• Home
  • Our Shop
  • About Us
    • About MKB
    • Our Shop
    • MKB Board
    • Editorial Board and MKB Administrators
    • Our Contributors
    • For Bloggers: Join MKB
    • Books and Products from Our Members
    • Cultural Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Product Promotion Services
  • Blog Hops & Series
    • Holidays Around the World
      • Martin Luther King Day
      • Chinese New Year
      • Purim
      • Passover
      • Easter Around the World
      • Ramadan
      • Hajj (Eid al Adha)
      • Rosh Hashanah
      • Day of the Dead
      • Diwali
      • Hanukkah
      • Christmas in Different Lands
    • Heritage Months
      • Black History Month
      • Women’s History Month
      • Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month
      • Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month
      • Hispanic Heritage Month
      • Native American Heritage Month
    • Blogging Carnivals
    • Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop
    • Global Learning for Kids
  • Resources for Raising Global Citizens
  • Privacy Policy

Multicultural Kid Blogs

For families and educators raising world citizens, through arts, activities, crafts, food, language, and love.

Celebrating King’s Day in the Netherlands

April 23, 2018 by Amanda van Mulligen

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Each year in April the Dutch throw a national street party to celebrate King’s Day. Everyone dresses in orange and celebrates in honor of the king’s birthday. There’s a real sense of community throughout the celebrations, but the keyword is actually “fun.

King's Day in the Netherlands

When is King’s Day?

In the Netherlands, we celebrate King’s Day (or as is it known in Dutch Koningsdag) on the 27th of April. If the day falls on a Sunday it is moved to the preceding Saturday, which was the case in 2014.

Prior to 2014 the celebration of King’s Day, the day was known as Queen’s Day. In 2013 Queen Beatrix abdicated on Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag), handing the throne to her son Willem-Alexander.

The celebration has been held on April 30th  ever since 1949. Interestingly enough, Queen Beatrix’s birthday is actually in January but when she became queen in 1980, she decided to keep the celebration in April, to honor her mother Juliana.

It was a welcome decision to keep the celebrations in April, given that the weather is usually better then than in the winter month of January and celebrations take place outside.

How is King’s Day Celebrated?

Fun Events

Committees arrange activities all over the country on King’s Day and the Netherlands transforms into one big street party.

Large-scale music events are organised, such as the concert on the Museumplein in Amsterdam that attracts thousands of partygoers. There are also small-scale local events up and down the country.

Vrijmarkt

On King’s Day children (and adults) sit on streets across the country and sell toys, books, household items and clothes they no longer want, laying everything out on blankets. It’s a nationwide flea market! It is the only day of the year that people may sell goods on the street without a licence. This is known as a vrijmarkt, which translates literally as “free market.”

In Amsterdam, the real enthusiasts start King’s Day early and sit on the street to reserve the best spaces – there is money to be made and the place you choose to sell your items makes a significant difference.

Oranjegekte

Should you ever visit the Netherlands on King’s Day you will notice that everyone dresses in orange. Some people wear crazy orange hats and even dye their hair orange.

Even food on King’s Day has an orange theme; it’s common to eat tompouce, a traditional Dutch pastry covered in orange icing in honour of the King’s birthday. You can find a recipe here. Or you could try bossche bollen, which are covered in orange icing instead of the usual chocolate, especially for King’s Day.

King's Day in the Netherlands| Multicultural Kid Blogs

This is called oranjegekte, “orange madness” and it stems from the fact that the Dutch royals are from the House of Orange-Nassau.

Showing Off Talents

Many children also perform music or sing and dance on the streets. They bake biscuits or cakes to sell with the aim of earning a few euro from passers-by.

Traditional Games

Many local events host traditional Dutch games for the children such as koekhappen (trying to grab a bite of spiced cake hanging from a string), stilt walking, pin the tail on the donkey and sack races.

In addition, children can ride on fairground rides, have their face painted or watch balloon artists.

There’s no shortage of fun for the children on King’s Day.

King's Day in the Netherlands| Multicultural Kid Blogs

 

How Does the Dutch King Celebrate King’s Day?

You may be wondering what the Dutch king is doing whilst the nation is partying on his behalf.

He’s joining in. Every year the Dutch royals visit a Dutch town on King’s Day and mingle with the public. In 2018 the King and his wife will be in Groningen, in the north of the country.

Children put on dance performances for the King and his family or sing for them. Sports groups show off their talents and cultural clubs display their skills.

Notably, there are also traditional games for the King and his extended family to play. The Dutch royals really get involved and have fun.

Fly the Flag on King’s Day

You will see the Dutch flag flying on many houses and public buildings on the 27thApril, along with an orange wimpel. It’s an impressive sight.

Must See on King’s Day

The waterways of big Dutch towns and cities are jam-packed with orange-clad boats full of partygoers playing music, dancing, and singing. It’s an amazing sight to see!

If you celebrate King’s Day, let us know in the comments what you and your family to do honor the day!

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather
The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy LinkedIn profileMy Pinterest profile

Amanda van Mulligen

Freelance Writer
Amanda van Mulligen is a freelance writer. British born, she was whisked off to the Netherlands on a promise of a windmill wedding and now raises three sons with her Dutch husband in the east of the country. She writes about her Dutch life on her blog 'Turning Dutch' and on the topic of highly sensitive children at 'Happy Sensitive Kids'.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy LinkedIn profileMy Pinterest profile

Latest posts by Amanda van Mulligen (see all)

  • 5 Out of the Ordinary Museums in the Netherlands that Children Will Love - April 25, 2022
  • 10 Fun Facts About the Achterhoek in the Netherlands - January 13, 2020
  • The Impact of Culture on Our Sensitive Boys - December 15, 2019

Filed Under: Learning About Culture, Netherlands Tagged With: amsterdam, cultural celebrations, family activities, Festivals, Holidays Around the World, netherlands, travel with kids

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Comments

  1. aahil says

    April 23, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    I have never heard of Kings day which is celebrated in Netherlands before your blog.Thanks for providing such a useful information.

    Animation Notes

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Anti-Bullying Resource FREE Download

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Grab Our Button!

grab button for Multicultural Kid Blogs
<div class="multicultural-kid-blogs-button" style="width: 200px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/" rel="nofollow"> <img src="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/button-take-3.jpg" alt="Multicultural Kid Blogs" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div>
Multicultural Children's Book Day Co-Host

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT