For most of us, Sinterklaas evening has something magical. Beautiful poems that are funny or very personal or that contain some cynicism. If it’s packaged well, literally and figuratively, we can have it.
How much money will it cost Santa again in 2008?
We won’t know exactly what he brings until the evening itself, but it is now clear that more packages and less candy are being sold. It is not clear whether this is related, but the sweets sold have become significantly more expensive, an immediate increase of about 8 to 10% is evident from the figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. This does not alter the fact that the vast majority of people consider a chocolate letter part of their gifts, and it is funny to note that the first letter of the name is not the most popular letter. Letters relating to pet names or anecdotes are accompanied by a poem that illustrates the letter in question.
Fortunately, a setback is usually met with a windfall and that is the toy. Toys have fallen by approximately 1% and books and telephone calls themselves by around 10%. That’s even more difficult if you have to enter on such a large scale as Santa.
The computer and camera have become about 20% cheaper.
And if Santa Claus purchases fewer DVDs and CDs for everyone, this may result in an increase in the costs of DVDs and CDs. Recently, these products have risen in price again.
The personal touch
In addition to gifts, we are much more concerned with personal matters. A surprise where you can see that time has been spent devising a suitable surprise, purchasing materials and manufacturing it or a poem with a personal touch. This can be with a funny undertone, a cynical undertone or really very poetic. The short rhymes that we know from Toon Hermans, among others, are also widely used. Say something concrete in a few sentences and with a smile.
Almost 85% of the gifts come with a poem in some form. Making a surprise is given to slightly fewer people, about 5.5 % are active in this and a few do not even bother to wrap the gift.
More than 50% of people indicate that they regularly need a rhyming dictionary and just under 10% indicate that they have a poem made by a professional (for example via a website). You then provide your input and a poem will be made for you for a fee. The percentage of poems obtained in this way is not increasing, but perhaps not everyone dares to be honest about this. So the purity of this answer is questionable.
The big picture
The overall picture shows that Saint Nicholas is still relevant and although the shops are already full of Christmas items, Sinterklaas is a celebration that cannot be ignored. Gifts, poems, surprises, but above all attention for each other still makes this a celebration that is absolutely one of the traditions that endure, even compared to Christmas.