SINTERKLAAS FOR ADULTS
As stupid as I find Christmas, that's how much I enjoy Sinterklaas. That is, apart from my own birthday (being birthday is my hobby) perhaps my favorite day of the year and the anticipation always starts around late September, when the first pepernoten are in the stores. Where everyone is busy with Christmas, I put all my energy into Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is much more personal, you make a surprise or poem while at Christmas you just give a gift. I don't understand anything about people who find Sinterklaas stupid, so I'm going to tell you how to have the best Sinterklaas ever.
Make it a party
Nowadays I celebrate it with my father and sister, but in the past we did it with another family with three children, so the group was quite large. We ate, did surprises and every gift, no matter how big or small, was accompanied by a poem. Many from that group now live abroad, so I do it together with my father and sister, but it's at least as elaborate. We do it every year in a different house, and the one who is the host takes care of the food. The rule is that we buy two gifts for everyone, but no one sticks to that and even though there are three of us, the whole living room is filled with packages. With poems, because without a poem there are no gifts. I'll tell you more, even the cats and dogs get gifts with poems. My point is, make it a party. Dinner with multiple courses, nicely set tables, large bowls of sweets and put on a cozy outfit.
Do your best on your poems
People who celebrate Sinterklaas without poems are definitely out. Without poems, you might as well celebrate Christmas, and that's exactly what we didn't want. So you just put in a little extra effort and no, pulling ready-made poems from the internet is forbidden. What is allowed is to turn to Mick's Rhyme Dictionary, the most popular website (two years ago the daily record was 163,000 visitors. PER DAY) in the weeks leading up to December 6. This database contains about 25,000 rhyming words, so there is no poem that cannot be made. We always do at least one ‘main poem’ in which the whole year is discussed well and no event goes unmentioned, and that poem can be up to 3 pages long.
Play a game
Gather all your friends, stock up on a shitload of drinks and food and play the dice game. Especially handy when you celebrate it with a group where not everyone knows each other very well (think of new relationships and such) because it is low-threshold and is more about the game element than the gifts. For a complete explanation and for the necessary task cards I would like to refer you to this site, you won't find anything more thorough than that.
Give yourself over to it
Let your inner child out and believe again in the magic of Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet (or whatever color they may have nowadays), the Steamship and Amerigo. Sing along with the silly songs, throw pepernoten and enjoy the excuse to eat your super sweet stuff. Buy nice gifts for others, put effort and love into the poems and you will see, Sinterklaas is really the best party there is. Except for my birthday of course.
