SEASONAL

EVA Air's Chinese New Year Treats

Sanrio red envelopes, Magi Planet popcorn - celebrating CNY in the air

February 22, 2026
EVA Air 2026 Chinese New Year Sanrio red envelopes featuring Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, and Kuromi
EVA Air's 2026 Year of the Horse red envelopes — Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, and Kuromi editions.

Flying EVA Air is always a pleasant experience, and this time was no different. As festivities were just beginning on the ground in Taiwan, we continued the celebrations on board and were really grateful to the cabin crew for a handful of festive surprises. I think it’s quite common for airlines to do this sort of special themed event, but this was my first time experiencing one directly.

The Red Envelopes

The crew first handed out red envelopes (紅包, hóngbāo), each featuring a Sanrio character dressed for the Year of the Horse. Hello Kitty in a horse costume carrying a lantern, Cinnamoroll with a spring (春, chūn) banner, and Kuromi looking uncharacteristically cheerful. Red envelopes are a staple of Chinese New Year — traditionally filled with money and given to friends and family. The red color symbolizes good luck, prosperity, and the warding off of evil spirits, but these themed versions were just fun to collect.

The Snacks

The crew then came back around with some popcorn: Magi Planet, Taiwan’s cult-favorite gourmet popcorn brand, again nicely themed for the holiday.

Magi Planet CNY popcorn in festive red packaging with lucky cat illustrations
Magi Planet's limited-edition CNY popcorn — 有錢 and 發財 editions.

The characters on the bags are:

  • 招財貓 (zhāo cái māo) — “lucky cat,” the beckoning cat figurine you see everywhere
  • 有錢 (yǒu qián) — “have money”
  • 發財 (fā cái) — “get rich”

Not hard to figure out the priorities here.

The popcorn was good!

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