Is there any way to reject receiving Ang Bao nicely?
Yes, I totally get that ang baos are just a symbolic gesture of giving and receiving blessings, but it still just feel damn weird to me that I, as a fully working mid-30s adult, am still receiving ang bao money from retired uncles and aunties.
Heck, even receiving ang bao money from my cousins barely 10 years older than me just felt weird. Doesn’t matter whether there’s $2 or $10 inside.
Every year in recent years, I’d just take the ang bao but tell my relatives that there’s no need to give for the following year, but of course, that never happened.
I also tried gifting a can of abalone to relatives who gives me ang bao, but I realised
(1) not everyone actually appreciates or eat abalone, and
(2) that ironically pressures people to put more money in the ang bao for the following year.
For the fellow older but still single adults out there, is there any way to gracefully reject ang baos? Or do you just resign yourself to receiving it (and maybe donating those money away)?