ET Speaks From Home

Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way

  • Chinese Culture & Festivals
    • Chinese Culture & Superstitions
    • Chinese Cuisine
    • Chinese Festivals
    • Chinese Wedding
    • Feng Shui
  • Craft
    • Adult Craft
    • Children Art and Craft
    • Chinese New Year Craft
    • Origami
  • Family Life
    • Collaboration
    • Home Improvement
    • Life & Parenting
    • Modelling
    • Printable
    • Sensory Play
    • STEM
    • Summer Activities
    • Tutorial
    • Lichfield Mandarin Club
  • Food & Drink
    • Bake Recipes
    • Cookbook
    • Dessert
    • Drink
    • Food Products
    • Meal Recipes
    • Restaurant
  • Review
    • App
    • Beauty & Health
    • Book
    • Drama, Movie, Theatre
    • DVD & Blu Ray
    • Fashion
    • Game & Board Game
    • General Products
    • Household Products
    • LEGO
    • Nintendo
    • Puzzle
    • Technology & Gadgets
    • Toy
    • Travel
    • Twitter Party / Party
    • Stationery
    • Vlog
  • Giveaway

Chinese Wedding Gifts

9 May 2017 by Eileen

For English weddings, the bride and groom typically have a list of wedding gifts but for Chinese, we are more practical. All we want is money, partially to pay for the wedding costs and partially to pay your mother-in-law!

chinese wedding gifts

In Chinese culture, traditionally the man has to foot the bill for the whole wedding including the wedding dinner, which is different to English culture where traditionally the bride’s parents pays for the wedding dinner. The Chinese mother-in-law would request for 5 or more bride’s tables. So any wedding gifts (money) given from the bride’s tables would go to the bride’s mother. The rest of the wedding gifts from the groom’s tables would be given to the groom to foot the wedding dinner bill. During my sister’s wedding, my mum stood next to the wedding gift box and she would pocket any gifts from my mother’s relatives or friends.

So if you attend any Chinese weddings in Chinese restaurants as a friend or relative, they would expect you to come with a big fat red packet (ang bao) to help cover their dinner costs.

What to get for the wedded couple?

From a Relative/Friend:

Money! Do make sure it is enough to cover your own dinner costs. How to calculate how much to give? Check out the hotel rating beforehand. If it is a buffet, you can give less. If it’s in a posh hotel, then you should give more. Also give amounts in even numbers.

Chinese love the number 8. They would be happy to get 28, 38, 88 etc. but avoid the number four such as 40. Number four sounds like death in Chinese. So this is not an auspicious number. Also remember to write your name on the back of the red packet. The bride and groom will want to keep a record. So next time, if you get married, they will try to give you back the same amount of ang bao.

Avoid buying presents unless it is requested by the bride and groom. If you would still prefer to give a present, the best choice would be gold. It can be in any form like necklace, earrings etc.

From the Groom’s Family to Bride:

In Teochew traditions, they have to give four pieces of jewellery including a gold necklace, a pendant, a pair of earrings and a bangle.

Mr V kindly shared this photo below with us. This is the type of jewellery they gave to his wife 30 years ago.

wedding jewellary in 1970

In Cantonese traditions, bride will received a pair of dragon and phoenix gold bangles from mother-in-law. This is to symbolise a blissful union.

dragon and phoenix gold bangles

From the Bride’s Family to Bride:

Now that their daughter is going to be moving away from home, instead of money, they would give their daughter gold jewellery. The reason is simple – if the bride receives money, they would expect to share with their husband in their joint account. To protect their daughter, they give gold jewellery for their daughter to wear/keep. So this jewellery won’t be shared with the husband. Also the bride/wife should not tell the husband where she keeps it so that she has emergency funds if required.

So don’t feel offended if asked to give money (ang bao) at a Chinese wedding! What did you receive on your wedding?

Related

Filed Under: Chinese Wedding Tagged With: chinese culture, wedding

« Join the Hasbro HotSpot Community Awareness Program
New Lego Minifigures Series 17 »

Comments

  1. Elaine Clark says

    18 September 2017 at 2:47 pm

    Beautiful photos. What a wonderful wedding. The food looks delicious and love the wedding gift.!

