Can a red envelope I received be given to someone else if it still looks new?

If giving money to someone else, I recommend a new red envelope. Keeping both the money and envelope from a Lunar New Year gift for your own use is fine. But reusing that envelope to give money onward is a different matter.

In the past, clients often gave my consultation fees in red envelopes. Seeing that the envelopes still looked new, I removed the money and kept reusing them. Once, a more sensitive friend touched one and asked why it felt so cold. My perceptions were not as strong then, and I did not understand at first. When I touched it, it genuinely felt very cold. Through that experience, I understood the envelope’s energetic connection as having faded. This is why I later reminded people to use new envelopes when giving them onward.

However, do not panic if family have already done this. For example, if a grandmother receives a red envelope and then gives it back to a grandchild, in my view it is not ideal, but the effect is not so serious. Understand the custom and intention, then prepare new envelopes next time.