish gameboard set. An ancient, highly strategic game universally known as Go, it is weiqi to the Chinese and baduk to the Koreans — and the premise of recent South Korean biographical movie The Match. Instead of black and white stones, this version features garnet red and milky white crystal-cut pieces. We don’t know how to play it, but we already feel intelligent looking at it.

Harry Winston

The window on the dark red box recalls the shape of Mr Harry Winston’s favourite emerald cut, and within it, a star-dusted heavenly horse rears up. The same design continues inside on the hongbaos, but with stunning curly Chinese-style gold clouds we absolutely love. We like that there are two tones of red to suit your mood. I mean, practically, you’d need to be able to differentiate between the packets for your mum and dad, or favourite person and the least appreciated one, right?

Chaumet

So there’s a lot of heritage going on here. In a nutshell, the hexagon is a core motif for Chaumet, because it represents the beehive. And that is a design expansion of the Chaumet Bee, which is descended from the original bee emblem that’s a personal symbol of Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the maison’s most important historical patrons. Serendipitously, the beehive motif is the same shape as traditional Chinese decorative windows. Add a golden bee and plum blossoms, and you have a red packet with serious East-meets-West significance.

Rolls-Royce

What can we say? The brand is none other than Rolls-Royce, and each hongbao is nothing less than a plush leatherette purse. And it announces itself with fire-engine red anchored by the motif of The Spirit of Ecstasy sculpture, which is the bonnet mascot of Rolls-Royce cars. The gifter is somebody really special, and the recipient must be equally special. We’d receive these, filled, with gratitude.

Cortina Watch

Generous as ever, Cortina Watch surprises us this time with an exquisite peony-painted fragrance diffuser vase set from Artisan of Sense. Crafted to usher in vibrancy and fortune, the complex bespoke scent opens with a citrusy-green aroma before showcasing a heart of florals and settling into warm woods. And the hongbao set is equally curated: The symbolic number eight is woven into a Chinese knot bag cham, and forms a lattice over a textured horse design on the envelopes. Abundance, happily received.

Vacheron Constantin

The balance wheel, hairspring, and multiple watch movement components come together to form this stunning vision of a European-style leaping horse. Here, we must say Vacheron Constantin has made a ingenious reference to its Metiers d’Art The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Horse, which depicts the creature jumping over a boulder. Meanwhile, we appreciate that the set comes with a non-horoscope gold version of money packets, showcasing the maison’s Maltese cross emblem that’s also been discreetly worked into the horse design.

Cartier

These baby panthers made a super-adorable appearance during Cartier’s Christmas campaign, and now they adorn these bright gold and red hongbaos. Playful, joyful, and curious, the little cats are depicted gazing up at lanterns and peering out of Chinese pavilions. Cartier’s reputation as a master of shapes is also reflected in the square frames — recalling the Santos design — that the kittens drape themselves out of. Simply purrrfect.

Sincere Fine Watches

Now, Sincere Fine Watches has opted for a horse-inspired repeated pattern that is dignified and textured. Considering how many people we know want horse-themed red packets this year (instead of generic ones for weddings or birthdays), because the animal is such a popular symbol for strength and stamina, this design is a winner. But, you know what? We thought we saw emperor penguins too. No matter, the hongbaos also come with a large box of Taiwanese-style pineapple cakes, so we are won over immediately.

Hermes

Trust Hermes to come up with something as creative as a View-Master version of a red packet. Peer through the peephole to discover an idyllic scene of a horse cantering through a field of wild flowers. And the zodiac creature of the year is wearing an Hermes scarf, no less. As much as this is perfect for kids, it also brings out a child-like wonder in us. The effort that went into conceiving this complex equestrian-themed paper objet (no mere envelope, please) is incredible.

Zenith

Aww, Zenith, you didn’t just gift us these beautiful packets, but two porcelain canisters? In our opinion, these are the most understated yet stylish renditions. The star motif, while a signature emblem for the brand and especially the DEFY Skyline collection, isn’t too overwrought here. The silhouette of a horse, so tastefully depicted as a cloud of gold dust, takes centre stage in the design. Class act, this one is.

Burberry

Isn’t it wonderful that Burberry’s logo — rendered here in auspicious hues — is a perfect fit for this year’s Chinese horoscope? Trivia: This Equestrian Knight Design was crowd-sourced from a public competition to create a new logo for the brand, way back in 1901. The knight represents honour, the shield protection, and the lance reform. It isn’t just fashion, baby, it is social activism.