  2. Kel says

    8 June 2017 at 11:54 am

    Liking the sound of the Million Eyez – will check it out further!

  3. over40andamumtoone says

    8 June 2017 at 11:39 am

    That’s a great idea for an app and a great way to share photos

  4. Kirby D. Costa Campos says

    25 May 2017 at 4:17 pm

    This is so cool to learn about! Thanks for the great post and for being part of the campaign.

  5. Charlotte says

    23 March 2014 at 3:24 pm

    That is so interesting, and actually I think that’s a wonderful idea giving jewelry instead of money so she has something for herself

  6. fritha strickland says

    22 March 2014 at 4:38 pm

    these posts are so interesting! it’s great to get an insight into other cultures

  7. Kara says

    21 March 2014 at 7:04 am

    You have to pay your Mother In Law? I have to say when we got married we asked for B&Q vouchers so we could do up our house

  8. Sarah Bailey says

    21 March 2014 at 1:29 am

    So interesting reading these thank you – I have to admit I know very little other than from the posts I have read from you on Chinese traditions 🙂

  9. Happy Homebird says

    20 March 2014 at 11:03 pm

    Thank you for such an interesting insight. I truly love reading these posts as I like learning new things to tell my mum about x

  10. LauraCYMFT says

    20 March 2014 at 9:32 pm

    These posts are great. A bit of learning about other cultures is brilliant. I prefer to give money as a gift as I think, in the day and age where couples live together before getting married, money means they can treat themselves to what they like or what they need. We asked for money at our wedding so we had spending money for our honeymoon.

  11. Amanda says

    20 March 2014 at 8:43 pm

    This is so interesting… I LOVE your posts because you tell us all the things that we just wouldn’t know about. I think the traditions are all so symbolic and something we lack quite a lot of in our English culture these days!

  12. You Baby Me Mummy says

    20 March 2014 at 8:37 pm

    I love learning things from your posts. We got gift cards for our Wedding, not money but nearly x

  13. Anna says

    20 March 2014 at 8:37 pm

    It’s interesting to know, so that if I go to a chinese wedding now I won’t give the wrong thing! To be honest we mainly give money at weddings anyway – unless its an english wedding and they have the gift list, we will buy something, otherwise in all the asian weddings we just give cash in a card!

  14. mummyoftwo says

    20 March 2014 at 8:11 pm

    I like the idea of giving and receiving money. Most couples have been together a while by the time they have got married these days so probably don’t need much for the home. Money is much more practical!

  15. Agata Pokutycka says

    20 March 2014 at 7:35 pm

    money seems like an extremely practical gift… yes, maybe it is not very sexy but still… you cannot go wrong with giving money

  16. Red Rose Mummy says

    20 March 2014 at 7:26 pm

    It’s really interesting Eileen. I dislike giving money as a gift. I’d much rather choose and give a gift. I won’t if I get invited to a Chinese wedding though!

  17. lisa prince says

    20 March 2014 at 6:33 pm

    this is very interesting i would have no idea as the chinese seem offended by quite a few average gifts we buy each other over here if we gave them what we would like to rceive x

  18. The 40 Year Old DG says

    20 March 2014 at 3:33 pm

    What a great post, so interesting to hear about other cultures xx

  19. Terry My Journey With Candida says

    20 March 2014 at 2:00 pm

    What a tradition of giving money to the couple so they can pay the inlaws. I am not so sure that would go over well here in the US. LOL… I know our kids would keep it all for themselves.

  20. Twinsplustwo says

    20 March 2014 at 1:05 pm

    Great post – this is really interesting! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  21. Michelle Ordever says

    20 March 2014 at 12:36 pm

    I love reading about different traditions – what a fab read!

    In Greek Orthodox weddings, gifts are also given in the form of money, pinned to the bride and groom as they do the money dance. My dad is Greek Orthodox and I so wanted that at our wedding 😀 But it wasn’t to be!

