The year of boar marks the end of the twelve zodiac cycle. Being the 'youngest' among it's siblings, the piglet like any youngest in the family is cute and fun-loving hence the theme for the money packets used by many companies. Welcome to another chapter of delightful treats... Before we see all the fun porkies here are two of my favorite designs, Clover Creative big brother pig and his opera lady companion both showing off their cool sunnies while Bausch + Lomb oriental ladies brought to us four beautiful blessings.
The most relatable theme in 2019 has got to be the three little pigs and my first threesome piggies are from Midas Touch with their second year of generous giveaway on Facebook. They are just adorable with one happily relaxing on the sofa signifying 豐衣足食 (feng yi zu shi) ample food and clothing, one tied to a heart-shape balloon floating happily, a sign of contentment 知足常樂 (zhi zu chang le) and the third 悠悠自在 (you you zi zai) piggy is just enjoying life taking a beautiful swan ride. I definitely like this year design over last year super hero doggies (click here to find them). Below is Mitsubishi Motors taking the spot light once again and this round with six bouncy hogs that are looking smart in their glasses, wrapped up elegantly in silk. Kow Hock pink chubbies accompanied by the lion dance may look a little simple at first glance but this 6pcs set is just as appealing for the collectors. Wonderful Hotel and departmental store also has six pigs but in different face shapes and colors while GC Life oinkers are all smiling ear to ear dancing to a prosperous new year.
The lovely year on year designs from Clover are pretty amazing side by side with their continuation of colorful and artistic zodiac rendition. Another matching two years series from Total Pro-Pack is their giant zodiac, i.e. the doggies and piggies, peaking over the rows of beautiful shops' rooftop. Not forgetting the wagging and wriggling tail behind each of the six pieces set, Pro-Pack definitely has plenty of heartwarming details to offer.
ACO Group below is delightful with their piggy girl & piggy boy happily dancing with the dragon, northern and southern lions. Did you notice the five different fruits with adorable faces? This is quite a good quality set too that comes in a lovely box.
Here comes the piggy race with mama clearing the path for the little ones. Isuzu is one of the only two automotive companies that is bringing the oinkers out to play, literally running out from their pen when you pull the inserts. They come in three different colors and thanks to Mei Fern, she got me the "extended race" a.k.a the red box and an extra set to complete this delightful design. Another piggy running to it's victory is the humble and lucky one from Shangri-La and just like the Isuzu racers, it charges out when the insert is pulled outwards, a simple and fun illusion. Find the other set that also uses the same moving illusion below. t
The three bright colored piggies in yellow, blue and pink from Paper and Print are quite the attention seeker and I do like this unique illustration even though I am not quite sure what's actually in front of the piggies, is it the number 19? Hmm...
It's a candy land for the sweet-tooth with Candylicious happy piggy and it's lollipop🍭 while another sugary delight this year is Astro with their little pig kiddos and candy-like pinwheel design that is colorful and also auspicious as they are a symbol to turn ones luck around. The next chubby piggy is from Dabing and I am loving this simple yet delightful piece. They have continued their zodiac design since 2017 and are kind enough to send me their yellow rooster and brown puppy to be featured in my collection. Looking forward to their next zodiac release in the coming years.
The pig faces continues on thicker quality paper with The Brew House 4pcs set as well as Skechers and their five front flap faces, a joyful treat that comes in a box just like previous years (click here to find them at my Skechers corner). Tashi Delek accessorized their six pretty babes with stylish head chains that turned many collectors' head. Hotel Equatorial is back again with another catchy set and this time it's a complete set of four instead of separate designs per box. Having said that there is another pair from the Japanese restaurant Ippudo which I do not have. Needless to say it's just not the same without the two bowls of noodles as well as the die-cut box.
Ricebowl is one of the most aggressive companies during CNY that I came across in 2019 to promote their presence with the biggest and pinkest piggy-pows. They made sure that everyone would be able to get their hands on these super cute pink oinkers by simply handing them out at various popular landmarks. Needless to say that I went to support them and got myself these chubby standouts. If you are wondering what they do for business... rice bowl besides being a bowl for rice also means 'income' in Chinese culture and these piggies are here to help one find one's source of income, i.e. a job.
Gamuda Land was a pleasant surprise with a beautiful trio that is thick, bold and unique with it's non-detachable floral inserts. Did you notice that the die-cut Chinese character "man" 满 is also transformed into a pig face? Nest Fern Studio has their golden piggies stuffed, steaming, snowman-ing and flying in pink and red, interesting. The distinguish features of a pig has got to be the ear, snout and tail which is exactly what Morganfield's 3pcs set is all about, big and bold.
B United Printers is back this year with another creative 3pcs set that is all piggy-licious inside and out. The holder has a piggy nose and hand at the front covered with it's piggy ears and a flowery tail at the back while inside holds the three specially designed nose, hand and rear that is made out of a mandarin orange, refreshing (lol). Watch out for their Valentine's Limited Edition set below that is full of love ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ). Camwell is quite stunning this year with a full fabric set that showed off those red hot stamping hogs, definitely their best so far for me.
Surbex above comes in a folding screen casing and is a thick set with a rather traditional look from the outside while the inserts are looking much chic with the floral boars. Nagamas die-cut fabric set below is their VIP set that comes in a big hardy box, a surprise gift from my bestie Cat Tan who supports my hobby all the way. The piggy bank piece is also used by another company, SBS. Next is Mr. DIY with their boars roaming freely and happily in a 4pcs set.
Piggy banks are in the house of Apostrophe and SBS Group and they are all glittering in style, unlike Apostrophe that has clearly moved away from their colorful designs, SBS outshines the rest with four delicate die cut hogs that transform from pure gold to a delightful rainbow party. The word 滿 (man) means full with coins falling into the piggies will surely bring good fortune. A big thanks to SBS for their generous sponsor of this auspicious colorful set. Follow them on FB to participate in future giveaways.
Here comes Onitek and once again lucky to be one of the winners to get a set of this 12 pieces assorted designs. I must say I prefer their 2018 set over this year's but nevertheless grateful to be able to continue the series for another year. Below we have the yummy piggy dumplings from Gracilicious Artwork, cuties and I like the added colored balloons.
More chubby ones from East Malaysia's CCL Mini Mart 3pc set and Daesim Group with their six pot-bellies. Alissa Style is also giving out their four prosperous pigs each with their own lucky pal, the sycee, mandarin orange, lantern and apple. Bai Zi Gui Malaysia's first online platform for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Chinese herbs and herbal supplement sent their chubby duo delivering health with the apple and fortune with the sycee. More sycee from Global Max Print and their four happy piglets.
Hock Chuong hair salon and their happy hairstylists has all the accessories ready for a perfect hairdo while LMS has one of its five piggies making funny faces with the others smiling from ear to ear. From central Malaysia we have One Morning dental braces porky and his friends (find their previous years design over at my 2018 page here) as well as Chop Nam Heng four happy pointy-ears pals while a little down south we have Hup Soon seven adorable piglets having a blast in a colorful 5pcs set.
Here comes the Japanese Buta, two from Warakuya and another two happily singing at the Super Star Family KTV. Both the dining and singing are under the same roof, a set that I nearly missed out as there were only four sets available and there were five of us. Long story short, one of my cousins decided to let go in the end otherwise I will not be able to showcase them here ><
Story of Yanxi Palace is a 70-episode Chinese drama series about the power struggles among the concubines of Emperor Qianlong in the 1700s. It has a lot of love but also hatred, intrigue and most importantly revenge that is sweet and satisfying till the very end. Hence the reason why it is the most Googled TV show of 2018 globally, despite Google being largely blocked in the country China. The series has been streamed more than 15 billion times on iQiyi, China's Netflix-like site where the show premiered in July 2018 before it reached domestic TV channels and more than 70 markets abroad, which brings us to the money packets that took up the Yanxi motif. Above we have a single piece from DIY4U as well as Kulai Mala Hotpot while another set of 6 from Jucreate Print piglet version of the famous characters, Gao Gui Fei, Emperor Qianlong, Wei Yingluo, Fuca Fuheng, Fuca Rongyin and Hoifa-Nara Shushen, all wearing the exact clothing from the series. Both Cellglo and Axis Pharmacy took on the cartoon illustration of the few main characters in a 6pc and 5pc set respectively. While there are definitely more companies out there showing of their Yanxi characters I only have few others, a pair from Sotong House and single ones from NGO and Sherrly Property below and they are just as delightful as the sets. Are you a fan?
Happy to see Ah Huat back with their colorful trio, grandpa and the children are jumping with glee. Their 2017 trio complements the latest perfectly, don't they look extra cheerful side by side? Besides Tenderly, we have Honor also taking on the reunion theme but instead of a round table meal, their six family member each enjoying their very own dish; Special thanks to Annie for sharing ^^
Reunion theme is taking the lead this 2019. Besides Tenderly we have Nagamas Printing with their 8pcs of a bigger family reunion (scroll down to see the round table view) as well as another 6pcs open air gathering with buildings background and lion dancing. Nagamas was one of the first that put out their 2019 designs back in October 2018 for sale so it was a thrill for many collectors to get a head start in their upcoming boar collection. These lovely packets are shining bright in their glossy finishing, the building theme is also a popular choice by few companies like Talentwork, Ng Sian Hap as well as Majestic Maxim, Aunty Khoo's Kitchen and also another aluminium company. Ng Sian Hap only took half of the building set design but added another 6pcs design that Yakult used for their 3pcs set. Sounds confusing? Take a look below and compare. More reunion flavor from YSP Shine and Big Bath both going for the round table layout, i.e. each piece is placed in a circle overlapping diagonally to form the complete table. I have extracted the original layout from their respective FB page and uploaded under the comment section of my FB photo upload, click here for the full 2019 album
Celebrating the lively new year with buildings, lion and dragon dancing is Utropolis Marketplace and Paramount Property with the same design but the later comes in a glimmering casing. SK Hamper is another one of my favorite family motif surrounded by cherry blossom bringing a heartwarming celebration. I like that they added the hampers and of course the lovely casing too.
