Preparing for a Family Feast with Chinese Banquet Chopstick Cases

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Like he does for most any special occasion, my five year old son starts getting excited for Chinese New Year well before the holiday arrives. When the first red and gold decorations appear in the neighborhood, his mind goes to red envelopes, chocolate coins and lion dances. There’s a lot of nervous energy to burn off.

However, while adults busily prepare for the holiday, it can be difficult to find tangible ways for young kids to contribute to the celebration around them. Fortunately, Jennifer DeCristoforo, author and illustrator of the Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts, comes to the rescue with this terrific project for making Chinese Banquet Chopstick Cases.

The family reunion dinner is a centerpiece of Chinese New Year and an opportunity to set a beautiful table that complements a meal filled with delicious food. Making these chopstick cases provides kids a great way to create a colorful addition that everyone around the table will notice with a smile.

These chopstick cases require few materials and are simple enough that kids can work independently to create them. Though each one only takes about five minutes to craft, a child can easily devote an hour or more over several days to create a beautiful, personalized chopstick case for each person on your guest list.

The fun here is letting your child pick the paper to use for each case. You can take a trip to the store for colorful double-sided craft paper, employ patterned origami paper or use up the last of your Christmas wrapping paper. Repurposing red envelopes is always a favorite strategy of mine for projects like this.

The result of this project is a set of chopstick holders that kids can feel proud to present to their relatives. They’re colorful, useful and add a child’s touch to a family’s Chinese New Year celebration.

Here’s how to make Chinese banquet chopstick cases, step-by-step. The detailed tutorial with pictures and directions is at the bottom of the page.

Your turn! Can you share any tips from your experience making these cases? Want to ask a question before making them yourself? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

Chinese Banquet Chopstick Cases

Makes: 10 Cases | Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Project Time: 30 Minutes

Materials

10 sheets colored paper, 4 5/8″ to 8″ squares
Tape
Scissors

Step-By-Step Tutorial

This is one of those great craft projects that uses materials you’ve probably already got around the house. All you need is colored paper cut into squares (6″ x 6″ as pictured here), a roll of tape and a pair of scissors. You can also repurpose Chinese red envelopes for this project.

With the white side (or secondary color side) up, begin by valley folding your paper square in half.

Then valley fold each half in half again.

Unfold the paper and flatten. This will leave you a square with four parallel creases. Note that if you want to center any part of the paper’s design on the main back panel of the chopstick case, it should be placed in the second section from the left.

Fold the top right hand corner down to the center line to form a triangle.

Next, fold the top left hand corner to meet the first crease to form a smaller triangle.

Fold the top section into the center.

Then continue and fold over again.

Finally, create the case by folding the bottom panel up to meet the top panel.

Fold the bottom edge up about 1/4″ to close the bottom. Use a small piece of tape to secure the case.

Insert your chopsticks!

Repeat the steps above until you have enough chopstick cases for your entire guest list.