How to celebrate Kingsday in The Netherlands.
Kingsday
It is almost that time of the year again: the Dutch are about to celebrate Kingsday! Every year on April 27 the event takes place. If you are visiting the Netherlands, or staying here at the moment for other reasons, the question might occur: how do I actually celebrate Kingsday? Here is your quick guide in 5 tips!
1. Celebrate along during the night before
If you are more a night owl than an early bird, the concerts and club specials which take place during the night before Kingsday are perfect for you! Search online for the Kingsnight events in your neigbourhood, or travel to the bigger cities like The Hague or Amsterdam, to celebrate along.
2.Taste the special pastry Oranje Tompouche
On Kingsday you have to put your breakfast rituals aside. Start the day with the pastry called oranje tompouche instead! This pastry is a combination of puff pastry with a kind of custard cream and is very sweet but tasty. Every bakery sells them the days before Kingsday, and you can also find the pastry in almost every supermarket. Therefore there is no excuse: Kingsday has to be celebrated with eating one of those!
3. Visit the city the King and Queen visit
Part of the tradition is that the King and Queen themselves, along with some other people of the Royal Family, visit one or two cities in The Netherlands on Kingsday. This year they visit Tilburg. You can find easily online, months before Kingsday starts, which city they are going to visit, and you could actually go there to see them! Mostly they take a lot of time for walking through the city and shake hands with the people who are there. However, lots of people travel to the city to see the King and Queen, so it will definately be crowded!
4. Bring your orange clothes
Wearing someting in orange is important and adds fun to celebrating this day! It is one of the Royal colours used often when the Dutch celebrate someting, and on Kingsday you will find a lot of orange! You might not like the colour, but since everyone wears it this is only fun. As you can see on the pictures in this blog, one puts more effort in this than the other. Just keep it fun. Bring your orange hat, shirt, pants, or just sneakers to the party!
5. Visit the markets, listen to the music
Now comes the clue: how do the Dutch actually celebrate Kingsday? There are two important things: they sell stuff in markets. The whole village and city have become one big market. Advantage: you might find an LP you have been searching for all your life for an excellent price. Disadvantage: not everyone might see walking through a market as ‘celebrating something’. This is where the music kicks in. On Kingsday a lot of concerts take place. Cover bands, singer songwriters, professional performers and semi professional performers, you will find a lot on Kingsday to dance and sing along with. You will already notice: the weather has a big influence on the festivities. Kingsday is at its best when the sun shines, and the temperature is excellent for being outside all day.
Useful websites
If you want to explore more about Kingsday, or want to read more tips while preparing yourself for this day, you can visit for instance the pages about Kingsday on the websites IAmsterdam.com or Expatica. Want to share this blog on Pinterest? Great! Here’s a pin you can use:
