Inexpensive good luck gifts make great feng shui presents for friends and family members. They deliver both your warm intentions and positive energy, a win-win for the recipient and for you.
Feng Shui and Good Luck Gifts
The Chinese believe that when you gift someone, you should do so in pairs. The more gifts, the more luck you bestow along with your gifts. Remember to give in pairs. If you wish to give more than two gifts, make sure you give in multiples of pairs, such as four, eight, sixteen, or more.
Choosing Inexpensive Good Luck Gifts
You can find most good luck feng shui symbols and items in varying degrees of quality and expense. The first thing you should do is decide what kind of luck you wish for your recipient.
Chinese Coins
Chinese coins tied with a red ribbon or inside a red envelope are two of the most inexpensive and luckiest gifts you can give to someone. An added benefit of giving coins as a gift is that it also bestows wealth to you. Buy coins strung on red thread for hanging in multiples of three for prosperity luck. Tuck the hanging charm into an oversize lucky red envelope, used for traditional money gifts during the Lunar New Year.
Feng Shui Import sells three faux Ching dynasty coins topped by an elaborate lucky mystic knot and finished with a silky red tassel for around $5.
Ching Coins
Minted during the Ching Dynasty, the Ching coin is made from bronze with a square hole in the middle. In ancient times, people wore Ching coins as amulets against negative energy, evil and disease. Realistic faux Ching coins in antique bronze finish may be strung on a necklace like a medallion, knotted into a key ring by a clever crafter, or added to an I Ching divination book for casting fortunes.
Buy 2 sets of three coins for about $7 through Amazon, with free shipping available. Add a trade paperback of The I Ching or Book of Changes: A Guide to Life's Turning Points for around $10 and your lucky friend is ready to consult the oracle. It's the perfect birthday present for someone who wants to understand the upcoming year.
Hanging Prosperity Coin Balls
Another practice is to wire lucky coins together to form a ball with the Chinese characters facing out. Coin balls have a knotted decorative ribbon and most often a hanging red tassel. Sometimes, bells are suspended from the ball to draw additional good fortune. These look terrific in a window, over a student's desk, or dangling from a rear view mirror. They're also great on a holiday tree.
Phoenix Orion sells a coin ball with a red longevity knot hanger and a dragon bell finished with a red tassel for less than $10. So much dragon, lucky coin, and auspicious red knot luck in one package -- might as well buy two, one for your friend and one for you.
Other Inexpensive Gifts for Good Luck
There are many other gifts you can buy that won't cost a lot of money, but will bring good fortune. Feng shui lucky gifts tend to have broad appeal but seem tailor made for a particular occasion.
Small Metal Bells
Placing bells outside a home at the door is a way to ring the news of good fortune entering your home. It's also a handy way to keep track of door traffic, as well as a regular disruption of any "stuck" chi every time the door is opened. This is a perfect housewarming gift for a new home and a little extra lucky boost for the seasonal opening of a casual vacation home.
Unique Feng Shui sells Tiger Jingle Bells for doorways for less than $20 plus about $5 shipping, and they'll gift wrap. Two verdigris metal bells inscribed with tiger heads hang from cords threaded with three lucky coins each. Tiny pellets inside the bells hit the metal and create a distinctive resonant sound. The balls are 2 inches in diameter and the string is 8 inches long.
Three-Legged Frog
The money frog always has a coin in its mouth (make sure you have the Chinese character face up). You can place this symbol of good fortune and wealth in your personal wealth sector. This icon also represents longevity which means your fortune and wealth will have no end. He's happy squatting in the main entry of a home or at the check-out of a business; prosperity is his natural pond.
Acquire a bronze money frog with auspicious "ruby" eyes and his own Chinese coin from Amazon for less than $8. Give a frog as a graduation gift or for someone who desires a raise.
Foo Dogs
The Foo dog (also spelled Fu or Fo) is a long-time symbol of protection, always used in pairs. Foos are stylized mythical lions who are fearsome to behold and whose power reaches beyond the normal world into the supernatural. Once they guarded palaces, striking awe and fear into the hearts of all who approached. Let them get to work for someone you care about.
A pair of golden Foo dogs (male and female) are available at FengShuiMall.com for less than $20. They have red accents. Select them as a great good luck housewarming gift.
Lucky Bamboo
Many believe lucky bamboo plants attract chi into their home to energize it, especially the sector where the plant is placed. There are meanings attached to the number of stalks. Make sure you never give a plant with only four stalks -- the Chinese pronunciation of the number four sounds like the word for death.
Walmart sells spiral lucky bamboo in a round green ceramic vase for about $15 plus around $5 shipping. The plant is about 8 to 10 inches tall and comes with crystal soil and care instructions. Lucky bamboo (not a true bamboo) is a good luck substitute for any occasion that might call for flowers, traditional for Chinese New Year visits, and a hardy year-round addition to home decor.
Maneki Neko - Lucky Cat
The lucky cat, Maneki Neko, bestows happiness and prosperity on all who cross her path. She's a smiling, cheery little feline, sure to appeal to kids as well as their grown-ups. You'll often see lucky cats near the cash register in a business -- so, an Open-For-Business present for an entrepreneurial friend. Little Maneki Neko make great party gifts, stocking stuffers or auspicious Chinese New Year good fortune tokens.
Georgia's Gifts sells a tiny (3") Maneki Neko ceramic bank with a red collar and gold trim, right paw upraised to beckon luck, for around $5 plus shipping. Comes in a pretty decorative box. Don't forget to put a lucky starter coin in the kitty before gifting it.
Shopping for Good Luck Feng Shui Gifts
Abolish your annual gifting angst by planning ahead for holidays, birthdays, and special occasions and ordering appropriate feng shui lucky tokens online. There are so many versions of fortune-boosting items at affordable price points, you'll be able to find something for everyone. The best luck of all for you, good luck gifts have no sell-by dates and never go out of style.
