Tet "lucky money" advice

Its up to you how much you give, but it must be new notes. I would give the husband and wife 1 million each, and the child 200k. This all depends on your financial position.

.

I agree with Col.

But remember it is a token: not the whole of your Appreciation, so
there is no need to go OTT (Over The Top)   

It goes without saying that your gratitude will be reflected in your
interactions with them, not in words or material gifts

Recognition is the wordless sutra. 

* here's a link from a few yonks ago which gives a few good ideas:

    (25th December 2012)   ..but still relevant...

* Lucky money
21 replies  Nha Trang  5 years ago  By panda7

i often give 50k for child
500k for older person

Thank you everyone for your advice.

@Bazza139 - your link did not show up, but I think I found it:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=220950

From a Vietnamese perspective:  you do not give lucky money to your hosts, full stop. 

Unless you're rolling in dough and want to show it:

Lucky money isn't given out to married adults unless it's a gift from the parents who know their children need help financially so they do it at Tet on purpose, so the couple's finance will be rosy in the new year.

Lucky money is given to your workers as a form of tip (if your company doesn't hand out 13th month bonus) for the work they've done for you during the past year.  This couple is not your workers. 

If you see them as your second family and want to show your appreciation, do it as a member of the extended family:  gift them with a pair of bánh chưng (square rice cake) and/or a pair of bánh tét (roll cakes), and a tray of 5 fruits that carry a special wish for prosperity.

If they're Northerners, the variety of fruits doesn't matter much.  If they're Southerners, the tray should consist of soursop, watermelon or coconut, papaya, mango, and figs.  Do not include banana, orange, pear, durian, apple, and any fruit that has bitter or spicy taste in a Tet's gift to Southerners.

They may use the tray of 5 fruits for offering on the altar, and afterwards, as a central display on the table for the whole 3 days of Tet.  It's a very important element of Tet for Southerners, and many Northerners have adopted it as well.

For the little boy, 100K is good.  Don't go overboard.  Don't act like a rich foreigner.

If you don't know how to pick the fruits, go to any shop that sells Tet's food and ask them for a "mâm ngũ quả" (tray of 5 fruits).  Everyone will understand you straight away.

I would like to add that In many asian traditions, patrons would give “lucky money” as a form of appreciation to people who serve you all year round such as your waiters at your regular restaurants, your baristas at your coffee houses, your security guards who look after your bike or apartment, and may be in your case perhaps your hosts for going the extra miles.

@Ciambella, I really like your post with the education about Tet gifts. One because it explains what is important, how to give gift as a foreigner, what amount is appropriate.

Two you showed the rationale behind every piece of advice you offered. You showed why gift is given in the first place, who should give gifts, and to whom should gifts be given.

Three you even showed the difference between southerners vs northern gifts. Then you stressed the meaning of the gifts and explained what the contents should be essentially for southerners.

And finally, you advised where a foreigner can easily get gifts and the exact phrase to use to buy the gifts.

Thank you for this detailed and clear education. I am responding mainly because I want to easily find and reference this post whenever I need it to give gifts.

Thank you.

I approach Tet Lucky Money is a slightly different manner, I live in the Delta region and am well known by everyone in this village and beyond.  Whenever I am in the States, I go to a Federal bank and get a stack of a hundred $2 US dollar bills)  the most picturescue bill we have,  all new, and I give my friends this in a red Tet envelope, its more of a gesture of "Lucky Money" than something they can spend, children I give between 50-200K Dong, other grownups (vendors, workers etc etc etc between 500K & 1 Mill.  we have a neighborhood party every Tet, as I treat everyone as my family, know their kids names, what grade they are in.  We also have a "Ceremony for the Dead" relatives, neighbors etc etc   it's usually a roast chicken from my farm, rice whiskey, fruit and rice.........cigarettes etc etc.   we drink and sit around and talk about the dead folks we knew that have passed in the last year.  (I tried to post a picture, but  it didn't attach.  Tet is a Celebration of life, not just a New year.

tunnelrat69 wrote:

I approach Tet Lucky Money is a slightly different manner, I live in the Delta region and am well known by everyone in this village and beyond.  ... Tet is a Celebration of life, not just a New year.

I like your version of Tet celebration, more like a local festival than a traditional Tet.  The celebration and all its content -- food, drink, smoke, lucky money --  are your gifts to the village as an act of noblesse oblige.  Good tradition.   

Thank you, Libhero. 

Ciambella wrote:

tunnelrat69 wrote:

I approach Tet Lucky Money is a slightly different manner, I live in the Delta region and am well known by everyone in this village and beyond.  ... Tet is a Celebration of life, not just a New year.

I like your version of Tet celebration, more like a local festival than a traditional Tet.  The celebration and all its content -- food, drink, smoke, lucky money --  are your gifts to the village as an act of noblesse oblige.  Good tradition.   

