5 atas items to distract your kaypoh relatives with when they visit this Chinese New Year

While Chinese New Year is supposed to be a time of joy and new beginnings, it has always elicited mixed feelings in me.

I mean, it’s that time of the year when your relatives get together to compare successes and misfortunes, gossip about the lives of their children, as well as make intrusive comments about your life.

“What’s your salary like?”

“Got boyfriend or not?”

“You put on weight leh!”

Now that we can have only eight visitors per day in our homes, it means that their attention might be zeroed in on us even more.

And if you, like me, have kaypoh relatives who love bombarding you with a whole load of unnecessary questions, one way you can shush them up is to gift them any of these five atas items.

Hopefully your relatives will be so distracted by these items that they will forget to ask you the dreaded questions.

1) Limited edition mahjong set from SIA (S$338)

Sometime around December last year, it was reported that Singapore Airlines (SIA) had launched its own limited edition mahjong set, with the design of the tiles drawing inspiration from SIA’s signature batik motif:

Inspired by local flowers, the batik motif can be found on the tiles for flowers and seasons, as well as the chips and design on the back of tiles.

Confirm plus chop will impress your relatives with how ~exclusive~ (and chio) it is.

2) German technology speed foaming automatic hand wash from Walch® (S$49.90)

What’s a Phase 3 CNY celebration without some mandatory hygiene measures?

If you’d like to gift your relatives something meaningful this year, consider getting the Walch® speed foaming automatic hand wash, which has nano-scale foam molecules for better coverage and deeper cleansing.

Not only is it 100 per cent contactless, thereby reducing the risk of contamination, it is also gentle on the skin and dispenses just the right amount of soap each time to kill 99.9 per cent of germs.

(Do note that each 350ml bottle can dispense up to 511 pumps, which is guaranteed to last you way after CNY.)

Plus, it is fast-foaming with a 0.25 second reaction time, which is even quicker than your aunties and uncles can say “Wah, so high tech ah!”

Click here to shop now:

• FairPrice Online
• Cold Storage Online
• Guardian Online
• Lazada
• Shopee

Pssst, look out for special promotions by each of these retailers to add on to your CNY shopping list.

3) Life-like KOI chocolate from Janice Wong (S$78)

Next up is the Chocolate KOI, a pair of life-like chocolate figurines from homegrown dessert maestro Janice Wong.

Hand-painted in natural colours, each pair of Chocolate Koi is coated with single-origin Equateur 76 per cent dark chocolate and filled with Praline Feuilletine and candied orange.

They also come encased within a beautiful gold glass box that resembles a koi pond, which makes for an ornamental treat that older relatives will definitely fawn over.

4) Custom-made wall decor from Fleuriste.sg (S$135 - S$155)

Why settle for tacky and unoriginal Chinese New Year decorations when you can get custom-made ones from Instagram floral boutique @fleuriste.sg?

Take this chance to show off to your relatives by getting this intricately designed CNY wall decor which is made with top grade faux flowers:

Wordings can also be customised to reflect your family name (do note that the wooden laser cut sign will not come with the wooden borders):

Each design is approximately 35cm wide, and retail from S$135 for "万事如意＂and ＂花开富贵＂，while customised family names are at S$155 each.

5) Artisanal Bak-Kwa from FYRE (S$118 - S$128)

Last but definitely not least is artisanal bak-kwa from FYRE, a locally born brand that has been in the F&B industry for close to a decade.

According to FYRE, their bak-kwa is made only from premium meat slices that provide maximum tenderness and succulence.

The meat is then smoked for hours over apple and lychee wood, before being barbecued over a charcoal masonry. Yum.

At a pretty costly price of S$118 to S$128 per box, this bak-kwa is sure to elicit many ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ of approval.

This sponsored article by Walch® made this writer dread seeing her relatives at CNY a little less.

Top image via SIA and Janice Wong