Sinterklaas shoe gifts — small, and a treat every time

A really fun shoe gift for children from about age 5. Don’t have any yet? Then give a pegboard plus ironing beads, so they can get started straight away.

Lots of boys (and some girls) go through a real car phase from about age 2 to 5. They can’t get enough of them, and the best thing to get then is… exactly, a toy car!

A bug jar, a magnifying glass, binoculars: little nature explorers can spend hours with these!

A small, cheerful gift that can be clipped straight onto a school bag.

A lovely gift for children who love role play with animals or dinosaurs. The Schleich animals are beautiful, and the HEMA bucket holds enough animals to fill several shoes.

A classic shoe gift! Perfect for children who love stickers, often popular until about age 6. The Djeco stickers won’t necessarily fit in a shoe, but they are gorgeous!

A placemat, a pen with a pompom or a steamboat to make yourself. Anything with a Sinterklaas theme is perfect for the shoe, especially for children up to about age 6.

A colouring book is another classic shoe gift that can keep your child busy for hours!

A multicolour pen is small, cheap and can be used by the whole family. If your child hasn’t discovered the trick yet, just clicking the different colours in and out is fascinating. The gold pen is my son’s favourite for drawing decorations, too.

Playing with clay is fun for young and old! Most children start with Play-Doh and later move on to modelling clay, FIMO or Hey Clay. You’ll find loads of great ideas on Pinterest!

Fun little gifts for children who like a bit of action!

Card games make a lovely sustainable shoe gift! You can play them for years and easily take them along on trips. Beverbende, UNO or a Dutch kwartet (Happy Families) are hugely popular with children — and secretly great fun for adults too!

For all children who love crafts, new craft supplies make a lovely gift they can get started with straight away! Add something to your child’s favourites, or try something new with a fun little set!

Hair accessories, a necklace, a bracelet. Small, and they go straight to school the next morning — which is exactly why they work so well.

Great for boys! Something from their favourite series or superhero always goes down well. For cars, see tip #2.

Want to put something in the shoe for the older brother(s) and/or sister(s) too? That’s often a bit harder than for the younger ones. What does tend to go down well: a puzzle cube, a multicolour pen, a bouncy ball or a cheaper game for the Switch. But just a treat is fine too — or play a joke with a home-made birch rod or an apple instead of sweets ;-)

A baby or toddler doesn’t understand much of it yet, but happily joins in with the family.

Kruidnoten (little spiced biscuits) are the classic, but chocolate coins or marzipan work just as well. Rather not put the pepernoten loose in the shoe? Then a filled little gift bag is lovely too!