"act of traditions" as are my monthly "Spaghetti & Meatball Lunches"  I make my own spaghetti sauce and meatballs with help from local mom's and tubs of spaghetti and all the neighbors kids come over and eat as much as they want............it's the little things that count, I grew up poor, and my Mom had a hundred ways to make spaghetti taste good with hardly any ingredients - I hope I am remembered in future Tet Celebrations for my Spaghetti days.................hahahaha.

@Ciambella - My apologies for the late reply.  I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful reply, what you wrote is very valuable information (at least to me it is).  I appreciate your insight into Vietnamese culture and customs.

Also, thank you to everyone else for your replies!

Sounds like a great idea...and a great neighborhood....is it a small village?

tunnelrat69 wrote:

Whenever I am in the States, I go to a Federal bank and get a stack of a hundred $2 US dollar bills)  the most picturescue bill we have,  all new, and I give my friends this in a red Tet envelope.

Yeah I got those too, I will give them to the staff in our apartment building, I am curious their reaction. My wife says these are special, number 2 is lucky. But she also said recipients, at least in her neighborhood, usually change them at the gold shop for real money. When I asked her what the gold shops were doing with accumulations of $2 bills, she didn't know. 

Yes, very small, don't think there are more than 200-400 people but  i only have about 75 in my neighberhood along the Mekong River.

Wow I gave a teenage girl (the age of my niece) working at a street restaurant a 100K of lucky money last week in Rach Gia, now I feel really cheap with all the big amounts you folks are giving     I then proceeded to give my girlfriend 4MK, it took me 15 minutes to have her accept it.

WillyBaldy wrote:

Wow I gave a teenage girl (the age of my niece) working at a street restaurant a 100K of lucky money last week in Rach Gia, now I feel really cheap with all the big amounts you folks are giving     I then proceeded to give my girlfriend 4MK, it took me 15 minutes to have her accept it.

No, 100K is a perfect amount.  I'll be giving the same (100K) to each of my underaged grandnieces and grandnephews next week, although the first footer will receive an extra 50K for his role. 

It's strange that the same foreigners who often complain on how the locals see them as walking ATMs would hand out money willy nilly as if it were going out of style.  Begin as you mean to go on, that's the only way to avoid confusion.

Ciambella wrote:

WillyBaldy wrote:

Wow I gave a teenage girl (the age of my niece) working at a street restaurant a 100K of lucky money last week in Rach Gia, now I feel really cheap with all the big amounts you folks are giving     I then proceeded to give my girlfriend 4MK, it took me 15 minutes to have her accept it.

No, 100K is a perfect amount.  I'll be giving the same (100K) to each of my underage grandnieces and grandnephews next week, although the first footer will receive an extra 50K for his role.

It's strange that the same foreigners who often complain on how the locals see them as walking ATMs would hand out money willy nilly as if it were going out of style.  Begin as you mean to go on, that's the only way to avoid confusion.

Yeah I get what you're saying. The only reason I gave the girl some lucky money is that I was seeing her every day for more than a week and we were making jokes, she was hiding behind chairs when I was walking by and so on. She also reminded me of my niece, so before I left town I came with my motorbike. I certainly won't go around giving money as if I were the Prince of Whales  (I also made sure her boss always around when I was talking to her, did not want anyone to get the wrong idea!)

You might want to give the family a couple of sticky rice packages...banh chung or banh tet.  Just be sure to give two...it's a lucky number.

If you want to have a ball put 50k in each of 50 Lì xì envelopes  and go out on the street in late afternoon and give them out to random subteens and very old people. 8 years ago right after Tết proper I met and conversed with a young newlywood couple on a Sinh Café car who had no money and were going to his family's house for "honeymoon."  I put 1 million in a Lì Xì and gave it to them wishing them a happy Tết as we got off and separated.  I was on my way back to Sà Gòn to depart the country and had some money left to get rid of. It felt good.

The optimum Lì Xì is an American 2 dollar bill, crisp if you can get it.

100k is good. Overdoing it is not good.

As also for weddings, with the hospital attendance after the birth, with child birthday parties, etc. exactly one calculates how much money one gives. Namely exactly the same amount as you received from the respective persons in the past.
As if "lucky money"!
Nothing comes from the heart.
Everything is calculated.
Poor, heartless Vietnam.

An old security man (one of the friendly minority) fell with his motorcycle and showed me his very swollen hand. He had pain up to his shoulder.
I called my wife to ask him if he had already been to the hospital. He answered her that he was not going to the hospital because he was afraid of the possible bad prognosis and therefore the high costs. I gave him 1million dong and my wife told him to go to the hospital.
He didn't want to accept the money at first. When my wife told him to consider it an early "Lucky Money", he took it.
He thanked us a thousand times.
And he was in hospital. Fortunately nothing was broken but only overstretched.

In Ben Luc where we bought land, a civil servant (possibly the mayor) asked us if we wouldn't give some poor people a food parcel shortly before Tet.
He spoke of a maximum of 30 poor people.
We bought 30 food packages for 300k each.
On the day of the handover we met at our land.
The 2 officials who came arranged everything and rebuked the poor people one after the other to receive the parcel.
Then a "Lucky Photo" was taken and the spook was over.
Not one of the 30 poor people had thanked. All very heartless, both from the officials and from the poor people.
My wife was totally disappointed and said that she would never do anything like that again.

Just 3 little stories about "Lucky Money".

Quick question.  I plan on travelling in Vietnam during Tet.  I plan to get a bundle of crispy $2 bills before leaving the U.S.  I know that VN has no coin currency presently.  I am wondering if the gold-colored $1 coins would be considered unique and appreciated.  Someone on another blog thought that 'coins' would be insulting, as in "throwing coins to the natives colonialism".  I had not considered this.  I thought that the George Washington coins, the "Ho Chi Minh" of the U.S. would be a nice story for children or even Sacagawea coins showing a native American.  I also thought the gold color would be considered lucky (especially in a red envelope!).    I am willing to sacrifice a bit of my weight allowance for some coins over bills if it would make children happy on their holiday.   

Can anyone advise me if coins would make appropriate 'li xi' Tet gifts?   

I miss Ciambella's posts. 

I don't know about the $1 coins because I have never seen them here.  I'd stick with the $2 bills.

New crisp notes are the norm and most appreciated.

stick with the $2 bills.

We have been giving $2  bills as Tet lucky money since around 1977, some of our 'regulars' have them in a frame, year by year........I have a stack of the last issue of 2017, I'll carry with me.  I think they are the most decorative bill we have, and its fun teaching the history of the picture on the back.   It's not the denomination of the money you give, it's the thought.    Peace

@theraver The Vietnamese are more pragmatic than this, I think. Something that for you can have a symbolic meaning can be zero value for the locals. I would rather take notes.

We have been giving $2 bills as Tet lucky money since around 1977, some of our 'regulars' have them in a frame, year by year........I have a stack of the last issue of 2017, I'll carry with me. I think they are the most decorative bill we have, and its fun teaching the history of the picture on the back.  It's not the denomination of the money you give, it's the thought.  Peace
-@tunnelrat69

I meant 1997, not 77  'older guy with fat fingers syndrome'   Peace and Happy Hilidays Everyone

@theraver , I think that the kids will prefer the $2 bill over the $1 coin   

I mean, seriously guys, stop with this $2 nonsense and start giving Viet money like 100k, 200k and 500k, especially for the people you really care about. Good quality notes, not some old notes you've found at the bottom of your pocket.

I mean, seriously guys, stop with this $2 nonsense and start giving Viet money like 100k, 200k and 500k, especially for the people you really care about. Good quality notes, not some old notes you've found at the bottom of your pocket.
-@WillyBaldy

Seeing as you dont know how things work in VN, US notes are deemed as "lucky money", hence why the locals like them. Its not like you just give someone a 2$ note and thats it. Lì xì means lucky money, so thats where this nonsense comes from.

I still have a 2$ note given to me by a Vietnamese many years ago. Has it brought me luck, that's debatable.

Luck is a very common thing expressed in Vietnamese life. You will often here people say " chúc may mắn" relating to a wide variety of situations.

I mean, seriously guys, stop with this $2 nonsense and start giving Viet money like 100k, 200k and 500k, especially for the people you really care about. Good quality notes, not some old notes you've found at the bottom of your pocket.
-@WillyBaldy
Seeing as you dont know how things work in VN, US notes are deemed as "lucky money", hence why the locals like them. Its not like you just give someone a 2$ note and thats it. Lì xì means lucky money, so thats where this nonsense comes from.

I still have a 2$ note given to me by a Vietnamese many years ago. Has it brought me luck, that's debatable.

Luck is a very common thing expressed in Vietnamese life. You will often here people say " chúc may mắn" relating to a wide variety of situations.
-@colinoscapee

I can guarantee that back around here in Can Tho and Kien Giang, a lot of people will prefer Viet notes as opposed to "lucky" $2 notes. I didn't write this out of nowhere, I even gave the choice to a lot of people before (had USD $1 and $2 notes for potential trip to Cambodia that never happened). I'll accept that you can't generalize and Vietnam is a big country, so it might depend on which area and what type of crowd you surround yourself with. It might be that most people I know have Viet kieu family members (especially in Rach Gia where the Viet kieu community is huge) so they already got their fill of lucky USD small notes, maybe.

