The Ultimate Dutch Gift Guide for the Holidays

This year's best books, gift ideas from the coolest Amsterdam brands, and... puzzles

AI really understood the brief this time.

I thought I’d take a week off from ranting about the moral failures and hypocrisy of Dutch politicians, get in the holiday spirit, and write a gift guide.

Here are the best books, clothes, accessories, scents, snacks, and puzzles that I’ve come across this year. Everything on this list is Dutch, or at least about the Netherlands; almost everything is from Amsterdam.

To wear

I find it very funny that FEBO, the automat chain where you buy cheeseburgers out of the wall, sells apparel. Apparently many others do, too, because most of it is sold out (uitgesnakt, as they put it). Jump on that FEBO beanie while you still can.

I am a sucker for anything from Stieglitz. Their sweatpants are super comfy and would make a great gift.

Haas Amsterdam makes very unique and of-the-moment handbags.

Róhe Frames sells very beautiful and very expensive clothing. And who am I to assume the readers of Dutch Deadline are not all fabulously wealthy? If you can afford it, please buy everyone on your list one of their gorgeous Italian wool sweaters.

For cute jewelry check out Baixa. They have gift ideas for every price point.

To read

The gorgeous Notice Journal by Wesley Verhoeve features 82 beautiful photographs taken in Amsterdam over three consecutive springs from 2022 to 2024. He’s been documenting the process behind creating and printing the book on his (aptly named) Substack, Process by Wesley Verhoeve—a great follow for any creative.

I loved I Will Live, a riveting memoir by Lale Gül, a Dutch-Turkish woman and her struggle to find freedom and her voice outside of Islam. Her experience is especially interesting in light of the recent debate about “integration failure” surrounding the Amsterdam riots.

How Migration Really Works: The Facts about the Most Divisive Issue in Politics by Hein de Haas was by far the most eye-opening book I read all year. Based on decades of research, it disproves many of the mainstream myths about migration. Its conclusions contributed to my writing that there’s no “asylum crisis” with as much confidence as I have.

The Soft Atlas of Amsterdam by Jan Rothuizen is full of fascinating illustrations that will teach you a lot about little corners of the city you pass all the time. Flipping through it is the perfect alternative to doomscrolling.

I haven’t read Revolusi - Indonesia And The Birth Of The Modern World by David van Reybrouck, but it sounds super interesting for any history buff and this review in The Atlantic calls it “immensely readable.”

To sniff

Fugazzi is a booming Dutch fragrance company founded in 2018 and now sold in 45 countries. (I learned about them from this FD Persoonlijk interview with 29 year-old founder and CEO Bram Niessink.) One of their Discovery Sets would make a nice gift.

Marie-Stella-Maris is the Dutch Aesop, just, like, 10x less expensive. You’ll find it in the bathrooms of all the fancy restaurants in Amsterdam, which is how you know it’s good. All of the scents are wonderful, and Objets d’Amsterdam is a good bet for the holidays.

Also in the scent department, I’ve given the Rituals Amsterdam Candle as a gift many times. There’s a Rituals in Schiphol Airport so if you don’t have time / forget to pick up a gift before heading home for the holidays it’s always a good option.

To live

Personal training sessions in Amsterdam, or a customized online training plan for anyone anywhere, would make an amazing gift. For this I highly recommend Kebko Functional Fitness. Kebko is a super knowledgeable and approachable trainer focused on longevity and quality movement. Everyone could benefit from working with him. Contact him to discuss your options, and tell him I sent you!

To puzzle

I like to do a puzzle every Christmas. Does that make me an old lady? Is that embarrassing? I don’t care. Lucky for me, the Netherlands is rich in puzzle material, picturesque country that it is.

To get in on the dopamine hits, try the funny Dutch village Christmas Eve puzzle from Jan van Haasteren, a Dutch cartoonist. You can also get puzzles of paintings by the Dutch masters, like Rembrandt's Nachtwacht, from the Rijksmuseum.

This puzzle of an Amsterdam Café from a local shop also looks like a great time.

To eat

Van Wonderen’s stroopwafels come in all kinds of cute little Christmas-themed tins.

Pepernoten are little Christmas cookies very popular in the Netherlands and far less world-famous than the stroopwafel. Van Delft is the go-to source for a million different flavors. I like the traditional kruidnoten best, personally.

A regular old box of hagelslag would make a great stocking stuffer for a non-Dutch person. First they will laugh at you, then they will fight you, then they will ask you to send them another box when they run out.

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🔥 Hot Linkjes

Society

• New Belgian legislation gives sex workers access to health insurance, paid leave, maternity benefits, unemployment support, and pensions. Sex work is legal in the Netherlands, but labor protections here are not as comprehensive. AP News.

• EuroNews has an overview of the Sinterklaas tradition.

The Department of War

• Former Dutch Prime Minister and current head of NATO Mark Rutte called for the Netherlands to substantially increase defense spending. NL Times.

Arts & Books & Design

• Sugardaddy by Roxy Dekker was the most streamed song in the NL this year.

Tech & Health & Climate

• The International Court of Justice, the top United Nations court, is hearing the largest case in its history, on what states are legally required to do to protect vulnerable countries from the impact of climate change. NPR.

Sport

• Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan was the first Dutch person to be named World Athlete of the Year. Dutch News.

• The Dutch Grand Prix will be dropped from the F1 calendar after 2026. Top Gear.

Crime

• Prosecutors fined the Dutch builders of Jeff Bezos’ $500 million superyacht for using teak wood from Myanmar; exports of local natural resources help finance Myanmar’s military regime. ICIJ.

  • In a fun 2022 incident, Rotterdammers threatened to egg the same yacht, after the Bezos’ team proposed dismantling a bridge to sail through the city.

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🥳 Leuke Dingetjes

@annabelvaneijkSo this Dutch Core before a night out 🇳🇱❤️ I think it’s beautiful.

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Apartment Therapy explained the friettafel: the “cozy and quirky Dutch tradition” of laying out a shitload of fried food and sauces on a table wrapped in aluminum foil.

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📺 Kijk/Lees/Luister List

Not necessarily Dutch stuff I enjoyed watching, reading, and listening to this week.

TV / Movies

• I loved A Different Man, a thriller with some of the same identity and body horror elements as The Substance, but engages with these themes much more deeply. The performances are excellent and it was shot on 16mm film.

• I saw a fun program about international films made in Amsterdam, part of the Amsterdam Forever Young event at the Eye Museum—they have a talk once a month through October 2025 about films made in the city. (all in Dutch).

Music / Podcasts

• Asking friends for their Top Songs of 2024 Spotify list is a great way to discover new music. Here’s mine. (I listen to all the EDM and techno at the gym 😬.)

• In my ongoing hunt for non-algorithmic playlists, I discovered that KCRW, a radio station I used to listen to a lot when I lived in California, is available in the Netherlands. “Eclectic 24” is great to have on all day while working.

Articles / Books

• “Hugh Corcoran of The Yellow Bittern Wants to Bring Back the Long and Boozy Lunch” by Esmé Hogeveen in Interview Magazine

  • I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this interview. I hung on his every word.

• “The Rise and Shine of Sleep Capitalism” by Madeline Pollard in Byline.

• “What’s a life worth?” by

  J. P. Hill
  in
  New Means
  .

  • Context on the murder of the UnitedHealth CEO in New York. The company was massively profiting off denying claims.

• “OnlyFans, and the media’s parasociality vortex” by

  Nick Hilton
  in
  Future Proof

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*all typos in this post are on purpose