By Holly Sosa
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NewYearFortune #CollectiveBias
Chinese New Year is all about greeting the coming year with wishes of happiness, wealth, longevity, and good fortune. Typically, families gift one another red envelopes, which often have money inside, for a prosperous new year and also enjoy traditional appetizers during their celebrations. I’m not one to pass up any sort of holiday; especially one where I can teach my children about other cultures. To create our own version of Chinese New Year here in the desert, I made some fun DIY paper fortune cookies and my family dined on traditional style, crispy chicken egg rolls and savory spring rolls, both loaded with flavor and fresh cut veggies, from Tai Pei®.
You’ll need the following supplies to create these paper fortune cookies at home: paper, scissors, glue, paperclips, a circle shape to trace, and a pen or marker.
To get started, simply type up some clever fortunes in a word document on your computer. You could also write them down if you prefer handwriting. I typed up several of our favorite inspirational Bible verses and printed them out, trimmed them, and used them inside our paper cookies.
Once you have your fortunes trimmed into thin pieces, you can get started on your cookie. I used some of my favorite scrapbook paper and traced an old CD onto several pieces. You can go as big or as small as you like with your circle. The bigger the circle, the bigger your cookie. The CD gave me a decent size that I felt was perfect for little hands to be able to play with while not being too delicate.
Next, you’ll bend your circle in half without completely folding it. You want a nice bend in it, but not a crease. Thread your fortune or bible verses through the bend now. Then you’ll take a finger and push in the middle until the cookie folds in on itself to make a perfect little fortune cookie shape.
Add a dab of glue to the folds and use a paperclip to secure the cookie while it dries. I let my glue dry for at least a couple of hours before removing the paperclips and giving them to the kids to play with.
I loved the results from the mish-mash of paper designs I used. If I had been clever enough ahead of time, these would have been great all in red with a bit of money peeking out, but these are darling nonetheless and will even be a fun Easter idea this spring.
To complete our celebration, we filled our bellies with Tai Pei® frozen appetizers and their provided dipping sauces. We grubbed on crispy egg rolls filled with hearty chicken and mini chicken spring rolls that were filled with fresh traditional style veggies. Asian food feeds my soul and satisfies most every culinary craving I have and Tai Pei® does Chinese food expertly. How you can enjoy a fabulously crispy authentic egg roll from the microwave is beyond me, but they nailed it.
All the supplies you need to create your own Chinese New Year celebration, including these delicious Tai Pei® frozen appetizers can be found at your local Walmart.
Be sure to check out the Chinese New Year app from Tai Pei® on their Facebook page where The Red Envelope tab will include a coupon and will run until the coupons run out. You can also find them on Twitter and Pinterest for recipe ideas, additional fun crafts, and more!
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