Give too small a hongbao and you could look bad. Give too
generously and you could feel the pinch.
This is the dilemma some young Singaporeans face in their first
Chinese New Year as a newly married, hongbao-dispensing couple.
Without previous experience, some couples do not know "the market
rate" or if there is even such a thing at all.
Couples tell SundayLife! that they decide the amounts based on
what their parents had given their relatives over the years, what
they themselves had received growing up and on their income.
Total hongbao budgets are between $500 and $2,000 for each
couple, with individual red packets ranging from $4 for a child and
$50 for a younger sibling to $200 each for a parent or a
grandparent.
Newlyweds Jacelyn Tan, 26, and Ng Kok Weng, 29, will give $18
and $28 hongbao to nephews and nieces.
Ms Tan, a civil servant who is Teochew, says her Cantonese sales
and marketing executive husband prefers sums ending with the
numeral 8 because it is an auspicious figure in Cantonese.
Read the full story here.
How much to give?
Need a guide on how much to give this CNY? UOB conducted a
survey to find out what are the giving habits of S'poreans.
Click on the thumbnails for more.
HOW MUCH TO GIVE? According to a survey by UOB,
Singaporeans will spend an average of about $1,500 on hongbaos this
year, with the amount reinforcing the respect they have for the
recipient. The breakdown is as follows:.