Give
How the shoe tradition works
In many Belgian families, the child puts a shoe by the fireplace or the front door on the evening of 5 December. In it go a carrot or a little hay for the donkey, sometimes a sugar lump, and a drawing for Saint Nicholas.
By the morning of the 6th, the carrot has often been nibbled, and the shoe is full. Some families also put the shoe out on a few evenings before, with something tiny each time.
The Saint Nicholas classics
- Speculoos biscuits, a chocolate Saint Nicholas, chocolate coins
- A mandarin or a clementine
- Marzipan, or little letter biscuits to spell out their name
- A gingerbread Saint Nicholas, to share at breakfast on the 6th
Small surprises for ages 2 to 4
Under age 3, avoid anything small enough to go in the mouth.
- A board book or a touch-and-feel book
- Chunky crayons, pavement chalk
- A small soft toy
- Bubbles, stickers
Small surprises for ages 5 to 7
- A notebook and felt-tip pens, a colouring book
- A simple card game (pairs, snap, happy families)
- Play dough, a small bead kit
- A torch for reading under the covers
Small surprises for ages 8 to 10
- A novel or a comic, a choose-your-own-adventure book
- A puzzle, a pocket-sized logic game
- A secret diary with a padlock
- A small science or magic kit
Ideas money can't buy
- A little note from the Saint tucked into the shoe, in his finest handwriting
- Carrot crumbs and a little hay by the fireplace in the morning
- A treasure hunt: a clue in the shoe leads to the present
- A “voucher for”: a pancake evening, an extra bedtime story, a trip to the park
Keep it simple
A shoe doesn't need to overflow. One small, well-chosen thing with a note from the Saint often means more than a pile of parcels.