A Birthday (and a Giveaway) Fit for a Dutch King

Next week it's the king's birthday, the 27th April to be precise, and he's throwing a huge street party to which you are all invited.

The Dutch king's birthday celebrations certainly beat borrowing chairs from the neighbours to make a huge birthday circle in which to eat soggy crackers and drink coffee. His involve everyone dressing up in orange and hitting the Dutch streets - armed with as much crap from your house as you can physically carry in order to sell it from blankets on the pavements. Huh what? I hear you novices to King's Day cry. Yes really, all truth.

Of course the king himself doesn't take part in the vrijmarkten (although that would be rather amusing - him and the family sitting on a blanket selling the unwanted things from their royal residence and princess Amalia playing the flute and Maxima selling homemade cakes to earn a few cents) but he does throw toilets around. Again, yes, it's true, although in all fairness that was to celebrate his mother's birthday and not his own.

Let's face it King Willem-Alexander has the kind of birthday celebrations that are worth recording for prosperity and I have just the giveaway for him - an "It's My Birthday Journal" lovingly handmade by the award winning Gadanke.

It has room for the king to keep a birthday card from his mother (as in the woman formerly known as Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands) and those precious photos of the common folk taking to the nation's waterways in boats adorned in orange from head to toe.

There are embellishments fit for a king and an annual letter that Queen Maxima or one of his three daughters could write to him. There are writing prompts to help him review the year gone by, and a place to record the plans for the coming year - important whether you're king of the Netherlands or a regular person like you and me.

The journal is colorful, comes with a PDF document so that the number of birthdays you can record is endless, as well as 30 minutes of video tutorials full of inspiration and tips. In short, it's fabulous. And I have one to give away - to entrants worldwide. That's right, no matter where you live on the globe, whether in a palace or a humble abode, you can enter.

And so how do you get your hands on one of these wonderful Gadanke birthday journals? I figured I shouldn't enter my own giveaway - morally and ethically not done and all that - so there are three journals winging their way to me as I type and as it's my middle son's birthday next week we'll be getting to work as soon as it arrives! So you can either go order one or three like me, or you can enter to win one here on this blog!

If you, even if you are King Willem Alexander himself, want to win an It's My Birthday Gadanke journal use Rafflecopter below - there's no special treatment king or no king and you can enter until the very end of the Dutch king's birthday.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Leave a King's Day or birthday related comment below for extra entries in the giveaway - I want to hear what you love about King's Day, your experience with the dreaded Dutch birthday circle or what you last took in as a traktatie. If it's birthday related, share it!

Good luck!

A Stuff Dutch People Like T-Shirt Giveaway: It's Gratis

I am kicking off the Live Like a Dutchie month with a Stuff Dutch People Like T-shirt giveaway. You can find all the details and how to enter below, but first a little about what is coming up on the blog in March.

This month will be completely dedicated to posts relating to life in the Netherlands and more specifically how to integrate into the land of the Dutch as an expat.

There will be posts about the essentials you will need to go unnoticed in the land where most people are probably much taller than you anyway.

There will be posts to show you that there is a lot more to the Netherlands than cheese, clogs, windmills and tulips - much much more.

There will be posts that showcase the best of the best of what other expat bloggers in the Netherlands have to say about going Dutch.

And some of the posts may even be serious. Perhaps.

What is definite is that we are going to have lots of fun this month! So now back to that T-shirt....

If you live in the Netherlands, or have any kind of tenuous link with the Netherlands but are not actually Dutch then your best starting point when it comes to integration is the Stuff Dutch People Like website. There you can learn what really turns the Dutch on.

And now you have the chance to get your hands on a Stuff Dutch People Like t-shirt - for free, which is the first lesson in Dutch integration. If it's free you need to have it, even if you don't actually need to have it. Remember this word: gratis. It's a good word. If you see gratis you grab whatever is being offered to you. Even if you don't need it. Follow this advice and you're making a huge step forward to  living like a Dutchie.

