Mandarin oranges when spoken in Chinese also sound like “gold”. Typically, it must be given in even numbers when we visit our business associates, friends and relatives during the Chinese New Year. This year, your mandarin oranges can look even more appealing. Put them in a lacquered carrier box – the box can be used by your recipient to do a fruit display after that.
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To traditional Chinese businessmen, we often associate the bamboo to represent growth and luck, and the pineapple (or “Wang Lai” in Chinese) to represent prosperity coming. Why not combine the two, and you have a beautiful lucky bamboo in the shape of a pineapple – teamed up with a lacquered bowl, you have a really meaningful gift for your business associate.
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Chinese New Year, or “Chun Jie” which literally means Spring Festival celebrates the coming of spring and a fresh start to one’s life. This was a time for the Chinese to congratulate each other and themselves on having passed through another year, a time to finish out the old, and to welcome in the New Year.
Other than traditional festivities, the Chinese will decorate their homes in colours of red and gold, paste poetic “Spring Couplets”, a tray of togetherness filled with special foods are some examples. It is also a time of exchanging meaningful gifts between business partners. Giving candy trays filled with special food items of significance are good for strengthening ties.
Completely lost what to give your clients this Chinese New Year? Get hints from the Chinese New Year traditions, auspicious sayings and food.
A very nice gift will be a “ba qua” box filled with chinese new year’s goodies. The box is also written with a Chinese character with a auspicious meaning. “Fu” brings blessing, good fortune and good luck to the recipient.
Click here for other corporate gift ideas for Chinese New Year
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Today, I have just received a text message from my friend inviting me to a Christmas party at her home. As usual, we have to bring a small gift for exchange below $30.
This always poses a headache for many people, as 1) you don’t know who is the recipient, so you need to get a “gender-neutral” gift; 2) the budget of $30 nowadays does not take you very far in terms of a nice gift. Of course, for me, it is always easy, because I can just get a gift from the large array of options at Qua. This time round, I decided on a penholder. Perfect for the office desk for the men, or for some of us, ladies, a makeup brush holder, and it is only $19! Looks really pretty in the bathroom as well.
Penholders Galore
Wineholder
Wineholder - All Designs
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The calibre of a gift tells the receipient’s importance to the giver’s life. However, only a gift with a personal touch speaks of how thoughtful the giver is. Like it or not, impressions do count and here are some tips on how to make a gift look more special.
The Box – if the gift does not come with a pretty box, I suggest you purchase one from shops which sell gift boxes.
Wrapping Paper – spend a little more if need be on this.
Wrapping Accessories – You can use ribbons, flowers, confetti, tissue, stickers, and even small toys to further enhance the gift wrapping.
Card – make sure you convey the message you wish to tell the receipient.
Sounds pretty complicated, isn’t it, especially since most of us are not blessed with skillful hands.
At Qua, all our gifts come in beautiful handcrafted boxes in silk material. This way, our customers can be saved from the headache of gift-wrapping. In fact, for our corporate customers, we have a further service where they can choose from a variety of fabric swatches that matches to their corporate colours or the gift. Also, these presentation boxes are so beautiful that many of our customers are using them to store their little treasures. Talk about a gift within a gift!
The corporate gift we did for Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) spells “pretty, pretty, pretty”! The chopsticks are set in a red silk box (DBS colour), and embellished with a gold ribbon with the corporate logo. When you open the box, you see a message to the recipient. This is what I call “First Impression Counts”!
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A cherry blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees known as Sakura. In English, the word “sakura” is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry. The Cherry Blossom is a symbol of good fortune and is also an emblem of love, affection and represents spring – a new beginning. The blossoms’ transience, the extreme beauty and quick demise, is an enduring metaphor for the fleeting nature of life.
Our Cherry Blossom collection has captured the fleeting beauty of this symbol. In every piece, we have strived to reflect life’s beauty and wonders as symbolised by the Cherry Blossom, which our craftsmen had successfully infused into the collection.
