Which of these 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.

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 house’s Divas’ Dream mosaic-inspired patterns, while twinkling Roman stars link the design to its 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).

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 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.

Cartier

These adorable baby panthers made a super-charming 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 immediately won over.

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?