Chinese New Year: 9 Ways to Celebrate the Lunar New Year With Kids! Activities Holidays

My favorite part of our family's Lunar New Year celebration (commonly referred to as Chinese New Year or Tết, Vietnamese New Year, in our case) is that it is a day filled with fun. Family and friends, both Asian and American, are always eager to gather and enjoy celebrating together. It's often a casual affair at our house, but my kids look forward to it almost as much as Christmas. If you've never celebrated Lunar New Year before, here are nine ways to start!

Look up your family's Chinese zodiac signs and see if any of the descriptions are reflective of your personalities.

Read a book about Lunar New Year.

Attend a Lunar New Year festival or celebration near you.

Make homemade paper drums or other noisemakers.

Make dragon puppets and perform your own dragon dance.

Make paper lanterns and hang them in your home.

Buy or make red envelopes and present them to the kids with a dollar or two in them for good luck.

Learn some words in an Asian language.

Enjoy a Lunar New Year tasting menu including foods like noodles, dumplings and spring rolls.

If you've celebrated Lunar New Year in the past, what was your favorite part of the festivities?