The social event of the season - Rob’s 37th birthday party. We had about 25 guests, with the first arriving at 2:30 PM and the last leaving at 1:30 AM! The party was done Dutch style. Rob was de “verjaardag varkken”, or “birthday pig”, as the birthday person is known as in Dutch. Our little mini-fridge was stuffed full of dinner, sweets and drinks for all the guests.
In the Netherlands, birthdays are kind of an “open house” for all friends and family. You a start time, and they come anytime after that. Our “early shift”, the family and friends with kids mainly, started arriving at 2:30 PM. We served cake, and then a bbq and soup at about 5:00 PM. By 8, most of the families went home, and the “late shift” started arriving. They came anywhere from 8-10:30, and mainly stayed until 1:30 am. A truly epic birthday!
A few different traditions here: In the US, you sing happy birthday and have the cake at the end of the night. Here, maybe because of the open house thing, you get your cake first thing when you walk in. Best cake goes to the first guests! You also wish congradulations to the birthday person to each guest, not just the birthday boy/girl. Fresh and potted flowers are very popular gifts in nature loving netherlands as well.
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