Pakjesavond Revenge

Pakjesavond Revenge

Pakjesavond is always a lot of fun. It might be the evening when Sinterklaas delivers all his presents to the children of Holland but it is also an opportunity for older family members to play pranks on each other with joke gifts and fun poems. For my Dutch family-in-law it is specifically a chance for them to highlight my unintentional mistakes and mishaps made throughout the year.

On the first pakjesavond I celebrated with them I received over 20 toothbrushes, individually wrapped, ranging from child to adult toothbrushes, all because on the first weekend I’d visited I had forgotten to bring my own toothbrush. A few years later I was given a survival bag as a way of making fun of my accident prone nature (which they had become very familiar with).

So when my Dutch mother-in-law specifically requested no candles or candle related items this year (because she gets them every year) I knew my chance for revenge was at hand. I decided not to listen to her request. I decided to do the opposite and made this…

Sinterklaas Staff Replica

It’s a life size replica of Sinterklaas’ staff. The only difference between this one and the real one is that this one is made of paper and card. It is also filled with 106 tea light candles. The moment it was opened all 106 candles fell out on to the ground.

Revenge is a dish best served on Pakjesavond.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

5 Responses

  1. Ann Billinghurst says:

    And you were such a sweet child.

    • Invader_Stu says:

      Holland has changed me :p

      • Wacht maar says:

        Oh no what did you do?

        This gives here the right next year to give you all her unwanted candles and related items AND everything else she does not want.

        You will get a small packet where you think there is not harm and the only content is a note that states “check your car” or “go to your attic”.

        There you will find all that rubbish together with a poor imitation of Sinterklaas, but damm that smile on his face.

  2. Well-played, Sir. Well-played. (That was hilarious!)

  3. Belinda says:

    LOVE IT! I also love that it’s the wrapping that’s the most important. Even the young men (14/15 years) were happy to receive dull socks because they were wrapped so creatively!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.