If you live in the Netherlands, sooner or later someone suggests lootjes trekken for Sinterklaas. Everyone draws one name from a hat, buys that person a gift up to an agreed amount, usually €20 to €30, and writes them a poem. The gifts are opened on pakjesavond, the evening of 5 December. The hard part is rarely the money. It's the name: your partner's cousin, a new colleague, someone you see twice a year, and you'd still like to give something about them.
Start with what you do know
You don't need to know someone well to give them something personal. Three questions nearly always help:
- Where do they live? You often know a house better than you think: from a birthday, a photo, or just the street.
- What do they like doing? Puzzles, writing, lists, coffee every morning.
- What would stand on their windowsill, desk or kitchen table? A gift with a place gets used.
Three personal gifts up to €30
Everything in our shop is made to order, for one person. These three fit a lootjes budget:
- The house mug, €24.95. Their own house on a 330 ml ceramic mug. You build the house in a few taps, pick a style from Delft blue to watercolour and add the names that go with it.
- The house tile, €29.95. The same house on a 15 × 15 cm ceramic tile, with a wooden stand for the windowsill. For someone who already has a mug too many.
- The marbled notebook, €26.95. A hardcover A5 notebook with a cover you marble yourself, in an ink bath on your phone. Their name goes on the label.
The price includes VAT and delivery to the Netherlands and Belgium. You see the design before you pay.
The poem half writes itself
A gift about someone gives you your first lines. Their house on a mug? Then the poem starts at their front door. A notebook with their name on it? Then Sinterklaas surely knows what should go in it.
In time for pakjesavond
Each gift is only made once you order, so count the printer and the post:
- The mug and the tile: order by Monday 30 November to have them in time for 5 December. In Belgium, by Sunday 29 November, for the morning of 6 December.
- The notebook needs three working days at the printer instead of one. Order it by Thursday 26 November in the Netherlands, Wednesday 25 November in Belgium.
Before you pay, the basket shows roughly when your parcel will arrive.
More gifts for pakjesavond, some above €30 too, are on Sinterklaas.