The T-shirt is a woman's XXL shirt (which is not as big as it sounds), no previous owners, straight from Stuff Dutch People Like. And it's perfect for expats who are 'Dutchies in training':

T-Shirt design on offer

*Please note that this giveaway is only open to those living in the Netherlands.* If you live elsewhere and need one of these shirts head over to Stuff Dutch People Like.

To enter: tell me in the comments section of this blog what you love most about living in the Netherlands or living with the Dutch and confirm your comment using Rafflecopter below. 

Leave a blog comment and then make sure you use Rafflecopter below to enter where you can also gain more entries by hopping over to various Expat Life with a Double Buggy social media pages. Feel free to spread the word if you are so inclined using #LiveLikeaDutchie across social media. At the end of March one lucky winner will be drawn out of a virtual orange hat! Good luck!!

So, tip number 1 for #LiveLikeaDutchie is gratis is good!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

MKB One World Futbol World Cup Giveaway

The Netherlands is through to the semi finals of the World Cup and the country stands united in orange to cheer the Dutch team on.  Football is a sport that unites people: it unites a team, local communities, towns and when it comes to a World Cup even countries. Children in particular are united around the world in play. Football brings joy to so many, regardless of background, social conditions, religion or location.

And so I am delighted to be a part of the Multicultural Kids Blogs campaign to support One World Futbol in their mission to bring the healing power of play to youth worldwide through their nearly indestructible football. The One World Futbol never needs a pump and never goes flat—even when punctured multiple times—due to its ingenious technology. But what we truly love about their model is for every ball purchased, they donate one to organizations working with youth in disadvantaged communities worldwide.

Our Giveaway

Follow along by using the hash tag #MKBWorldCup!

As the World Cup reaches its finale (and fingers crossed the boys in orange remain a part of that through to the bitter end) I have a special giveaway planned with Multicultural Kid Blogs and One World Futbol. (You can read more about One World Futbol below). It's unlike a usual giveaway as this time you, the readers, use your collective power to vote to give a football away to a community in need!  I need your help so I can donate one of the One World Futbols (generously supplied by One World Futbol) to Koninklijke Kentalis (Royal Dutch Kentalis), specifically for the Weteringdreef, Zoetermeer location.

But here's the thing--there are 9 blogs participating in this contest, and One World Futbol will donate balls to the three blogs that get the most shares on their posts. So I need your help--please SHARE this post on Twitter, Facebook, G+ and Pinterest and contribute your power, your vote to help donate this One World Futbol.  Each share made directly from this post is tallied as a vote.  And whoever get the most votes, donates the ball!  Let's show how strong our voices are with our votes.

The voting is open until 6am on Monday, July 14 (NL time), to get as many shares as possible on this post.  (The tally will be made based on the number on the social share buttons at the end of this post).

More About Royal Dutch Kentalis/ Koninklijke Kentalis

Koninklijke Kentalis is a national organisation in the Netherlands specialising in providing diagnostic, care and educational services to people who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind, as well as to people with severe speech/language impairment or autistic spectrum disorders accompanied by severe speech and language difficulties.

Every morning I walk past the Koninklijke Kentalis residential care home with my three sons to get to school - and the power of play and sport is very evident there in the small garden behind the accommodation. The home on the Weteringdreef provides residential care for children who not only have communication problems but who also have learning difficulties or behavioural  or social issues. Some children spend the week here, some come for a few days in the week and all the children attend school, usually special needs education. You can read more about the specific location here (in Dutch) and more about Royal Dutch Kentalis and the work they do here.

So, please help me to donate a One World Futbol to Royal Dutch Kentalis in Zoetermeer. Here's how:

Tweet it, Pin it, share on Facebook and +1 it on Google using the links at the bottom of this post.