I am absolutely in love with B United Printers Valentines set. The colors, the picture perfect of a loving family, the adjoining 3pcs design and that touch of transparency that gives the set such a dreamy yet surreal feel, absolutely brilliant! Notice the two different transparency designs? Follow Me family of five below is simply a fun loving bunch enjoying their meal. Each of these tiny round table can be joined in a circle to form a bigger picture perfect reunion dinner.
More families are joining the celebration; Uncle Sun family with their reunion dinner, family portrait and scholar while Bao Zhan family celebrating it's signature dishes, steamed bun and other dim sum with storefront background and of course the lion dances. Both Chobe Master and Ecolite are taking their family out for a fun celebration with lion dancing and Bai Nian (百年) which means visiting with gifts.
The popular round table reunion motif allows collectors the choice of display where the packets can be arranged and joined from top to bottom or simply horizontally across for a normal view. Batteries anyone? Eveready did a lovely version throwing in a folding screen and an envelope casing that immediately took the 4pcs set up another notch. It wasn't difficult (expensive) to redeem too if you managed to catch the promoters that is. Fancy for some steamboat from Yuan Wei? A simple and yet delicious happy family meal is just as heartwarming even if its just for a small family.
I am honored and delighted to have Eastreet Trader sponsoring their Tenderly happy family reunion red packet set which can be joined to form a round table dinner view. At the back of each packet there is the family tree of kinship names (click here to see their zoom in version with the translation) that makes this 6pcs set even more meaningful.
More reunion joy from Country Garden; Central Park Yuan Yuan is thick in paper and truly heartwarming in peachy pink shades while I am missing the other Yang Yang set; Their signature English soldier mascot on the contrary is printed on thinner paper. Diamond City 6pcs set comes in a casing while Forest City did a much better job in design, paper and even the casing. The poker card motif is perfect to showcase the English soldier and each of the four soldiers can be opened up and folded back. Find their 2018 series and also the other two poker cards design from my 2018 page here.
Nagamas Printing twelve zodiac basking in a bright sunshiny day while there is another zodiac set from them as well that was out of stock then, this is just as cheery and delightful. Here comes two of the few designs that I picked up from Nagamas that is now used by LETS Love, the heartwarming reunion set and the delightful Chinese Gods, a popular motif among many companies, one of which is AIA Agent Thomas & Vivian from Kuantan taking on a 2018 design by Art Square Enterprise.
JinYeYe trio Chinese gods are joyful in orange, peachy pink and iris purple while basking in sunny orange tone is the Chinese Gods from Hock Wong 5pcs reunion celebration. Do you know that there are actually several versions of the God of Wealth, a.k.a. caishen? It is unclear whether they are genuine historical figures or merely legends, though most of the stories tell about incarnation lived during the early Qin dynasty. Capital City surprised collectors with their eight god of wealth each accompanied by a brief story of origins printed behind the packet. From the left we have Bi Gan (比干) a prominent minister during the Shang dynasty; Bai Gui (白圭); Guan Zhong (管仲); Zhao Gong Ming (趙公明), Wang Hai (王亥) the Zhong Bing God of Wealth; GuanGong (关公) and Zhao Gong Ming are regarded as the military gods of wealth; FanLi (范蠡) together with Bi Gan are the civil gods of wealth; Li Guizu (李詭祖) from the Tang Dynasty
Avery Dennison has a two-way illustration of the Chinese New Year giving and receiving between the elders and the children, delightful! Moving on we have the world of tyres (or "tire" as spelled in the US or "tayar" in Malay) each with their own version of Fortune Gods. First up is Continental with their four different tyres, followed by Tayaria with a bigger tyre-fortune-god but on a small size packet and last but not least Maxxis tyre-hero. Which is your favorite? We have more tyres and they are the Raya edition from Continental and Tayaria which makes a beautiful 2P series.
Continuing the Chinese Gods theme is Kimagri twins followed by The Shore with their 3pcs set above while I Love Yoo first 3-pcs set since 2015. Paper quality is not bad and the Chinese God trio Fu, Lu, Shou are big, cheerful and catchy while Nagamas added on an additional god making it's four adorable gods brighter in thicker and glossy finishing.
Here are a few more designs from Nagamas Printing and there are at least another two designs that I missed out as they were out of stock during the exhibition fare in October. The twelve zodiac set is delightful in orange while the Chinese Gods, namely the three stars Fu Lu Shou and the fourth Xi (Happiness) is as cheerful as the kids lion dancing set. Last but not least the floral set that I just couldn't resist. All the sets are glossy and beautiful although I must add that they need more QC on their products as there are quite a few defects here and there (hmm). Oh don't forget to visit their Maidens set at my home page (click here). Next is Hankook, no tyres from them instead showing off their four family portraits on the wall decorated with Chinese fans and lanterns (ps: grandpa looking a little like Mr. Claus?)