  22. Sylvia Fiolunka says

    20 March 2014 at 12:29 pm

    Love your posts about all those different things between countries 😉 In Poland we normally ask for money to cover all the expenses coming with big fat wedding 😉

  23. Victoria MyLittleLBlog says

    20 March 2014 at 12:26 pm

    omg thats interesting, but way to complicated) do you still have to do it?! you mentioned english traditions but i guess in some families things are different, we paid for our wedding ourselves and parents merely tried to contribute by giving us which covered a bit of our wedding, as well as i know other couples who pay themselves for the wedding and parents just give them money as thier contributions towards it

Trackbacks

  1. Are You Looking for Gift Ideas for Your Child’s Wedding? - ET Speaks From Home says:
    21 July 2022 at 12:54 pm

    […] has all you think they need or you have no idea what to get them, you can give them money as a wedding gift. It leaves them with a comprehensive option of how  to use the cash, whether investing it or […]

  2. Chinese Wedding Combing Hair Ceremony - ET Speaks From Home says:
    30 November 2021 at 10:30 pm

    […] I am going to write about the combing hair ceremony.  Do check out my Chinese tea ceremony and wedding gifts if you missed […]

  3. Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - ET Speaks From Home says:
    26 November 2021 at 1:09 am

    […] with money or jewellery on the serving plate.  If you remember last week, I wrote a blog post on Chinese wedding gifts in particular about the red packets and jewellery.  This is us serving tea to my […]

  4. The Surprising Differences Between Chinese & Typical Western Weddings - ET Speaks From Home says:
    8 May 2019 at 3:39 pm

    […] Chinese weddings, there are no presents like this. I wrote a post about the whole concept of Chinese wedding gifts before, and I mentioned how money is the main gift. Guests give money to the married couple, and […]

Search

Hello!

Welcome to ET Speaks From Home!

I'm Eileen, a proud mum of two teenagers (aged 17 and 16), my daughter is living with visual impairment. Since launching this blog in May 2012, we’ve continued to grow and evolve, sharing our family’s journey and passions.

I love cooking, crafting, DIY projects, writing about Chinese culture, and creating YouTube reviews.

**Achievements & Recognition:**

* Top 20 UK Parent Blogs (2020)
* Tots100 Top 20 Blog on Twitter (2014)
* Tots100 Top Mummy Vloggers (2015)
* Tots100 Top 20 Vloggers (2016)
* Shortlisted for BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards (BiBs), Video Category (2014) Read More…

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Click here to get in touch!

Contact Me here!

Click here for Media Pack!

pr media pack

Archives

Recent Posts

  • How Children Cope with Parents Splitting Up
  • Gift Hamper UK Review & Giveaway
  • Cultural Traditions and Family Dynamics When Relationships End
  • Smart Safety: How to Use Tech to Protect Your Lone Workforce
  • Effective Branding Strategies for Outdoor Cultural Events
  • 5 Places To Get The Best Kids Beds
  • Easy Bedroom Upgrades That Make a Big Difference
  • Where to Buy Organic Meat Online: What Matters Most
  • How to Choose a Surveyor for a London Property: 6 Smart Tips
  • Clean Label Supplements: Are They Worth It? What to Look For

Amazon Affiliate

“We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk and affiliated sites.”

AWIN & ShareASale Affiliate

“We are a participant in the AWIN Program and ShareASale, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to their clients and affiliated sites.”

Google Privacy Policy

By continuing to use this website, you agreed to be bound by the Google Terms of Service. To find out more, see here: Google Privacy Policy

YouTube API Terms & Conditions

By continuing to use this website, you agreed to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. To find out more, see here: YouTube API Term & Condition For Handling YouTube Data and Content Policy : to store the public data temporarily, but not more than 30 days and the stored data will be either be refreshed or deleted after 30 days.

Copyright

©2012-2025 Eileen Teo unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved. You may not reproduce text excerpts or images without my prior permission.

Disclaimer

To find out more, see here: Disclaimer

Privacy Policy

To find out more, see here: Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress