Ways To Celebrate Chinese New Year 2026 At Home

Here are ways to celebrate Chinese New Year 2026 at home!

When greetings of Kung Hei Fat Choi or Xin Nian Kuai Le sound off at every corner, it means it’s Chinese New Year! This Chinese New Year 2026, or Year of the Fire Horse, is already being predicted to be quite an eventful year. And unfortunately, it can be overwhelming for some of us who were hoping for something a little slower. Especially with the traffic, the idea of going out can feel draining.

So, to welcome the fiery year without the stress, here are ways to celebrate Chinese New Year 2026 at home:

Make your own prosperity tree

Most Chinese have the Fookien tree at home and decorate it with all sorts of prosperity-themed decor. But if we have pets or babies who just eat everything and anything, maybe it’s better to create one this Chinese New Year 2026 instead!

Make it an arts and crafts project. Using bottles for the tree trunk, straws, and chopsticks for the branches—paint it over to make a tree while decorating it with tiny ang pao envelopes that dangle.

Imaginative Play with Lion Dances and Dragon Dances

We’ve only seen professionals do this, but we’re not doing any stunts. Over the crashing cymbals and thundering gongs, we sometimes forget that the lion dances or the dragon dances have stories behind them. And that, we can do at home.

A stuffed toy lion. A dragon mask. Anything lion or dragon-themed can become part of the story. After that, just YouTube search traditional lion dance music and we can have one at home!

P.S. If you live in a condo, try to keep it down. Some old people do have their siesta.

Make dumplings!

Dumplings have always been a symbol of prosperity. These little pouches filled with meat, veggies, and sometimes noodles have always found their way to a Chinese dining table.

What many don’t know is that wrapping these dumplings has been a long-time family tradition. After making the mixture, families would sit down and wrap them all before steaming or pan-frying them.

The fillings aren’t too complicated. It’s usually just cabbage, ground meat, garlic, onion, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Some even cheat the garlic and onion by using their powdered forms instead.

Enjoy some tikoy!

Tikoy or Nian Gao in Chinese is a staple. They often come in different flavors. Brown ones are usually brown sugar flavor, but there are ube and pandan flavored ones too! Almost every supermarket has these. But personally, nothing beats the classic flavor—they’re more versatile for recipes.

Tikoy is a Chinese New Year snack made of glutinous rice, which has long been an ingredient associated with prosperity. The best part is, it’s not difficult to prep and cook. Slice a piece or two, then steam to enjoy like mochi. Some parents like pan-frying them in butter, too!

Let Year of the Fire Horse Begin!

The start of the year of the Fire Horse, or Chinese New Year 2026, is on February 17, 2026, which means—we have some free time from school and work for that day.

Actually, some have been a little disgruntled or scared about the readings of the Fire Horse this year. Many Chinese (especially the old Chinese business families) often see the Fire Horse zodiac as bringers of chaos and destruction. Of course, it’s a superstition, but many often say that those born under this zodiac have a fiery personality and can be rather impulsive—hence their fear and discomfort.

But who knows? Maybe that’s the kind of people we need in our lives. We’ve gotten too comfortable, and now, someone has to kick us awake. Happy Chinese New Year!

More about Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year 2026: Raising Families in the Year of the Fire Horse
The Legends of Chinese New Year
8 Traditional Chinese New Year Dishes for an Auspicious Year