Chen Chen Beauty like previous year given us 2 different sets, a 6-pcs floral set with die-cut effect and accompanying auspicious symbols for the CNY, while the other set is a pair of the popular boy-girl used by many companies in 2018. Ironically both the AIA agents and Chen Chen are from Kuantan and had chosen at least one same design this year. Also delivering auspicious symbols like the fish, rice and bowl is Paragon Globe with a beautiful tall, thick 6pcs that also featured the mandarin orange, wu lou (calabash or gourd) and Chinese knot with glossy finishing.
Korea Wallpaper shown a lovely mixture of fashion creativity with their red packet designs especially incorporating their wallpaper samples within. It's a must have for me as I continue to collect their samples over the years (lol)... but what is most interesting is that when you remove those wallpapers and reveal the rest of the design... find them over at my dresser page (click here).
Continuing with a few other cheongsam motif sets this year is Delicious looking deliciously elegant with their set of four that comes not only in a folding screen but a lovely box as well, good job... and so did Darlie with a plain simple set also in four and got the collectors chasing after as they come in different design each pack, though is nothing close to the quality of Delicious. Below is Dove giving us another lovely set this year; After their 2018 5pcs joining floral beauties, this round they presented the collectors floral cheongsam with an envelope casing.
Joining the floral parade is WCT Malls elegant golden blossoms, Mr Paint Shop with a lovely arrangement of colorful floral as well as Brands four vibrant pieces of red, cream, pink and the lovely turquoise green that I like very much followed by the small but full of spirit six colorful blossoms that comes in a soft envelope casing from LOL the clothing retail company.
Breeze five floral definitely had many collectors purchasing their washing detergents during CNY and they did quite well with the colors and that added Chinese fan at the back. It's time for the malls to shine with Setia City Mall taking the lead. Took me a couple of tries before trading back this 8pcs flower, birds and another one of my favorite butterflies. Next is probably the biggest set from the mall and it is none other than the popular 1 Utama with a total of four different sets using four different color casing. The hot pink case holds six beautiful floral pieces together with the Chinese character Fu in six different background patterns and colors while the purple case floral arrangement is in the center backed by the twelve animal zodiac. The other red and rouge cases hold the golden zodiac in a plain red background. If you don't know how they look like, just hop over to my zodiac page to visit them or find the complete set of the total 24pcs in my Facebook album.
Osim embossed blossom trio in lavender, pine and honey definitely has a beautiful touch and feel while Mitsui Outlet did not have any embossing they too chosen the sweet lavender in a 5pcs set. Dragon flies are not commonly found on red packets and Tan Chong has rounded up quite a few dancing gracefully in their 6pcs front-back adjoining floral. Do you know that the dragonfly (qingting 蜻蜓) represents the Confucian ideal of pureness of character because its pronunciation is similar to the word for "pure" or "clear" (qing 清)?
You might find NSM floral trio familiar because I have the complete six designs from last year collection (find them over at my 2018 page here). Megane is of similar color and delicate design as SBS piggies but instead of the zodiac theme, the 春 (chun) is used with floral die cut and inserts while Cadbury chose the character 乐 (le) that comes in eight different background colors. The paper is the same as previous years and so is their corporate purple color. Look out for Twisties pair below using the same 乐 (le) packets ^^
Angel Brand 3pcs in carrot orange, mustard yellow and cherry red brings a harmonious and warm feel. Epson front and back glittering flowers are quite lovely especially if paired with the elegant envelope casing. Kyochon classy piece that is velvety soft comes in a two way insert.
Moving on to some of the floral duos, I have caught KDK elegant floral design and Bulky that carries a more softer tone on normal paper but slightly bigger in size from FB giveaways. Joining the parade are few other flowery duos from Modernform with their variety of Chinese fan designs followed by Caring, Aiken, Ricoh, Vitahealth, R&F Mall and Herbalife with a petals filled back design. Managed to trade a pair of Caring Raya floral pair from a nearby neighbor who got in touch with me through my FB page, the power of social media! I find the floral illustration bigger and catchier compared to the Chinese New Year ones.
A beauty in a soft sky blue and matching pink blossom is no other than Sunsuria below on good thick paper. Also with just a little touch of blue is Juice Works above that has finally moved away from their signature petite and slim packets to a big and vibrant matching duo while Mini Cooper garden is gorgeously filled with blossoms and the ultimate symbol of love, the mandarin ducks by the blue pond. Blossoms are everywhere and Quill has them blooming beautifully in six different sweet background. Another sweet looking set is Simple Life that I thought were the same as their 2017 set, the only difference was the flaps were unfolded then. But once I scanned them in only I realized that there are more differences beside just the flaps. If you look closely the flowers are bigger and they have continuous prints on the flaps. Next we have Yobick sweet dreamy pair of the peach blossom in light pink and yellow, each comes in hard casing, beautiful!
Time for a little birdwatching, besides Sunsuria we have the lovely pink-red pair from Atria Mall - OSK Property as well as iProperty and Promenade, both single showing the beautiful relationship between the birds and flowers. AK Avenue K is also showing off the birds, flowers, Koi fishes, lantern girl, rice and they are all in different color and looking stunning in their die-cut casing. Joining the die-cut series is Cheras Leisure Mall lovely pair in pinky-peach and purple-red followed by Lays with their "moving" masterpiece.