More About One World Futbol

One World Futbol Project is a B-corporation based in Berkeley, CA and was founded by Tim Jahnigen, the inventor of the One World Futbol. One World Futbol was inspired by refugee youth in Darfur, who had such indestructible spirits - and love for football! - despite their hardships. Tim Jahnigen wanted to give them something more, so he invented a soccer ball that would never need a pump and would never go flat, even when punctured multiple times. One World Futbol Project and its virtually indestructible ball have now reached 160 countries and continue to bring the healing power of play to youth worldwide. The Buy One Donate One model makes it easy for consumers to donate these amazing One World Futbols to needy communities.

Here is more on their work in one community in Brazil:

Participating Blogs

The following member blogs are participating in this contest. Visit them to see which organizations they have chosen. Remember, sharing is caring! The 3 blogs with the most social shares (as shown on the share counters on their blog posts) will get to donate a football to the qualified organization they have chosen!

Our Whole Village

Expat Life with a Double Buggy

Entre Compras y El Hogar

Head of the Heard

InCultureParent

MommyMaestra

La Cité des Vents

Trilingual Mama

All Done Monkey

Feel free to use #MKBWorldCup when you share!

And don't forget to visit Multicultural Kid Blogs to help them "unlock" an additional two One World Futbols to donate!

Blog Giveaway: The Amsterdam Dungeon

If you can be in Amsterdam at any time before 31st March 2014 and are looking for a bit of a thrill in your life, then I have just the giveaway for you - a family ticket (four persons) for the Amsterdam Dungeon.

The Amsterdam Dungeon experience is an 80 minute journey into the darker side of Amsterdam's history. By way of live actor shows, special effects, story telling and a roller coaster ride, all of your senses will be on high alert for the funny, scary experience that shares 500 years of history with you. You can read much, much more over on the website about the details but I am assured there is both screaming and laughing involved.

So, now to the important part - how can you win this family ticket? Easy, here's how.

1. Use the Rafflecopter form below to "Share an experience where actually you'd rather have been locked in a dungeon". Let me give you a couple of examples to help you - in my case I would rather have been in a dungeon than holding back contractions for 30 minutes when my first son was ready to be born because there was no hospital staff available to help deliver him. In my husband's case he might well rather be in a dungeon than visit a certain Scandinavian furniture store on a Sunday morning. This is the only mandatory action.
2. Go like my Expat Life with a Double Buggy Facebook page to earn extra points.
3. Tweet about this giveaway for extra points.
4. The competition ends on Pakjesavond - 5 December to add an extra 'present' for one lucky winner just as Sinterklaas returns to Spain.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to meet The Amsterdam Torturer?
Make sure you're entered in the competition for a family ticket!

MKB Virtual Birthday Party

It's a party, y'all! Multicultural Kid Blogs is officially one year old as of today. To celebrate we are hosting a virtual birthday party and YOU are invited! The Party Be sure to visit the participating blogs (see list at the end of this post) to see what they are bringing to the party, plus link up your own posts on the MKB site! The Giveaway Like any good host, we don't want you to go home empty handed, so we are offering some great prizes to three lucky winners. See the end of the post for details on the prizes.

 To enter, visit the MKB site to: 1) Link up a birthday-related post or 2) Comment on the MKB site to tell us your wish for the coming year!

Party Hosts

Dad's the Way I Like It
MommyMaestra
SpanglishBaby
For the Love of Spanish
Spanish Playground
the piri-piri lexicon
Expat Life with a Double Buggy
Kids Yoga Stories
MarocMama
All Done Monkey

Party Favors

Prize #1

Digital download of Más Canciones en Español from Music with Sara

Prize #2

Set of 2 books from National Geographic Kids - US Shipping Only

Treasury of Egyptian Mythology

How to Speak Dog

Prize #3

Lively Spanish immersion program DVD recommended for children ages 2-7 from Whistlefritz

Now it's your turn! Visit the MKB site for a chance to win one of these prizes by linking up your birthday posts or commenting to tell us your wish for the coming year!