Celebrating Tết at Home: A Family Guide

Tết is the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. A family celebration at home can begin with one story, one shared task, and one conversation with someone who remembers celebrating it as a child. Ask your own family which practices matter to them instead of trying to reproduce every tradition.

Begin with the traditions your family knows

Vietnam Tourism describes preparations such as cleaning and decorating before the holiday, family visits, New Year greetings, and lucky-money gifts. Use these as conversation starters, not a checklist every Vietnamese family must follow. Ask when your household prepares, what it cooks, and which customs it chooses to keep.

Read Vietnam Tourism’s guide to Tết — Official tourism background on holiday preparation, foods, flowers, and family visits.

A family-memory activity: one page, three boxes

You need a sheet of paper, crayons or pencils, and a willing family storyteller. Allow around twenty minutes, or split the activity across two days. Fold the page into three sections and label them “A memory,” “Our celebration,” and “A wish.”

1. A memory: ask a relative, “What is one thing you remember seeing, hearing, or eating at Tết?” Let your child draw one detail from the answer.
2. Our celebration: choose one task your child can help with before the holiday, such as making a paper decoration or setting out napkins for a family meal. Draw the task in the second box.
3. A wish: invite each person to name something they hope for in the coming year. Write the child’s words exactly, or let them draw their wish.
4. Share: show the page during a visit or video call. Ask the relative to add a word in Vietnamese if they would like to. Save the page with the year written on it.

Add a short bilingual reading

Bringing in Tết is a Vietnamese–English children’s book in Achieve’s bilingual collection. Preview your copy and choose a spread that connects with your family’s memory. Read the text together, then ask, “What do you notice here?” and “Which part is familiar in our home?” Let children answer in either language.

Explore Bringing in Tết

Print a bilingual reading response sheet — An original activity sheet with space for a picture, a chosen word, and a family connection.

Keep the language personal

Start with Tết — Vietnamese Lunar New Year — as the name of the celebration. Ask a family speaker to write one New Year wish your child can use with a particular relative, including the English meaning. Have that adult model the full greeting before your child tries it. The way a child addresses an older relative should fit the family relationship.

Prepare a first Vietnamese conversation with grandparents

For a classroom or library group

Present the activity as an invitation to learn about a celebration. Ask before inviting a child or family to speak for their culture. A child can draw a wish or describe a family gathering without disclosing personal history or celebrating Tết themselves. Introduce one family’s account as that family’s experience, and leave room for others to differ.

If you add food, follow your setting’s allergy and food-handling arrangements. Keep hot cooking and sharp tools with adults. The drawing-and-story version works without a food activity.