Lay's is giving collectors a different flavor this year with a 4pcs die cut floral set that brings the content to life when you pull the inserts out, the slower the clearer movement of the birds flying, the lanterns swaying, the flower blooming and the fish swimming. Eureka brought us the mystic creatures of the phoenix, lion, dragon as well as the auspicious crane. Oloiya extended their 2018 single piece design to a 5pcs set this year using the two Chinese characters backdrop, each with a different blessing and each with a different auspicious symbol that includes the bird and the butterfly. Check out the single beauty below that also feature the butterflies from Great Eastern Mall and be sure to flutter over to the banks and catch more butterflies, birdies and fishes there ($$$ Vault - click here).
Newly added to my floral series is Kenny Roasters maroon and pine duo which I adore as darker shades are much more appealing to me. This elegant pair are quite the opposite from their 2018 pair and 2019 4pcs rooster set. Below we have a few of the singleton featuring floral (Mr Char Koay Teow, AGAPE, Imago, Metrojaya, Bossini, GE Mall, Mesa Mall, Lovely Lace, BIG, Oriental, Intermark, Akemi, JOIE, Midea, Hatten) as well as fish (Madam Kwan's, The Social, OYU Fish, Offsping, Marke, Cold Storage, Grand Power). Marke fishes come to live through a custom app that can be downloaded via the QR code on the back of the red packet, pretty cool.
More fishes swimming our way from Komtar pair and Pokka 4pcs set that also incorporated the auspicious bamboo in purple, flowers in red and yellow while the gold fishes swam in bright pink. Below we have QL Foods with two versions this year, the 6pcs set is pretty plain but the 4pcs VIP set is beautiful especially with that baby blue screen folder. Do you remember their 2017 & 2018 design which also featured the auspicious fish? Next is Sergent Major a french boutique for children's clothing presented us it's very own aquarium with a variety of fishes in a 4pcs set.
Above we have Fujifilm Koi swimming through the wavy background that is glossy and thick while 3M below is a fish pond filled with blossom one in blue and the other in red, absolutely a beautiful pair with a lovely texture feel for the VIP edition while it's normal version is printed on thinner paper and lighter color effect. Also swimming in blue and red, Acewin is another lovely pair with bigger and more colorful Koi.
Daikin pool of fishes are swimming in circles. Making its first appearance is also the blue dew droplet mascot Pichonkun that has finally made it onto Malaysia packets. Minelog golden koi pair seems to be the ultimate carrier transporting the transporters (find those tiny vehicles, plane and ship being ferried along). Lexus paired it's golden mandarin orange with an elegant fabric piece of purple Koi fish and Chinese knot.
Young Living is looking good, young and vibrant but with a hint of mystery from it's phoenixes and a sense of calmness from the bubbly gold fishes. OKI is travelling back to the Imperial days with it's single piece 龙袍, lóng páo, namely dragon gown, the Chinese imperial dressing with dragon, crane and auspicious patterns embroideries on it. The dragon is a symbol of authority, power and strength while the crane embodies longevity hence fit only for the emperor. This majestic yellow piece comes in a box that the Imperial Palace stands.
While Rinnai fishes and cranes are surfing the waves in a top-down joining 3pcs set, Matrix played with colorful lamination on the fishes, cranes and mandarin oranges that comes in a folder. A similar ancient Chinese building landscape that also included 塔 (pinyin: Tǎ) a traditional part of Chinese architecture on Matrix folder can be found on Sunway 3pcs set as well as Panpages Trinity 4pcs set that uses just the traditional red with hot-stamping but added a magical touch of the yellow full moon. Sunway did a lovely 3P with a similar design in green for Raya and purple for Deepavali. Unfortunately I was not able to get a set of their Deepavali trio.
One of my favorite landscape piece this year, the tall and beautiful scenery is none other than Time and these lovely 8pcs are just as breathtaking even in monochrome that is derived from a pink base hue and extended using its shades, tones and tints. Accompanied by two different lanterns design, the golden mountain from Isofu is up ahead with a sharp pink background.
I've got limited 2P from the motor world but they are all beautiful like Mercedes below with their luxury logo in turquoise for Raya and maroon for CNY. The flaps are different but they still look lovely together. Honda is a little simple especially the CNY piece. I prefer their brighter Raya design with the small village illustration.
Next from the transportation industry we have our national railway Keretapi Tanah Melayu or better known as KTM. I am quite pleased to have the 2017, 2018 and 2019 series featuring the different trains design. From the motor section, BMW played elegantly with bamboo art highlighting them in gold for the Chinese New Year and a simple blue-white pair using silver hot-stamping for Raya while Mazda cruising along in style with a die-cut piece.
From ancient Chinese buildings before and now to the tall modern skyscrapers. Both Volkswagen above and Plus as well as Tune Protect below showing off the Twin Tower and KL Tower with very different styles. Volkswagen is classy in gold bringing us a two part scenery, the city view vs the mountains. For their Raya design they went with a single piece in green with orange and golden batik prints.
