Printed Lunar New Year bags for Bay Area shops, in red and gold for Tết and the Year of the Goat.

One date, three new year traditions in the Bay

On Saturday, Feb. 6, 2027, Chinese families celebrate Lunar New Year, Korean families celebrate Seollal and Vietnamese families celebrate Tết. It's the Year of the Goat, which some calendars call the Year of the Sheep or the Ram.

Here's what the weeks before it look like behind the counter. Bakeries take preorders for new year cakes and sweets. Vietnamese delis make bánh chưng and bánh tét for families who don't wrap their own. Markets stock up on candied fruit, gift boxes, oranges and hoa mai branches with their small yellow blossoms. Restaurants set up catering trays and family menus for reunion dinners.

Every one of those orders goes home in a bag, often into a house full of relatives. Shops in San Francisco's Chinatown can read our page on printed takeout bags for Chinatown SF. Around 8th and Webster, see printed takeout bags for Oakland Chinatown. Pho houses near Story Road have a guide to pho takeout bags in San Jose.

Parade night in San Francisco, festival weekend in San Jose

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade is set for Saturday, Feb. 20, 2027. It starts at 5:15 p.m. at 2nd and Market streets, loops around Union Square and ends at Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue, about 1.3 miles. The organizers call it one of the few remaining night illuminated parades in North America. That's a whole evening of crowds in downtown and Chinatown, then out to eat.

In San Jose, the Vietnamese Catholic community of the Diocese of San Jose runs a Tết festival. At the most recent one, in February 2026 outside Eastridge Center, CBS News Bay Area reported thousands of visitors, and organizers estimated 70,000 the year before. Little Saigon also celebrates at Grand Century Mall. We found no 2027 dates yet.

Sources: San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade FAQ (chineseparade.com/faq). CBS News Bay Area, "San Jose Tết Festival draws crowds as Bay Area welcomes Year of the Horse," Feb. 13, 2026.

What red and gold really look like on kraft

Good news first: red is one of the best colors you can put on brown kraft. On the real order we measured, the title red came out a warm brick red, bold and easy to read.

Now the honest part about gold. Printed gold ink reads as a warm mustard ochre, not shiny metal, and we don't do foil. Design your gold as a solid warm yellow. Pale gold and dark navy both come out a step softer on kraft, so pair them with a strong color.

Diacritics are safe. The real bag above prints Vĩnh Hưng with its Vietnamese marks, plus a street address in small type, and every line reads clean. Full color runs edge to edge across up to 12 × 14 in on the front, so a branch of blossoms can reach the edge.

Get your bags in before the family orders start

Boxes usually arrive 3 to 4 days after they ship, and shipping is free. Send your final art early in January, before preorders pile up.

New to printed bags? The Kraft Discovery Box gives you 50 printed bags and 50 food tamper-evident stickers to seal each family order. Bakeries and markets that move a lot of bags go to the box, 150 bags for $85 on Subscribe and Save, or the bundle at 300 bags for $152.

Each bag is 110 GSM kraft, 12″ across and 7″ deep with 3.5″ gussets, 14″ tall and rated to 22 lb. You can find every Bay Area city we cover on our home page for printed bags in the Bay Area.