Making merit (tham bun) is what Thais call giving to monks, temples and shrines. This page covers the forms a visitor meets, with the source for each line and no promises about what giving does.
SANGKHATHAN
small ฿179
CITY PILLAR
06:30–18:30
ERAWAN
no incense
Prices are from a supermarket’s online shop and a 2026 review; there is no official price.
Short answer
Sources read on 6 November 2026; the shrine, embassy and Fine Arts pages are official, the rest are reports, sellers and an encyclopedia
The Bangkok City Pillar Shrine publishes its own steps and hours for anyone, and the other forms below are ordinary shop or temple practice.
No official amount exists. Reported figures: a small sangkhathan set ฿179 (Big C), an incense, candle and flower set at the City Pillar Shrine ฿60 (a 2026 review), a coffin donation ฿500 (The Nation, 2025).
Women must not touch a monk or hand things to him directly, according to a Thai embassy. Do not buy live animals to release.
What you can give
One block per form. The line under each shows what it rests on.
Morning alms (tak bat)
Tak bat is putting cooked food into a monk’s bowl on his round. Sanook’s step list (2023): take off your shoes, do not pick out one monk, do not overfill the bowl, avoid strong-smelling food, and do not let the ladle touch the bowl.
The Thai embassy in Moscow writes: “Ladies must not on any account touch a Buddhist monk, give things direct to him or receive things direct from him.”
Rests on: Sanook (Secondary source, 17 November 2023) · Royal Thai Embassy, Moscow (Official institution)
Sangkhathan sets (the yellow bucket)
A sangkhathan set is a ready-made bundle of goods for monks. Big C’s online shop lists, for example, a small set at ฿179 and a large ordinary set at ฿299 (read 6 November 2026; temple-front shops are priced separately).
A seller of monk supplies advises giving a set that includes food before noon, preferably by 11:00, and says a set of goods alone can also be given after 13:00; for an evening gift, ask the temple first. That is a seller’s advice, not a rule.
Rests on: Big C (Service provider’s own page) · Navarat (a seller of monk supplies) (Service provider’s own page, 1 July 2026)
Incense, candles, flowers and gold leaf
At the City Pillar Shrine the order is on the shrine’s page, and gold leaf goes on the model of the shrine at one of three heights; the shrine is open daily 06:30–18:30. A review (February 2026) reports incense, candle and flower sets at the information desk for ฿60.
At the Erawan Shrine, incense and candles are no longer lit (Thairath, 6 August 2026). The temples page has the shrine’s details.
Rests on: Bangkok City Pillar Shrine (Official institution) · Nestopa (Secondary source, 18 February 2026) · Thairath English (Secondary source, 6 August 2026)
Bowing to a Buddha image (wai phra) and manners
Dress, shoes, photos and where to point your feet are on the Bangkok temples page.
TIME (April 2024) reported vendors selling captured fish, turtles and birds so people can release them, a Fisheries Department warning against releasing non-native species, and a monk saying that paying to release animals is not a good deed.
So this page does not suggest buying animals to release.
Rests on: TIME (Secondary source, 15 April 2024)
Coffin donation
The Nation (March 2025) described donating a coffin at Wat Hua Lamphong for ฿500: you fill in a form and a donation slip, the slip goes on the coffin, a prayer follows, and the slip is burned.
Rests on: The Nation (Secondary source, 9 March 2025)
On Buddhist holy days
Makha Bucha: offerings of food at temples, taking the precepts and a candle procession in the evening (Wikipedia).
Visakha Bucha: offerings at dawn, white clothes, three circuits of the main hall with candles (Wikipedia). Alcohol sales are banned on these days; the dates below and the ban rules come from this site’s own alcohol records.
Confirmed dates: Makha Bucha 3 March 2026, Visakha Bucha 31 May 2026, Asarnha Bucha 29 July 2026, Makha Bucha 21 February 2027, Visakha Bucha 20 May 2027, Asarnha Bucha 18 July 2027. Dates come from this site’s alcohol ban-day records, confirmed ones only.→
Rests on: Wikipedia (Secondary source) · Wikipedia (Secondary source)
Site owner’s experience, 4 November 2026
We did this once with a Thai friend at a neighbourhood temple: make the offering, and you may be handed something small to take home.
STEP BY STEP
Before you give
01
Choose the form
Food at dawn, a ready-made set, or flowers and incense at a shrine.
02
Read the place’s own steps
The City Pillar Shrine publishes its order of respects on its website; follow a place’s own sign over this page.
03
Women: no direct contact with monks
The embassy’s wording is in the first row below.
04
Skip anything that sells live animals
See “Releasing animals” below.
Questions
Can a tourist do this?
The City Pillar Shrine publishes its steps and hours for anyone, and tak bat and sangkhathan are ordinary practice; follow the place’s own signs.
How much should I give?
There is no official amount. Reported figures are on this page: ฿179 for a small set at Big C, ฿60 for an incense, candle and flower set at the City Pillar Shrine, ฿500 for a coffin donation.
Can a woman make an offering?
The embassy says women must not touch a monk or hand things to him directly; follow the temple’s own steps.