Bamboos are not only a symbol of oriental beauty giving inspiration to many artists in poems, paintings and music, they are also a symbol of health in Chinese culture hence seeing them on red packets are not uncommon although not many this year we do have BMW, Volkswagen as well as Sunway Malls trio featuring bamboos and birds. Next is a perfect 3P that took me some time to hunt down, Ecoworld. The same rubbery material, design and layout but with a little tweak in the elements to represent the different festivities. Can you spot the 3 different butterflies as well as the birds? It's the swan for CNY, flamingo for Raya and the peacock for Deepavali, beautifully executed.
Plus surprised many collectors not once but twice with a delightful 2P. Both the CNY and Raya 5pcs sets went with the illustration of their highway of course, a bigger city view for CNY followed by the famous "balik kampung" journey back to hometown with the city view at the background. A little looking like the Plus CNY set, Caltex printed a white journey from the city to the village using a dark green background while Caltex Scholfield front and back matching piece of the kampung house in a light calming blue is just as beautiful. Gloria Jean's lovely orange-blue piece is also a favorite of mine with the tiny food truck, stall and houses in a night and day view. Just like Plus,
Need more petrol for your car? Petronas and Petron are here with their matching 2P and I seriously didn't know Petron is from the Philippines until now > < Tune Protect not only have the twin towers, KL tower and cars zooming through their sets they too have a beautiful 2P. Come back soon for the upload.
More sets that also taken up the road map is Forest & Alain Delon with their 3D clothing stores while BMS Organic taking another different motif from their past years design. I like the idea that they used their products as landmarks as the map that leads right to their shop, delightful indeed. Can you recall their past year designs? Well hop over to my my 2018 page (click here) for the 2014-2018 series.
Above we have more buildings illustration, the ancient Chinese buildings from Evolve, older shop lots from Eu Yan Sang while the modern ones from SkyWorld using Chinese characters to form the various buildings with plenty of windows, a similar motif from their 2017 set. Harvey Norman little doll size houses are adorably fully furnished and equipped with appliances. I just love it when there are so much details to admire and Hong Qiao delivered just the thing, from interior to exterior with lot of shopping as well as snacking from shops and stalls. KWC is another refined set of four using the Chinese coin purse motif with a window view of new year activities at the main entrance of the olden day house. There are still a few more buildings over at my Baby & Friends Page (click here).
Below is the KL map and it's a 12pcs set from Fashionvalet as well as Boon Siew Honda with a 5 color set for the Hari Raya celebration. One last CNY set from the automotive industry is Toyota with a bright, cheerful and simple set of four, a perfect 2P match with their similar color mix of 4pcs Raya set. Check out the few luxury cars that I have collected over at Brands & Jewels Page (click here).
The little porkies from 3E Communication is serving up a delicious three course dinner with Braise, Roast and Rib. I am quite impress with the creativity from them and is definitely a collector set for keeps. If you prefer noodle over rice, we have Go Noodle House 4pcs set with a Chinese archway also known as 'Paifang' or 'Pailou' cheered by locals, the God of Shou (Longevity) and of course the two pink pals.
The little porkies from 3E Communication is serving up a delicious three course dinner with Braise, Roast and Rib. I am quite impress with the creativity from them and is definitely a collector set for keeps. If you prefer noodle over rice, we have Go Noodle House 4pcs set with a Chinese archway also known as 'Paifang' or 'Pailou' cheered by locals, the God of Shou (Longevity) and of course the two pink pals.
From East Malaysia Sarawak we the joyful Ah Gong (grandpa) and Ah Ma (grandma) from Jiu Ji Gong promoting their traditional brown sugar. Below we have the kiddo in lion dance and his chubby pet piggy pair from Platimex while another family with their pet piggies is Money Money Home.
We have our first beverage servings from Drinho with another pair design this year taking on a happy family and lion dancing motif... look out for another big set from Drinho below ^^ Thirsty for more beverages? For the kids Yakult is serving up a trio set with dance performance from the dragon and lion accompanied by the fortune god. Do you know that this 3pcs is part of a 6pcs design? Go back to the top and find Ng Sian Hap. Check out their lovely 2P here. Stay tuned for a set by another company that is also using the same design. Delica has been a delight since 2016 and after their 3pcs set last year, this year they are back with a 4pc set that joins top to bottom with a vibrant lion dancing theme featuring the four seasons of 春 Spring, 夏 Summer, 秋 Autumn & 冬 Winter. I love the design though some collectors were expecting more (hmm).
COFFEE FIX ☕
Fancy for another cup of coffee? Make it three with one ice blended and another hot brew to go. SF Coffee is a fun and modern trio with a recycling brown backing and a whole lot of colorful aroma! Starbucks dresses up in red and gold using just Chinese characters as compared to the other countries that brought out the pigs to play (click here to find them all). Next is Super taking on a new look after their two story house motif sets in 2018 and 2017 with a die-cut 福 "fu" trio this year while in 2016 & 2015 they were only single glossy packets which I quite like (ps: click on the year to view the respective packets). After the three fu we have Nestle three 春"chun" lanterns that works as a flap secure as well (the bottom row shows how the flaps look like).