Phillips

The hongbao box and envelopes don’t just boast a chessboard design, but the set also comes with pop-out chess pieces. Brilliant, because the designer probably understands the long afternoons we’d have to sit around and wait for all the relatives to do their greeting rounds. What a way to pass the time. Do you think there is also a hidden meaning? That winning a Phillips auction involves some high-level chess-game strategy?

Montblanc

Not just the art of money-gifting, but the art of writing. Montblanc’s DNA is expressed so sharply here, through a prancing gold horse illustration, the brand name in cursive, and a letter set. Time to retrieve your fountain pen and start writing those thoughtful wishes you might have forgotten about during Christmas. Imagine showing off your penmanship along with good taste — in burgundy.

A. Lange & Soehne

These red packets are not just depicted with galloping horses inspired by paper-cutting, but peppered with watch movement component motifs. A proper ode to the season and A. Lange & Soehne’s Saxon horology prowess. This German manufacture is also the only other luxury brand to make meaningful Chinese calligraphy scrolls gifting items every Lunar New Year. We can’t read some of the traditional Chinese characters but we’d definitely put up the scrolls to appear cultured.

Mikimoto

Before our mums fight over this glossy-red ceramic sweets tray set, we’d better put this up here. Renowned for Japanese akoya pearl jewels, Mikimoto adapts the gem’s perfect spherical shape across this festive gift set. Gleaming white pearls, a horse carousel-themed cylinder box for the hongbaos, and the round arrangement of the tray set — nicely done. The circular shape is also symbolic of happy reunions, harmony, and perfection.

UBS

The banks think of everything. A sleek clutch purse for the red packets, and two sizes of envelopes for dishing out bigger and smaller cash denominations. But since this is UBS, the design is prosperous and on point. Twin gold and red horses running into a bullish future surrounded by vibrant flowers. High net-worth private banking client, you definitely are.

Niessing

German contemporary jeweller Niessing enlivens its hongbao set with embossing of various ring setting designs that it is famous for. In particular, the house is renowned for its patented tension-setting technique, which suspends the diamond seemingly weightless between the band. What’s even better is that the red purse is transformable into a jewellery tray, and also came with other thoughtful gifts such as a jewellery cleaning set and a foldable eco bag.

Longchamp

Did you know that Longchamp’s horse-and-jockey logo dates back to the late 1940s, when horse-racing was synonymous with Parisian elegance and sporting chic? Now, since the whole world recognises the fashion brand’s emblem, it didn’t need to flog its connection to the Year of the Horse. Instead, the house gives us an ultra-minimalist take on the red packets, held together with a stylised equestrian hardware clasp. Simple and stylish.

Blancpain

Taking pride of place over the glossy embossing of a cantering horse are images of the displays of the Blancpain Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel edition for this lunar year. The watch is so remarkable because it unites the complete traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar with Swiss high horology. We’d gift these to mechanical watch enthusiasts.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Evoking grace, energy, and movement, this restrained design from Jaeger-LeCoultre is open to interpretation. The cyclical passage of time? The spinning of a balance wheel? Fairy stardust from the twirl of a magic wand? Sometimes, a simple flourish is all that you need to stand out from the crowd.

Tissot

Tissot’s hongbaos are rendered in a bold vermillion hue, anchored by a sculptural gold medallion depicting three stylised, muscular horses in dynamic motion. Framed within against a radiant sunburst backdrop, the design conveys strength and momentum. We especially like the mesmerising shades of gold and 3D effect.

Nespresso

Modern and graphic, the image of a horse is cleverly incorporated into the animal’s Chinese character as the red packet’s central motif, channelling the image of a very unique seal. The swirling, fireworks-like pattern on the box is equally beguiling — almost serving as a visual prompt to put another Nespresso capsule into the machine. Time for a cuppa!

Panerai

A single horse, embossed in gold, gallops determinedly across this lightly textured hongbao. Muscular, powerful, balanced, and uncluttered, the depiction does resonate with Panerai’s watchmaking aesthetic, doesn’t it?

Kate Spade

This Kate Spade design pairs bright red with sweeping gold foil lines that form the house’s signature spade logo, which is enlarged into a graphic statement. The latter playfully doubles as a symbol of luck and high stakes, so for sure, we’ll take these envelopes to a poker game.