This year, we are celebrating the Year of the Fire Monkey. The monkey is smart, vigilant, wily and naughty. Almost every dish eaten .during a family reunion dinner is a major and important affair for a Chinese family and has symbolic meaning or a name that sounds like the Chinese character for fortune, happiness, longevity, and prosperity.
It is the time where family members gather and reunite over a good meal. Reunion dinner is held on the eve of the Lunar New Year. The reunion meal is mostly home-cooked, although many people nowadays prefer to eat out in order to save the hassle of the cooking and cleaning up.
As you prepare and look forward to the festive dinner, it is equally essential to not only prepare your children to be in their best manners and behaviours during the festive celebrations but also adults should mind their dining etiquette such as the responsibilities of both guests and hosts. If you are hosting the dinner or going to someone else´s home as a guest, you will want your part in the festive to be a success. Whether a host or a guest, following the guidelines will ensure success. Here are some few: 
- Guests come first, plain and simple
- Be a diplomat and steer conversation into the right direction
- Take a host gift as a guest and jump in for cleaning up
- Never discuss taboo table topics
- Toasts should always be left for the host to offer
- Mind the festive taboos and avoid e.g. breaking utensils or avoiding all the bad sounding words such as “break”, “bad”, “die”, “none left”, “ghost”, “lose”, “poor”, “done (finished)”, “unlucky” and “sick”
Do your children receive their red packets (hongbao) without saying thank you? Do they open and take a peek into the red packets right on the spot? Do they go for house visits and mess up the houses of friends and relatives? Do they know the greetings to share during the Lunar New Year, on a auspicious occasion?
How do you celebrate your family reunion dinner? Don’t forget to mind your dining etiquette and good manners during the house visits or restaurant visits.
恭禧發財 Gong Xi Fa Cai