My Melody and GoXuan are bringing us eight refreshing flavors from Drinho to quench our thirst this CNY. My kids love Lycee and Ice Lemon while I am definitely grabbing the Ice Peach! Another big set is Coca Cola, finally giving us colors with their signature bottle all filled up with eight different auspicious symbols. If you think these are nice, hop over to find the Singapore version (click here). Their Raya edition is in green of course and just a single design but still using the same bottle for a lovely continuance of it's multi-festive flavor.
Family Mart has been doing really well since its first Malaysia's store at Wisma Lim Foo Yong in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur in 2016 with their variety of on-the-go food and snacks hence the motif used for their mini angpow trio. Marmite and Boulevard both are joining the feast with more delicious Chinese New Year dishes served, a 3pcs set in red and a 5pcs front-back marching set in cream respectively.
After quenching our thirst it's time to fill up the tummy with some traditional Chinese staple food like the popular instant noodle and one of my all time favorite luncheon meat. This rare design by Image Vest is printed on Antalis paper for Fictionist, VaLen Lim and Ana Tomy. Nothing is more common than good old rice for the Chinese family, while Cosway big floral bowl of golden rice is paired with a floral yuan bao, Paperweight & Shan Shan Lim went on an abstract journey with their white rice pink bowl. Next is Why Not Organic with their three different rice illustration followed by another two chopsticks and bowls from the local eateries Little Penang Kafe and Lot 10 Hutong.
After quenching our thirst it's time to fill up the tummy with some traditional Chinese staple food like the popular instant noodle and one of my all time favorite luncheon meat. This rare design by Image Vest is printed on Antalis paper for Fictionist, VaLen Lim and Ana Tomy. Nothing is more common than good old rice for the Chinese family, while Cosway big floral bowl of golden rice is paired with a floral yuan bao, Paperweight & Shan Shan Lim went on an abstract journey with their white rice pink bowl. Next is Why Not Organic with their three different rice illustration followed by another two chopsticks and bowls from the local eateries Little Penang Kafe and Lot 10 Hutong.
tELECOMMUNICATION
Here comes the tel-co sets for the year of boar (if you can't remember their 2018 designs just hop back to my 2018 Dances with Lion page to find them). One thing in common last year was they all had the same lion dance motif while this year only Maxis, Digi and U Mobile continued but with much smaller version of lions. Maxis had a 6pcs set of the olden Chinese village settings while Digi filled up it's Chinese knot, peony, coin and lantern with various illustration of reunions and celebrations within. Maxis did not continue with matching series since 2018. Deepavali is a pink and purple pair while Raya took on a more shady green tone with a special cut flap layout.
Digi is back with another beautiful 3P and they never fail to bring me a sense of achievement for chasing after the multi-festive series. Which set is your favorite among the three? Do you remember their previous 3P(s)? Hop over to my multi-festive facebook album to find them.
I missed out many Deepavali packets last year because my dad was in the hospital then. Sadly after 26 days of intensive medical care, he finally left us on a Saturday morning. Our heart ached as we lost a very brilliant, hardworking and dedicated man, a loving husband, father and grandfather.
I did not complete quite a few of my 3P series because of the missing Deepavali edition. Besides the purple Sunway trio, the other which I didn't have the chance to hunt was U Mobile. The 4pcs U Mobile Deepavali set has the same layout and color theme as the Raya set and together they do make a rather nice 3P.
I did not complete quite a few of my 3P series because of the missing Deepavali edition. Besides the purple Sunway trio, the other which I didn't have the chance to hunt was U Mobile. The 4pcs U Mobile Deepavali set has the same layout and color theme as the Raya set and together they do make a rather nice 3P.
U Mobile used the fish, mandarin orange, butterfly and yuanbao to form auspicious Chinese characters. YES on the other hand skipped the floral this round and opted for a lion dance theme instead and so did Vivo, find them both at the singles gallery below. XOX Mobile moved away from the ready made designs to a color filled and textured set, their nicest so far in my opinion. Together with U Mobile they both had the auspicious fish in their 4pcs set. U Mobile also added on the mandarin orange, butterfly and sycee to make up the four Da Ji Da Li 大吉大利 that means the bigger the orange, the better fortune you get. In terms of design and layout M-Calls had the biggest difference (and improvement) from a 3pcs reunion set to a 6pcs die cut casing each with their individual patterned inserts.
Somewhat similar to Mcalls inserts, Dot Creative also used repetitive patterns for their 5pcs set but added on stickers instead of normal prints. Handy tools time with Makita extreme cordless series below that has a creative landscape background; I especially like the light-bulb piece.
Taking the opportunity to showcase Robinson Tools Maker series since I started collecting them in 2016. Even though using off the shelf designs, collectively they look just as good together especially the piggies which is their biggest set so far. I especially like the delightful piggy-bank motif that encourages kids to save up and do you remember the other piggy bankers from above? A special thanks to Mdm Yong for giving collectors an opportunity to own these through her annual giveaways. Adding on two more piggy sets taken straight from the shelf and they are Magicboo 6pcs set with 6 floral oinkers while Skin Town Korea 4pcs set has 11 adorable pinkies.
