BTO Keys Collection and BTO Door Opening Ceremony

And so after a long 4 years wait, our BTO is finally ready for keys collection. To be honest we totally forgot about out BTO and was pleasantly surprised to receive an SMS from HDB to inform us of our BTO keys collection date. That was when we frantically tried to hunt for an ID.

Ok to cut the story short, here's what happened on the BTO keys collection day as well as what we did for our "BTO Door Opening Ceremony". There really wasn't an official BTO door opening ritual or ceremony in fengshui.

I guess this is just a Singapore custom. Though we do not have a religion, in particular, we just did it for an ease of mind.

Love the  living room view from our 30th storey BTO

view from our Service Yard

BTO Key Collection Process at HDB
Time took: less than an hour

It was a very straightforward and easy process. Here's what you need to prepare, assuming that you are taking the loan from HDB.

• Identity cards
• Marriage certificate if you are buying a flat under the Fiancé/Fiancée Scheme 
• Certificate of insurance (You must buy fire insurance from HDB's appointed insurer, ETIQA (at HDB Hub, Atrium 1st Storey, Counter 1), if you are taking an HDB loan. The most convenient is to get this online.)
• Singpass ready so you can log on to your cpf account

We waited less than 30 minutes for our turn and the process was completed in 20 minutes. You will then be asked to make payment at Level 2 or 3 and return to collect your keys. While you are at HDB, do remember to activate your Singapore Power supply too. They are located at level 2.
The entire process took us less than an hour.

Next, we went back home to collect the stuff required for our BTO Door Opening Ceremony and these include:

 Items to prepare

• 1 pineapple (my MIL tied a pretty red ribbon on it)
• 1 premix container of uncooked rice, green beans, tea leaves and salt (you really don't need a lot of this)
• 1 handful of green beans
• 1 container with soaked cotton wool ( to plant your green beans)
• 5 red packages with 8x $1 coin inside and 8 pairs of oranges ( we use the mini mandarin orange)
• 5 red apples, 5 oranges, 2 pomegranates, 1 bunch of bananas
• Newspaper to lay the items and a red tray for the fruits
• Bring a fan else it will be hot and stuffy
• Something to keep your door open to allow ventilation. If you did not opt for flooring from HDB, a door stopper will be pointless since your floor will be inches from the bottom of the door

Now you're almost ready for your BTO Door Opening Ceremony

Looks as though we're having a picnic here

1. Choose an auspicious date or time
We didn't entirely follow this, we just chose to do this on the actual day of our key collection. You can search for a generic auspicious time online or engage a geomancer to do so. Though there's really no such thing as an auspicious day for BTO Door Opening ceremony,  (you'll really this as you try to google) just choose a generic auspicious day will do.

2. Everyone entering your new place should be holding something & knock on the door
During your BTO Door Opening Ceremony, everyone entering the home should be holding something so no one enters empty-handed. Knock on the door before you open the door

3. Roll pineapple before entering the house
Roll pineapple into the house shouting auspicious things like 开门大吉, 甜甜蜜蜜, 幸福美满, 身体健康, 平安发财 etc before entering the house. Then process to roll the pineapple all over the place. It ain't easy rolling the pineapple though, it ain't light and round like a ball and if you throw too hard, it damages the skin and juices will start leaking out, thereby attracting insects when you leave the pineapple there for 3 days ( must leave for minimum 3 days)

4. Open all doors and windows for the flow of energy
This is pretty self-explanatory.

5. Sprinkle the premix of rice, salt, tea leaves and green bean around the house
We sprinkled this all over the house. Salt and tea leaves are said to get rid of evil spirits and negative energy. Remember to save the last bit to throw out of the house, representing throwing all of these out of your house. In the past, where our grandparents stay in kampung houses and the ground is made of mud, they sprinkle green beans to signify the growth of offspring since the beans will sprout from the ground but these days our BTO comes with concrete floor hence we plant our green beans in the container with soaked cotton wool for BTO Door Opening Ceremony.

6. Place the fruits in the middle of the living room
We also placed the container of green beans here. An ang pow with 8x $1 coin was also placed among the fruits. Then we also light some joss sticks here.

7. Place ang pow with mandarin orange at 4 corners of the house
Look at your floor plan to identify the 4 corners of your house, we placed an ang pow with 8x $1 coins inside and a pair of mini mandarin orange. For the kitchen, we also placed a huat kueh below the gas piping.

And then we're done!!

You may clear the fruits and items after 3 days. We went back on Day 3 or 4 and was surprised to see how beautiful our beans sprouted! Do Not throw the pineapple away, you're advised to place it below a tree to allow the prosperity to continue.

Enjoy your BTO Door Opening ceremony and Huat arrrrr!!!!!

Do check through our Muji Style BTO Home Renovation Journey here for more inspiration.