Celebrating Chinese New Year in Singapore with offerings aplenty at Changi Airport and Jewel 🍲

Chinese New Year (CNY) is a deep-rooted tradition for many Chinese Singaporeans and remains one of the most important occasions for multi-generations of the family to reunite and spend time together. The 15-day long festival starts before that with preparations from spring cleaning the house, buying decorations, sweets and snacks, as well as new clothes, to stocking up the fridge with ingredients for home-cooked reunion meals. If you step into any shopping malls soon after Christmas in Singapore, you will hear CNY songs playing in the background and see a switchover of festive decorations to remind shoppers to start preparing for the Lunar New Year.

Even with Covid-19, many Chinese families in Singapore continue to uphold CNY traditions by planning around the existing social restrictions. In celebration of this important festival, we’ve compiled a guide help you usher in the Year of the Tiger for a Tiger-rific start!

Stock up your house with calories-worthy snacks

During CNY, every family will stock up a variety of snacks, candies and fruits at home to share. It is also a time when people buy snacks and candies for gifting as a way of bestowing good wishes to others for the new year.

Bak Kwa is a CNY staple as it symbolises good luck and is known to ward off negative energy. While this is one snack that you may feel guilty after having too many slices, consider getting Bak Kwa from brands that would make every calorie worth adding! I am an avid fan of Lim Chee Guan, but now I can forget the long queues at Chinatown and get it from Jewel. Don’t worry, the traditional charcoal flavour is still there!

If you don’t want the hassle of lugging all your purchases of CNY snacks, you can also choose to order from Changi Eats. Get your hands on Mdm Ling Bakery’s range of melt-in-your-mouth cookies (if you’re a chocolate lover, go for the molten chocolate cookies. You’ll definitely love the lava chocolate spilling out. I’m a dark chocolate lover and found this not too sweet). Don’t forget the other traditional festive snacks like pineapple tarts, bak kwa, love letters, shrimp rolls and kueh lapis which are also available on Changi Eats from Bengawan Solo, Fragrance, Lavender Bakery, Rainbow Lapis and Yikowei. 

Fantastic array of dining options to cover all your important get-togethers

If you feel your culinary standard isn’t up to standard or don’t wish your parents to stress over food preparation for family get-together meals, you can usher in the new year with these must-have reunion set menus, available for dine-in or takeaway. 

Dian Xiao Er entices with a selection of CNY set menus featuring a bevy of new delicacies and signature mainstays such as the Golden Morel Mushrooms & Scallops in Pumpkin sauce and its Signature Herbal Roast Duck. For home celebrations this year, CNY Eve Takeaway bundle packages include Prosperity Pork Trotters, Braised Sea Cucumbers & Mushroom with Abalone, with pre-orders available.

For those looking to sink their teeth into Yunnan cuisine, Yun Nans’ Prosperity Treasure Hot Pot will surely satiate your tastebuds with layers of premium delicacies such as superior abalone, sea cucumber, scallop and more.   

Seafood lovers can eat to their hearts content with JUMBO Seafood’s reunion & celebration set bundles as well as festive delights including their Prosperity Pen Cai and Salmon Yu Sheng. Or opt for Paradise Classic’s and Paradise Dynasty’s Yu Sheng and Pen Cai specials and enjoy 10% off festive takeaways for Citibank, Maybank and PGR members.

If you choose to celebrate the occasion at home, Soup Restaurant has Take Home Reunion sets which include Baby Abalone Yu Sheng, Samsui Ginger Chicken, Wellness Treasure Pot with Abalone and Traditional Steamed Rice with Chinese Sausage Mushroom. Enjoy complimentary Fatt Choi Bao Bao (handmade steamed bun) for those who choose self-pick-up orders.   

For those who wish to order from more than one restaurant, you can always use Changi Eats, which allows you to mix-and-match up to 5 F&B brands in a single check-out, conveniently delivered to your home! Plus, you can even pre-order up to 10 days in advance. Indulge in a scrumptious spread of CNY delicacies and choose from a line-up of mouth-watering festive menus from A-One Signature, Dian Xiao Er, Kam’s Roast, Paradise Dynasty and Yun Nans. 

Look your best with our retail offerings, both online and at Jewel

Nothing beats looking good while enjoying great savings on iShopChangi. Shop from a variety of popular beauty and skincare brands like SK-II, Sulwhasoo, Innisfree, Shu Uemura and Nars, and grooming brands like Dyson and homeware brands like Mayer, to prepare for CNY.

Pro-tip: From 2 to 4 February, be sure to catch flash sales to get 10% off sitewide.

Other than looking your best, you can also go on iShopChangi to find products to make your gifting extra special!

Accessorise your CNY look with bags and earrings from Sift & Pick, an online marketplace for you to discover under-the-radar designer brands specially curated by the team, such as MARHEN.J, SUIN and Aibelle to name a few. From now till 31 January, take a further 15% off with minimum spend of $160 (capped at $35).

Pro-tip: You can also visit Sift & Pick X MARHEN.J store at Jewel Level 2, if you need to see how the products look on you!

For last minute shoppers who can’t wait for delivery to arrive, you can also visit the array of shops at Jewel, to get all your CNY needs from clothes to shoes and gold jewellery, all in one destination. From now till 15 February 2021, shop with Mastercard® or Citibank to get more savings and have a pawsperous start to the Year of the Tiger. 

Collect these exclusive red packets and mandarin orange bag to pass on and receive well wishes

Red packets tradition comes from the legend of an evil spirit named Sui. Parents used to thread eight coins on a red string and put them under their children’s pillows on the eve of CNY, in hopes to protect them from the spirit. Let your kids have more joy by giving them a cute Disney Tsum Tsum red packet!

Simply spend $60 at participating F&B outlets in T1 and T3 to redeem for a $5 Changi Gift Card, 2-hour free parking, 1 set of Disney Tsum Tsum Red Packets for free and purchase a Disney Tsum Tsum Mandarin Orange Bag at $8.80. Get your hands on a different set of Disney Tsum Tsum red packet, when you spend $80 at Jewel.

Where else is open during the first few days of CNY?

Unlike pre-Covid days where the first few days will be packed with house visiting, there is definitely more spare time to snooze and chill. So where else can you go with family and friends?

As you know the airport never sleeps, you’ll be thrilled to know that Changi Airport and Jewel remains open during the whole CNY period.

Snap new family photos with all the adorable zodiac animals that are located around Jewel and find out what fortune lies ahead in the lunar new year. Or pose with Disney Tsum Tsum characters at the festive photospots spread across T3 (come dress in Tiger stripes to match the characters whom are dressed in playful Tigger costumes!).

If you’re looking for activities to spend time with the family, here’s your chance to visit the Canopy Park attractions and Changi Experience Studio. The latter is offering 18% off tickets with a minimum purchase of three tickets from 28 January to 15 February. And if you ever felt you had too much good food, you can always take a run or cycle along the scenic Jurassic Mile at any time of the day. This is definitely a roaring good start to the year!

Here’s wishing you a pawsperous new year and may your abundant of wishes come true!

 

For more updates on Changi Airport, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube. You can also sign up for a Changi Account and have the latest news and articles delivered right into your inbox.