Here comes the single designs with lion dance, family & piggies motifs. There are more single piggies over at my Baby & Friends page so just hop over to find them especially if you like the 12 zodiac theme. Lion dancing is quite a popular design and so is F&N 100+ series that started in 2018. Just seeing all the glitters and colors they bring makes me smile... hope they too bring you joy!
YEAR ON YEAR
The more I collect the more I grow to appreciate these money packets especially when there are stories to share behind each year. Fossil continues another year with their lovely rendition of the zodiac series and I am loving them all. An Xin sells pork therefore the pig is always a theme be it the logo or just playing with the chubby and it's friends. Wong Kok monkeys were such a bright golden start for their zodiac series, the roosters, dogs and finally the pigs continued the journey year after year with the scenic background. Their latest has a very nice touch of golden vines and my favorite pink blossom. Bar B Q Plaza dragon mascot has lots of fun with the rooster, dog and this year the pinky pal. Madam Kwan changed their layout after the monkey and rooster pair to a mirroring floral dog last year. They decided to skip the pig this year taking on the fish instead.
One of my all time favorite series is definitely from Melilea that continued their garden, couple & zodiac in red since 2015. From the snowy lamb to the swinging monkeys, lil' chicks to the cheeky pug and finally to the chubby pig, each piece makes the series better. Asia Green carried on with their standard horizontal design with the zodiac motif and same packet size but different color tone and paper material. Tune talk has continued to steer away from the zodiac since the lamb and monkey while magnifying their last year lighter floral piece to a much bigger and bolder blossom this year.
MULTI FESTIVE / sDR
Sampul Duit Raya or SDR in short is money packets for the Malay New Year festival and they are getting more and more popular among angpow collectors. I have to remind myself not to get carried away with the SDR hence I only go for selected designs and themes, one of which is the flowery motif that I adore dearly. Bens Independent Grocer CNY flowers were quite a golden treat for me while their Raya edition like previous year delivered the moon and plants, this time featuring the Wau bulan, an intricately designed Malaysian moon-kite that is traditionally flown in the Malaysian state of Kelantan. TNB our local power company like in the past has another absolutely lovely 3P this time round with a change in their flap layout. Find their 2018/2019 3P over at my 2018 home page (click here).
AEON Big formerly known as Carrefour, a France hypermarket that started it's operation in Malaysia back in 1992 and was subsequently bought by AEON Group in 2012. They have a lovely set of five with big bold floral from CNY then followed by the flower prints from Raya. Unfortunately their Deepavali print is a single horizontal design piece that can't be matched with this two big sets. Newly added below is another AEON Group entity AEON formerly known as Jusco with their 3pcs set for CNY & Raya while Deepavali is a pair of the peacock in ruby pink and yellow. This 3P has the same packet size, flap layout and as well as the same circle motif, did you notice?
Below we have TGV with the perfect matching 2P, both 5pcs set are the same size, paper, flap, background and colors, definitely looking their very best together. Sarawak Energy 2P is not exactly a matching series, keeping it simple for CNY with a 5 color set while the Raya kampung celebration motif is a much meaningful and joyful edition. Boat Noodle also celebrates the harmonious kampung life up front and filling up the back with colorful batik prints. Wondermilk half and half motif of floral illustration on the top vs repetitive prints below is offering us something fresh.
More colorful and bright prints; Mesa Mall above with their changing view through the kaleidoscope, showing off vibrant repeated reflection of symmetrical patterns. Akisama Group below comes in two separate pack, the crescent moon and the Islamic star (al-Quds star). The three moons and three stars gives a preview of what's underneath those die-cut front flaps and it is a beautiful floral world that awaits us.
Above we have a few single floral designs that I quite like from this year Raya series and they are Avon in blue, the thick beauty from Hour Passion in pine, the sweet Lancome in pink and Lollysta in white. Bringing us more floral are the blue angles from House of Healin while Mary Kay brought us a mixture of blue and green shades featuring the traditional batik prints. Both sets can be joined front and back for a complete picture perfect view.
Zonria above is a set of twelve with a mix of 3pcs village "kampung" theme plus another 9 individual designs. Adding on a few mall series with multi-festive packets for CNY and Raya. First up is Great Eastern Mall with my favorite butterfly motif for CNY and using the same flap layout, a green base duo for their Raya. DaMen had a pair of handsome lion dancing pair followed by a delightful Pocotee party for Raya.
IOI City mall went with small size packets for CNY then worked it's way from four different shade of the color green to combining the four quarter circles into a beautiful circle of golden patterns with their theme "Eid celebration around the world" for Raya.
Collectors were quite hyped over Healthlane Raya set and so I joined the band wagon, what do you think? ><
Collectors were quite hyped over Healthlane Raya set and so I joined the band wagon, what do you think? ><
find more SDR over at The Kids corner (click here)
For more of my latest collection, please visit my facebook page or get the links to my collection by years via my facebook album here. (๑‵●‿●‵๑)