With the Lunar Year just around the corner, essential preparations will soon be underway and the Chinese community will be busy bustling around to welcome in the New Year with friends and loved ones.

Last week I was invited by the kind folks at Cerebos (M) Sdn Bhd and their PR agency; Westcoast Communications for a scrumptious lunch at West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant in Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa as well as to witness the unveiling of new range of CNY hampers for 2013. For generations, an important element of the celebration has been BRAND’S^® and the annual tradition of spreading festive cheer and joy returns once again with special edition hampers, gift packs and promotional offers.

I reached earlier than expected and made my way into the restaurant hall while waiting for the rest to arrive. Once I was seated I was fascinated to see a cute doll in front of me. This is Xi Xi; one of the two BRAND’S^® Huan Huan and Xi Xi mascots. Cute right?

This year, BRAND’S^® has designed nine exciting festive hampers and gift packs ranging from RM69.90 – RM268 to match everyone’s taste and budget, attractively presented in lacquered woven baskets with several combinations of BRAND’S^® popular products.

For the ultimate royal treat, give them the premium BRAND’S^® Royal Superior Bird’s Nest hamper 10 x 70g which retails at RM268.

Your loved ones will know how much they mean to you with the Preciously Love hamper that contains BRAND’S^® Essence of Chicken 10 x 70g and BRAND’S^® Bird’s Nest with Rock Sugar 8 x 70g (RM238).

Or delight them with the Joyous Radiance hamper which contains a combination of BRAND’S^® Essence of Chicken 10 x 70g and the fruity goodness of BRAND’S^® InnerShine Prune Plus 12 x 42g at only RM128.

Health is wealth, so bring winds of fortune their way with Heavenly Harvest which contains 20 x 70g BRAND’S^® Essence of Chicken or Auspicious Fortune which offers a nutritious combination of 10 x 70g BRAND’S^® Essence of Chicken and 10 x 70g BRAND’S^® Essence of Chicken with Cordyceps. Both hampers retail at RM138.

There are also some activities on the side of the hall. The main purpose of the activities is to expose us to traditional chinese handicraft such as Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi (剪纸). We get to bring home one paper cutting and I chose a Chinese zodiac of mine.

I get to see with my own eyes on how Chinese names were written in an artistic colorful way too! These are definitely nicer than some that I saw before. I didn’t get the chance to have one for myself. There will be next time.

The launch started with chinese drumming performance before all 5 popular artistes from the local Chinese entertainment industry who collaborated together in BRAND’S^® HaHa CNY Campaign revealed themselves.

Spreading the festive cheer even further are BRAND’S^® Huan Huan and Xi Xi mascots, a pair of happiness ambassadors on a mission to delight Malaysians. Consumers can catch the story of the endearingly cute boy and girl on YouTube, and collect angpow packets and premiums with their characters with the purchase of the special edition BRAND’S^® products.

Huan Huan and Xi Xi are featured alongsidepopular artistes from the local Chinese entertainment industry in BRAND’S^® star-studded advertising campaign. For the first time ever, singers Michael Wong, Danny One, Kah Jun, Yu Heng and Orange Tan team up for a musical TV commercial in an elaborate set.

There’s even a lighthearted advertising campaign this time to remind everyone that Chinese New Year traditions are not complete without visiting family and friends, especially when you can bring a smile to their faces when bearing a BRAND’S^® hamper full of nutritious goodness.

You’d find it hard to believe but I had my first “lou sang” for 2013 that day! We are not even done with Christmas but I already had my CNY lou sang all thanks to Cerebos. The 8-course meal was superb. It’s the best lunch / 8-course meal I ever had.

“Chinese New Year is a major celebration for the Chinese community and BRAND’S^® is honoured to be part of that celebration. We hope that consumers will enjoy our newly designed hampers and gift packs which contains our trusted food supplements while being entertained by our advertisements featuring popular Malaysian celebrities,” said Cerebos Malaysia’s Vice President and General Manager, Mr. Koh Joo Siang.

The special edition Chinese New Year BRAND’S® hampers and gift packs are available while stocks last in selected pharmacies, supermarkets, hypermarkets and traditional Chinese medical halls nationwide so hurry now to pick up that perfect gift hamper for visiting friends and family.

In keeping with another long standing tradition of another kind, BRAND’S^® annual charity initiative, “Gift of Love”, will see a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the festive BRAND’S^® gift sets channeled to Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled, Pertubuhan Keluarga Orang-Orang Bermasalah Pembelajaran (PERKOBP) and the Educare programme initiated by Yayasan Maha Karuna. This year’s “Gift of Love” program will further extend its aid to World Vision Malaysia.

For more information on the list of retailers, visit BRAND’S^® Smart Living on Facebook or call BRAND’S^® Customer Care Line at 1-300-228-300.