Chinese New Year Ang Pow Wreath

Many years back, I wrote a blog post about Chinese New Year wall decoration and showcased a few examples. This coming Year of Water Rabbit 2023, instead of buying ready-made wall decorations, why not make your very own ang pow wreath? I will show you the step-by-step with photo illustrations and hope you like it.

This ang pow wreath method is also used as part of the lotus ang pow lantern’s roof design. If you come from that blog post, this is the post to learn how to make the roof. Once you are done with the wreath, pop back to the post to continue to make the 3D ang pow lantern.

The rating of difficulty is 2 out of 5, which should take roughly 25 minutes to complete. Each wreath measures approximately 26 cm by 26 cm. If you have a large plain wall next to your front door, you can make three more wreaths to spell some of the Chinese New Year auspicious words or the year instead, for example, 2023 on the middle of the wreath. It will make a big statement for your house.

You will require these materials:

• 12 long rectangle ang pows / red envelopes (approx. 9 cm by 17 cm)
• A cut-out of a Chinese word (from an ang pow or write your own)
• stapler & staples
• strong clear glue
• scissors

These are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Make the top part of the wreath, you will need six ang pows.

2. Find the midpoint of the ang pow by folding the ang pow in half and pressing the fold all the way down. The design is facing in.

   

3. Next, open the ang pow out again. Mark the middle of the midpoint with your thumb. Then pinch the two corners of the fold inwards to the middle of the ang pow.

   

4. Hold/squeeze the ang pow in between your palm and fingers. Staple in the middle with a small overlap of the corners. You will have a cute bow-shaped ang pow.

   
   
   

5. Repeat for the other five ang pows.

6. Orientate them vertically and join all six ang pows into a circle. Staple two ang pows (numbers 1 and 2) together along the top corners as shown. Don’t worry about the distance between two of the ang pows as we will adjust the shape later on.

   
   

7. Then join 3 to 2, 4 to 3, 5 to 4 and 6 to 5.

   

8. Once you have joined the ang pows into a circle, you can staple them closer to close the gap/hole in the middle.

   
   

9. Make the bottom part of the wreath, you will need six ang pows. This time round the ang pow design is facing out.

10. Find the midpoint of the ang pow by folding the ang pow in half and pressing the fold all the way down.

    

11. Next, open the ang pow out again. Mark the middle of the midpoint with your thumb. Then pinch the two corners of the fold inwards to the middle of the ang pow.

    

12. Hold/squeeze the ang pow in between your palm and fingers. Staple in the middle with a small overlap of the corners. You will have a cute bow-shaped ang pow with the design facing outwards.

    
    

13. Repeat for the other five ang pows.

14. Orientate them vertically and join all six ang pows into a circle. Staple two ang pows (numbers 1 and 2) together along the top corners as shown. Don’t worry about the distance between two of the ang pows as we will adjust the shape later on.

    
    

15. Then join 3 to 2, 4 to 3, 5 to 4 and 6 to 5.

    

16. Once you have joined the ang pows into a circle, you can staple them closer to close the gap/hole in the middle.

    
    

17. Place the top part of the wreath with the design facing upward directly on top of the bottom part of the wreath with the design also facing up.

    

18. Slot the top part of the wreath in between the gaps of the bottom part of the wreath.

19. Now staple one of the top parts of the wreath’s ang pow onto the bottom part of the wreath. Continue stapling around the circle until all the ang pows are joined together.

    
    
    

20. Once finished, if the wreath is too tall in height/volume, turn it over and staple it inside the top part of the wreath to flatten it.

    

21. Cut the Chinese word on the ang pow and stick the wording in the middle of the gap with clear glue.

    
    
    

22. Wait for a few hours before you hang it on a wall. You can staple some string behind the wreath and use a 3M command self-adhesive picture hook to attach it to the wall.

What do you think about this craft? Comment below and let me know.

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