The tradition of giving lucky money to children sometimes causes embarrassment for their parents.
Lucky money meant to bring luck for the year
Many times children count their envelopes in front of the giver, making their parents feel uncomfortable.
One little boy named Minh opened his envelope and exclaimed, "Mom, Ms. Ha gave me VND100,000. Its twice the amount as last year!" The boys mother was embarrassed.
The boy was eager to meet with a man called Bao because he had given him VND500,000 the year before. Again, in front of the people, the boy commented that Bao was extremely generous compared to another man named Nhan, even though Nhan was better off.
Struggling to pay for luck
Hien, a woman who got married with a man in the central highlands province of Dak Lak shared her first Tet with her parents in law's family last year. "We took out over VND10 million to give out, but it was still not enough. We had to go to an ATM to withdraw more."
"At first we were giving children VND100,000, but had to switch to VND50,00 and then VND20,000 notes," she said.
Quyen was in another awkward situation. Last year, she visited her boss' family and was embarrassed when she got home to find out that she had only given the boss' children VND100,000, while the boss had given her children VND200,000.
To correct her mistake, she intends to give VND500,000 to the boss' son this Tet.
