Chinese New Year or CNY is the most crucial festival celebrated within Chinese society. During this festive time, it is traditional for Chinese companies to present employees, customers and partners with auspicious products to wish everyone sweet and joyous outcome in the year to come. As you prepare your corporate CNY gift hampers, make sure to include some of these popular Chinese New Year snacks that will delight your recipients:

Pineapple Tarts

Delicate, melt in your mouth pineapple tarts have become the quintessential New Year Goodies that every home must have. The pineapple jam filling can be associated with the gold nuggets that symbolize prosperous and the flaky cookie exterior represents better fortune for the coming New Year.

Giving of pineapples tarts indicates that you would like the prosperity of your clients or colleagues in their daily activities or business ventures in the next year. Take something of premium quality made from quality butter for them that they will cherish to the chart. Tong Heng and Pine Garden are famous for its pineapple tarts with differing sizes and form of dough or crust.

Love Letters

Love letters derive their rather cute title from the way they look, like cute and pretty little things. These delectable biscuits are derived from a basic combination of flour, sugar, butter or margarine, eggs and vanilla essence and baked into an exquisite cast.

Besides just being sweet for any event, Love letters are also believed to encourage love and camaraderie in a relationship. Use these tiny cookies to express your appreciation and concern to your clients or the employees. Brand names for these products include Khong Guan and Primadeli and Julie’s brands.

Almond Cookies

These crunchy, fragrant and nutty little biscuits are shaped like ingot or diamond and are favoured as hongbao snacks during CNY. This makes them appear golden and they represent prosperity for the new year. There are varieties you can buy that are coated in chocolate something a little more special.

Holders such as Golden Swan and Fairprice sell original version of this cookie while Baker’s Brew and Fragrance has innovation flavours such as green tea and chocolate dip. Present these cookies in an elegantly designed tin so that your receivers will be impressed.

Bak Kwa

Bak kwa is also called barbecued pork jerky Its a delicacy made from thin pork slices seasoned with a bbq sweet sauce then grilled over charcoal. Its exterior is caramelised to resemble gold and it signifies the hope for a good Year in the following Year.

Bak kwa is very popular during CNY as it has both sweet and salty taste and the name bak kwa or roasted dough has a good luck meaning in Chinese. Local brands which have been in operation for many years such as Lim Chee Guan, Bee Cheng Hiang and Fragrance are favourite among consumers for their delicious textures. Bak kwa pairs wonderfully with tea or coffee and may be given on its own or in any gift basket.

Kueh Bangkit

These sweet looking small cookies derive their name which translates to ‘rise’ due to the methodused in preparation. A dough is dropped from a certain height on trays and baked to produce a crispy though soft cookies in the shape of flowers. Their light and fluffy end product symbolizes the continuing good luck for the New Year.

Earlier kueh bangkit was available in flavors such as pandan and coconut flavor but the fluctuations in time see bakeries producing different flavors such as matcha, choco or bicolored. Some of the companies providing cakes include the Bengawan Solo, Primadeli and Emicakes. Boys and girls love them, and many consumers prefer them as gifts because they symbolize good luck, they are cute and come in small portions.

Ang Ku Kueh

Ang ku kueh which literally means ‘red tortoise cake’ is a chewy tapioca based snack which is sweets and symbolizes the Chinese’s wishes for longevity in their greetings. This sticky glutinous rice cake is a cake which is filled with sweet peanut or mung bean paste then wrapped tightly with a soft skin that is red in colour and is made from rice flour and red food colouring.

It has features such as red beans, sesame seeds and the red color epitomizes life longevity for the elderly. The red turtle shaped wrapping paper that has blunted ends instead of sharp corners tells of protection and calms seas for the forthcoming year. Give this old school favourite a try from traditional shops like Kim Choo Kueh Chang and Rumah Bebek.

Ya Sang Platter

Ya sang also translating to mixed salad is a raw fish and vegetable dish which is royally tossed a lot during CNY. Groups of all family members gather round the table to toss the ingredients to lo hei or more precisely, the Cantonese word for prosperity toss. The higher the toss, the better the wish or more luck for the new year.

All these foods hold prosperity meanings - raw fish for wealth, pomelos for luck, carrots for gold, crackers for prosperity. For the New Year banquet, lay down a scattering of these qualities and call it prosperity so that guests can mix and match them. Most caterers provide special ya sang appetizers with top quality salmon, scallops and lobster. Lee’s words will definitely put smiles on all of our faces, which should make our celebrations even more enjoyable.

Mandarin Orange Packets

The mandarin orange reminds people of CNY because that fruit’s Chinese name kam sounds like gold. In the new year, families place small bowls filled with mandarin oranges both as display and food, as they bring positive luck to the house. Originally, people give children red packets filled with money as red symbolizes good fortune.

Integrate these two traditions into one luxurious hamper by placing extra premium mandarins in red pockets and present them in twos as angpows are given. You should record a note with appreciation and good wishes for the new year wishing everybody prosperity and wealth. I am sure this wonderful and gentle gift will be very much appreciated.

Nian Gao

Nian gao which means new year cake is an aspect that is served during CNY as a result of the appealing sound of the words Nian and gao.. The Chinese name of the year sounds like ‘Higer Year’ implying prosper for the people and promotion to a higher rank at the workplaces. It also attaches something that remains very hard to symbolise the binding between the members of a family.

The sweet one is prepared by adding brown sugar to rice flour while the savoury one uses preserved meats or shallot. Each is delicious to eat individually or when steamed and eating with Chinese tea. You should order some nian gao from your preferred confectioner and include the baked goods in the gift baskets that you provide.

CNY Snack Hampers

To make individual snack arrangements look more professional, pack all the snack types together in a gift basket or hamper for your corporate gift. Add slices of pineapple tarts, bak kwa, mandarin oranges, nian gao and many more to get a variety of the lucky snacks in the Chinese New Year celebration.

Include a red hamper bag or basket, better quality cashew or almonds together with Chinese tea or some munching items. Create a Chinese New Year card of well wishes for the New Year and wealth in the coming year. This will help in creating goodwill and make your clients or your employees sweet on you.

Chinese New Year is all about savoring good foods and nice moments that people share with their families and friends. Amaze your beneficiaries by giving them high quality gifts associated with new-year blessings for prosperity. Put together impressive baskets with their best selections to be a great corporate gift perfect for a lovely gift.