What Colors Should You Avoid When Giving Gifts in Hong Kong?
, by Divya Chatani de Tourani, 3 min reading time
White and black are the two colors to avoid on gift wrap this season — here's why, across Chinese, Indian, and Western gift-giving, and the colors that work instead.
The short answer: avoid white and black as your primary gift color, especially for wrapping, ribbon, or packaging — across Chinese, Indian, and most Asian gift-giving traditions, both read as mourning colors rather than celebratory ones. Here's why, and which colors are safe across every gifting occasion between now and the new year.
Why are white and black considered bad gift colors?
In most East and South Asian traditions, white and black aren't neutral — they're the colors specifically associated with death and funerals, which is the opposite of what a gift is meant to say. The reasoning is less about the color itself and more about what it signals: a gift wrapped in white or black doesn't just look understated, it can visually echo the exact colors worn to a funeral.
What colors should you avoid for Chinese and Hong Kong gifts?
In Chinese tradition, white is associated with funerals, while black and blue are considered close to synonymous with death — all three are avoided for gifts, especially around Chinese New Year and other celebratory occasions. Red, yellow, and gold are the traditional stand-ins, chosen specifically because they symbolize wealth and prosperity rather than mourning. This is the same logic behind lai see packets always being red: see our Lai See etiquette guide for more on how color and gifting intersect at Chinese New Year.
What colors should you avoid for Diwali and Indian gifts?
The same pattern holds in Indian gift-giving, for a related but distinct reason. Black carries associations with negativity and misfortune, while white is the color traditionally worn by Hindu widows in mourning — a custom NPR has reported on in the context of Indian widows only recently reclaiming color for themselves. Around Diwali, Raksha Bandhan, and other festivals, the palette leans hard into red, yellow, green, and gold instead, which is also why festival decor — diyas, rangoli, marigolds — tends to cluster in the same handful of colors.
What about Christmas and Western gift-giving?
Western gift-giving doesn't carry the same fixed taboo — there's no single color that reads as universally inappropriate the way white and black do in Chinese and Indian tradition. But it's worth knowing the overlap exists: black is still the default Western mourning color too, so all-black gift wrap can land as somber rather than festive in a Western context, even without the funeral association being explicit. For Christmas specifically, red, green, and gold remain the safest and most expected palette — which happens to line up neatly with what already works for Diwali and Chinese New Year.
What are the safest gift colors?
Red, gold, and jewel tones cross every one of these traditions cleanly, which makes them the easiest default if you're shopping for someone whose customs you're not sure of, or gifting across a mixed group. It's also, not coincidentally, where most of our own pieces live:
- Metal Diya Holder — gold or silver, made by metalworkers in India
- Najma Ornament — hand-carved gold or silver star, made by artisans in Indonesia
- Ruva Cutlery Set — brushed gold flatware, a safe hostess gift for any of these occasions
Browse the full Diwali Collection, the Lai See Luxe Edition for Chinese New Year, or the Christmas Decor & Tableware Collection for more pieces that work across all three.