Every January a company discovers that the money packets it ordered in the last week of December cannot be hot-stamped, boxed and delivered before Chinese New Year, and settles for plain ones. The festival did not move; the order simply started after the production slots were gone. This guide lists the 2027 dates and works backwards from each to the week the brief has to be sent.
Two things to know about the dates. Chinese New Year and Christmas are fixed. Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Deepavali follow lunar sightings and are announced as tentative, so plan to the earliest likely date, not the latest.
The 2027 festival dates
Chinese New Year falls on Saturday 6 February 2027, with the public holiday carried to the following Monday. Hari Raya Aidilfitri is expected around 10 March 2027 and Deepavali on 28 October 2027; both are tentative until the official announcement. Christmas is 25 December. For company purposes the gift has to be in hands in the last working week before the festival, and offices start emptying two to three days before that.
The awkward one is Chinese New Year 2027: five weeks after the year-end break, in the same window as Hari Raya preparations, with suppliers' own festive closures in between. Treat early December as the practical start of the Chinese New Year season, not January.
How long each kind of gift really takes
Lead times below are from artwork approval, which is the date that matters; the days before it, while artwork goes back and forth, belong to the buyer. They are the times we quote in our own workshop; another supplier's will differ, so ask for theirs in writing.
- Ready-stock gifts with a printed or engraved logo: about one to two weeks after the sample is approved.
- Money packets on standard stock with a printed logo: about two weeks. Hot-stamped foil and gift-box sets: three to four weeks, and the Chinese New Year slots are booked from November.
- Curated gift sets with custom packaging, and onboarding kits built to your own list: four to six weeks.
- Made-to-brief pieces produced through our sourcing office: six to eight weeks, plus the factory closures around Chinese New Year itself.
- Delivery: add two working days within Peninsular Malaysia, more for Sabah and Sarawak or for several regional offices from one order.
The week to send the brief, festival by festival
Working backwards from the dates and the lead times above, these are the latest sensible weeks to send a brief, assuming artwork is approved within a few days of the first proof. Earlier is always cheaper in choice, because the ready-stock colours and the premium stocks go first.
- Chinese New Year, 6 February 2027: ready-stock gifts by mid-January; money packets by early December for hot-stamped or boxed, mid-December for standard; curated sets and made-to-brief pieces by late November.
- Hari Raya Aidilfitri, around 10 March 2027: ready-stock gifts by mid-February; green packets and gift sets by late January; made-to-brief pieces by early January, since Chinese New Year closures sit inside this window.
- Deepavali, 28 October 2027: ready-stock gifts by early October; boxed sets by mid-September; made-to-brief pieces by late August.
- Christmas and year-end client gifts: ready-stock by late November; curated sets by early November; made-to-brief by mid-October.
- Government agencies and GLCs: deliveries should land before early December, when year-end payment cut-offs and spending controls close the window regardless of the festival.
What slows an order that started on time
The lead times above assume one thing that rarely happens by itself: artwork approved quickly. A logo supplied as a small image instead of a vector file, a colour that has to be matched to a brand guide, a message that goes through three people before it is signed off, each adds days at the front of the job. Send the vector logo, the Pantone or brand colour, and the approved greeting with the brief, and name the one person who signs off the proof.
The second slowdown is quantity creep: an order for 300 that becomes 420 after the first proof has to be re-costed and sometimes re-sourced. Settle the recipient list before the brief goes out, and ask the supplier whether a small buffer can be held in stock rather than printed.
One design, three festivals
Companies that gift for all three festivals save the most time by approving one packet or box design in November with the colour and greeting as the only variables: red and gold for Chinese New Year, green for Hari Raya, purple and gold for Deepavali. The artwork is approved once, the stock is reserved once, and each festival becomes a reprint rather than a new project.
The same applies to gift sets: a tumbler, a notebook and a pen approved once can be boxed in three festive sleeves through the year. Approve the set early, and the festive deadlines above become ordering dates rather than crises.
Bring us your brief.
If you want the 2027 dates held for you, send the brief now: the festival, the quantity, the gift type and the delivery address. We confirm the production slot and the delivery date in writing within one working day, and a physical sample is approved before anything is printed.
Start a brief
