How much to give?

The other night I was talking to Big J on money for red packets (ang pow) for the Chinese New Year. How much do we need to stand by in the notes of RM1, RM5, RM10 and RM50? For the past two years I were the one preparing for the smaller notes but fortunately I were not required to give out ang pow. Reason being that we spent our CNY in my in-law's house in Kapit and my in-laws have asked me not to give to guests' children since they would give out themselves! So besides my family and Big J's family, we didnt give many ang pow at all!

Nevetheless this year I will still prepared the small notes as usual as we are spending our holiday in Kuching. I have few friends with young children, so expecting to give out some ang pows when visiting them.

There is no guidelines on how much to give to children, but usually I would based on how close is my relationship with that person to determine how much I give. Example, if long friend's children, I would give RM50! Too much? For those I am not familiar or Big J's business associates' children, I will give RM10 unless Big J specify the amount first.

Usually I will stand by different ang pow with different amount of money in them, so I would know which ang pow to give when doing the visit.

As for my family and Big J's family, we are spending around RM1500 for the ang pow money! Phew! Talking about festivity, we need to spend much on ang pow! Luckily I am going to receive my yearly bonus early next week. So my ang pow money is taken care of from there! *Laugh*