Nothing beats a good family anecdote. We’ve all been in family situations that have been either cringeworthy or overly heartwarming, reminding us of that important basic principle that family always comes first.

In the spirit of the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations, we asked and collected some stories about families during the festive season and it turned out that almost all of those anecdotes involved ang paos in one way or another.

Without further ado, here are the best stories about receiving ang paos that will make you either laugh, cry or both.

1) “There was a year when my aunt gave us vouchers instead of money”

“About a couple years back, my aunt started working at a large supermarket chain. For some reason, she thought it was a good idea to give supermarket vouchers to her nieces and nephews who were still studying. While it was weird at first, she explained that she didn’t want us to waste money buying “useless things”, so she preferred us to spend the money on our day-to-day groceries. Good save, Aunty. Good save.” – George, 25

2) “I thought I could use my ang pao to pay for shopping”

“I have an uncle who usually gives me $100 every New Year, which is a lot to give a niece but he doesn’t have any kids. Last year, I didn’t open his ang pao because I assumed it was going to be that amount. So when I went to shop at this second-hand book store that I normally go to (they only accept cash), I picked out about $100 worth of books thinking I had enough from just the ang pao alone. When I was about to pay, I opened it up and saw only $20 inside and panicked. There was a queue behind me and I didn’t know what to do, so I just told the store owner that I had to withdraw money and left. So embarrassing but it was entirely my fault for assuming and not checking.” – Ashley, 21

3) “I think my friend’s parents hate me”

“Back in secondary school, my classmates and I would visit this rich friend’s house during Chinese New Year knowing that his parents would always give us $20. After about two hours or so, we left and opened our ang paos. Everyone had $20 in their packets but when I opened mine, all I got was a $2 note. I think they hate me.” – Paul, 22

4) “My baby cousin gave me an ang pao with a written note inside”

“It was one of the cutest things ever! When my baby cousin was about seven-years- old, he gave my sister and I (his older female cousins) an ang pao each. We thought it was a joke at first but he told us that after buying him toys and “bringing him go gai gai” (taking him out), he wanted to repay us back. When we opened the packet, instead of money, there was a note which he wrote in his huge seven-year-old handwriting basically telling us how much he loves us and that he has no money now but that one day when he becomes rich, he’ll buy us a house and a car. Fifteen years on, we still remind him about his promise!” – Sarah, 24

5) “It involved a magician who FAILED quite badly”

“My family and I were having dinner at a restaurant during Chinese New Year when a magician walked over to our table. He asked us to choose an even number between two and 10, and to pick an orange from a basket. He then borrowed a knife to cut the orange, explaining that there will be an ang pao inside it with an amount corresponding to the number we chose. The knife however was probably sharper than he expected, so he sliced straight through the orange AND the ang pao, cutting through the $2 note (which was the wrong amount by the way) and left a whole pool of orange juice on our table. Super fail.” – Bryan, 22

6) “I accidentally gave the wrong ang pao to the wrong person”

“When I was about eight-years-old, some of our relatives made a surprise visit that caught us off-guard. While my mum was making them tea, she asked me to run up and grab an ang pao from her drawer to give to my cousin. I couldn’t find any in the drawer but saw a red packet on the table so I just took that ang pao, ran downstairs and passed it to him. Little did I know, I had given my cousin the ang pao that was meant for me. Thankfully my cousin hadn’t opened the packet yet and when my mum realized the mix-up, so she quickly sorted it out. Chaos averted.” – Lydia, 20

7) “My dad has a weird sense of humour”

“My dad is the type of guy who thinks he’s funnier than he actually is. As a running joke ever since I was little, he has given my siblings and I $88 in $2 notes. That’s forty-four $2 notes stuffed inside one ang pao packet – not to mention how unlucky the number 44 is. He still does it till this day but I will probably return the favour once I start earning.” – John, 20

8) “Not what I was expecting from an ang pao…”

“This didn’t happen during Chinese New Year, but I have an aunt who prefers to give us ang paos for Christmas instead of gifts. Last December, she knew that I was going quite crazy about the McDonald’s Monopoly contest, so she decided it would be funny to put the ‘Instant Win’ coupons for an Iced Milo and Small Fries instead of money. Thanks.” – James, 25

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Inspired by one of these interesting ang pao stories? All you need is an ang pao to get started. Redeem your free set of ang pao packets with every McDonald’s® Golden Prosperity Burger Extra Value Meal™ and who knows? Maybe you’ll have your very own story to share with us next year!


This article was brought to you by McDonald’s.

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