EDIT: I just asked my Vietnamese friend from Saigon (just to confirm my own experience) and she said that for the security agent downstair, for example, 200k would be a much better gift than let's say USD$2. Value will beat "luck" for most older people. Maybe for kids it's different? She even said that in your case, you might believe at face value what people tell you, because they won't be upfront and tell you "eh I prefet higher value dong than these USD$2 notes". That's her theory but who knows really.

I mean, seriously guys, stop with this $2 nonsense and start giving Viet money like 100k, 200k and 500k, especially for the people you really care about. Good quality notes, not some old notes you've found at the bottom of your pocket.
-@WillyBaldy
Seeing as you dont know how things work in VN, US notes are deemed as "lucky money", hence why the locals like them. Its not like you just give someone a 2$ note and thats it. Lì xì means lucky money, so thats where this nonsense comes from.

I still have a 2$ note given to me by a Vietnamese many years ago. Has it brought me luck, that's debatable.

Luck is a very common thing expressed in Vietnamese life. You will often here people say " chúc may mắn" relating to a wide variety of situations.
-@colinoscapee

I can guarantee that back around here in Can Tho and Kien Giang, a lot of people will prefer Viet notes as opposed to "lucky" $2 notes. I didn't write this out of nowhere, I even gave the choice to a lot of people before (had USD $1 and $2 notes for potential trip to Cambodia that never happened). I'll accept that you can't generalize and Vietnam is a big country, so it might depend on which area and what type of crowd you surround yourself with. It might be that most people I know have Viet kieu family members (especially in Rach Gia where the Viet kieu community is huge) so they already got their fill of lucky USD small notes, maybe.

EDIT: I just asked my Vietnamese friend from Saigon (just to confirm my own experience) and she said that for the security agent downstair, for example, 200k would be a much better gift than let's say USD$2. Value will beat "luck" for most older people. Maybe for kids it's different?
-@WillyBaldy

Ok,  Viet Kieu have a totally different mindset.

Did you miss the bit about not only giving 2$  as I mentioned. Anyway, that was my experience having lived and spent TET in numurous places over many years.

I mean, seriously guys, stop with this $2 nonsense and start giving Viet money like 100k, 200k and 500k, especially for the people you really care about. Good quality notes, not some old notes you've found at the bottom of your pocket.
-@WillyBaldy
Seeing as you dont know how things work in VN, US notes are deemed as "lucky money", hence why the locals like them. Its not like you just give someone a 2$ note and thats it. Lì xì means lucky money, so thats where this nonsense comes from.

I still have a 2$ note given to me by a Vietnamese many years ago. Has it brought me luck, that's debatable.

Luck is a very common thing expressed in Vietnamese life. You will often here people say " chúc may mắn" relating to a wide variety of situations.
-@colinoscapee

I can guarantee that back around here in Can Tho and Kien Giang, a lot of people will prefer Viet notes as opposed to "lucky" $2 notes. I didn't write this out of nowhere, I even gave the choice to a lot of people before (had USD $1 and $2 notes for potential trip to Cambodia that never happened). I'll accept that you can't generalize and Vietnam is a big country, so it might depend on which area and what type of crowd you surround yourself with. It might be that most people I know have Viet kieu family members (especially in Rach Gia where the Viet kieu community is huge) so they already got their fill of lucky USD small notes, maybe.

EDIT: I just asked my Vietnamese friend from Saigon (just to confirm my own experience) and she said that for the security agent downstair, for example, 200k would be a much better gift than let's say USD$2. Value will beat "luck" for most older people. Maybe for kids it's different?
-@WillyBaldy
Ok, Viet Kieu have a totally different mindset.

Did you miss the bit about not only giving 2$ as I mentioned. Anyway, that was my experience having lived and spent TET in numurous places over many years.
-@colinoscapee

If the $2 notes are a top up for normal dong notes, then yes seems to be the best of both world My comment was mostly about only giving $2 notes instead of Vietnamese dong notes.

I've already said most of my two đồng worth on the subject in this thread that includes a link to input from Ciambella:

"Red Envelopes at Tet" (link)

There's a mix of a lot of ideas here so it's hard to focus but no one doubts the importance of tradition and lucky money. I think there might be a clash of generations here. When I speak about this to people younger than 40, let's say, most of them will say that it's not 1980 anymore and things have changed. Most of the content you'll find online about tradition doesn't necesseraly reflect today's more modern life and needs.

We're probably never be able to do this experiment, but according to my Saigonese friend, if we gave people the choice between envelopes with USD$2 in them or envelopes with 200k VND in them, and they could choose *anonymously*, 80% of Vietnamese people would go for the higher, Vietnamese dong amount. If they are being watched, it might be totally different. That's an experiment very hard to make so we'll leave it at that, but I personally think I'm being much more realistic than what is being described here.

I was being overly "provocative" with my "nonsense" comment so I apologize for that, it was a harsh shortcut for "I don't think this is realistic in today's more modern Vietnamese culture".