Click here to view the full Cherry Blossom collection, which consists of small souvenir items like trinket boxes and decorative home products to furniture pieces like lamps and furniture.
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Have you ever wondered the significance of the octagonal shaped candy box that you see during every house visit for Chinese New Year?
Well, the candy tray that is arranged in either a circle or octagon is called “The Tray of Togetherness” and has a dazzling array of candy to start the New Year sweetly. After taking several pieces of candy from the tray, adults places a red envelope (lai see) on the centre compartment of the tray. Each item represents some kind of good fortune.
The following are the different kind of candies that should be included in the Ba Qua box;
* Candied melon – growth and good health
* Red melon seed – dyed red to symbolize joy,happiness, truth and sincerity
* Lychee nut - strong family relationships
* Cumquat – prosperity (gold)
* Coconut - togetherness
* Peanuts – long life
* Longnan – many good sons
* Lotus seed – many children
After reading the above, I believe most would understand the true significance of the well-known bagua plate that is being used by every Chinese family during Chinese New Year each year. At Qua, we bring you the most exquisite design of the different kinds of baqua plate we have. Get something special and significant for your loved ones today!
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My clients often ask me for new corporate gift ideas for Chinese New Year. Every year, they have been giving mandarin oranges which are pre-packed by less than presentable carton boxes / rattan baskets hampers. Once their business associates finish eating the mandarin oranges, the boxes are thrown away, and the gift got forgotten.
Having said that, mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year, representing “golden luck” – so my clients are reluctant to discontinue this practice with their Chinese customers.
Our Chinese New Year gift idea is to package the mandarin oranges into a hamper using a lacquer product as a base. In that case, your recipient can still use the item as a fruit platter for the rest of the year.
A hamper full of mandarin oranges, with “6” and “8” which represents prosperity in the Chinese culture will be ideal. For example, the hamper should have 6, 8, 16, 18, 26, 28 etc number of oranges to ensure prosperity goes to the way of the recipient in the New Year.
Click here to see more details of other Chinese New Year gift ideas
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For the Chinese culture, Chinese New Year is traditionally the main season for gift exchange between business associates. This is the time when you thank your clients for their support throughout the year. Some tips during this season of gift giving are:
1) Colours
Gifts embedded with red, orange and gold are best as it symbolizes prosperity.
2) Number
“6” and “8” represents good fortune, and “4” represents death in the Chinese culture. Avoid “4”, and have things in “6” or “8”
3) Symbolism
Giving gifts with good symbolism such as Chinese new year greetings, and representation of a new beginning, will bring smiles to your receipients.
We have several gift ideas for you, including hampers, octagonal boxes with all the cny goodies.
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Chinese New Year is just around the corner yet again! There are plenty of auspicious items that need to be present during this special period of the year, such as, the commonly seen “Fu” sign that is always hung upside down, ba gua tray which is the octagonal box used to place candies and much more.
But, have you ever wondered the significance of these commonly seen decorations used during Chinese New Year?
Fu, Lu and Shou, Three Stars of Blessings, Prosperity and Longevity
Fu, Lu, and Shou are three “gods” that can also be called the “Three Stars.” Separately, they may be called Fu Xing, Lu Xing, and Shou Xing. Just in case you have no idea what does “xing” means, it means “star”. The three gods are legendary stars of blessings, prosperity, and longevity and they have been popular among people for centuries. This clearly shows the traditional culture of the Chinese people who long for happiness, prosperity, and longevity.
So have you ever wondered why does the character “Fu” has to be hung upside down? First of all, the character fu means good fortune, blessings, happiness. It means simply “being happy”. The character is displayed on doors during Chinese New Year and is often placed upside-down, as “turn upside-down” in Chinese means to say “luck upside-down” which sounds like “luck is coming”!
I decided to design a set of lacquered coasters that has these 3 Auspicious Blessing Stars carved beautifully onto them. That’s not all! Each of these coasters is inlaid with mother-of-pearl which makes it stand out from any other coasters that you find! Get yours at Qua now!
Qua’s Fu, Lu, Shou Coasters
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