Amsterdam Babyccino Kids: Daily tips, Children's products, Craft ideas, Recipes & More

AMSTERDAM

Last-minute getaways...

Cookie Magazine's Going Places blog is featuring a week of last-minute getaway ideas, perfect for the holiday time. All their ideas are for easy-to-plan and relatively affordable holidays with kids. The four of us have written about a quick, last-minute getaway from each of our cities. Check it out here, and also make sure to ...

AMSTERDAM

La Savonnerie

I love soap. And, much to my husband's chagrin, I love soap shops! A beautiful soap shop here in Amsterdam is La Savonnerie, where soap is being made by hand, the traditional way -- all with natural ingredients and all hand-stamped! Many, many, many beautiful bars of soap can be found here, in the most gorgeous shapes, colours ...

AMSTERDAM

Ice skating in Amsterdam

Ice-skating has a long history in the Netherlands, and there is no child in this country who didn't grow up learning how to skate! Of course this would happen the old-fashioned way: on 'botjes' (double-bladed skates) and holding on to a chair to remain balanced. Traditionally, children living alongside the many rivers or canals in the ...

AMSTERDAM

Sinterklaas is in the country!

Last Sunday we took our children to witness the arrival of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) here in Amsterdam. He traveled in his private steamboat from Spain, where he resides, and changed for horseback as soon as he reached the city's shore. Escorted by over 600 'Zwarte Pieten' (Black Peets) he rode through the city, waving at thousands of ...

AMSTERDAM

Bing Bing Bing

I have a fellow blogger here in Amsterdam who really has an amazing eye for kids' style! Sophie Chalumeau takes daily pictures of the looks of Amsterdam's cool and cute kids, very often in our city's great Vondelpark. Think Sartorialist, only for children! Totally addictive, and totally interesting! Sophie also had a little online conversation, interview style, with the 4 of us; ...

AMSTERDAM

Cumin cheese

The Dutch are pretty famous for their cheeses. The 'normal' Gouda cheese is well known internationally, and also the plain Edam cheese is pretty much available in better cheese shops all over the world. A cheese I have never found abroad though is 'komijnekaas' ('cumin cheese') -- basically a Gouda or Edam cheese with cumin seeds in ...

AMSTERDAM

Het Huis van Aristoteles

Amsterdam has a new attraction for kids and it is so great we immediately added it to our 'top five things to do in Amsterdam'. Het Huis van Aristoteles ('The House of Aristotle' - named after the famous philosopher and inventor of the senses), is a children's museum which offers activities 'that challenge the senses and ...

AMSTERDAM

Luukie/Xsmall

One of my favourite kiddie shoe shops here in Amsterdam has always been, without a doubt, the super cool shop Luukie. At Luukie, they always have shoes in their collection that I love. (And I am picky!) I like kids' shoes to be quite traditional, but with a modern twist, which is why I love Italian ...

AMSTERDAM

Macrobiotic goat farm Ridammerhoeve

On the southern outskirts of Amsterdam is a huge park/woodland called the 'Amsterdamse Bos' (Amsterdam Forest). It offers great activities for kids, like swimming pools, playgrounds, a theater, a pancakes restaurant, and one of our family's absolute favourite outdoor activities in Amsterdam: the macrobiotic goat farm 'Ridammerhoeve'. The beauty of this goat farm is that it is really, in all reality, a ...

AMSTERDAM

Keet in Huis

KNSM island used to be quite a rough and industrial part of the Amsterdam harbor before it was transformed into a very cool residential island, and nowadays, this is where you can find one of the finest kid's lifestyle shops of Amsterdam: Keet in Huis. Keet in Huis ('Mess in the House'), sells everything from furniture, bed linen, interior accessories, baby buggies, ...

AMSTERDAM

De Bakkerswinkel

These days we just love meeting friends for breakfast or brunch on a weekend morning. Breakfast is probably my favourite meal of the day to start with, but besides that, early in the day my kids are still well rested and thus more enjoyable (as opposed to overall crankiness at dinner time)! Also, like every other parent ...

AMSTERDAM

Le Fournil

This past Saturday morning my ? husband treated me, our daughter and my hangover to a lie-in, and took our toddler son out for an early-morning stroll toward one of our neighbourhood treasures: Le Fournil. Le Fournil is the first original French bakery in the Netherlands, and it is immensely popular. Getting fresh bread on a ...

AMSTERDAM

The Hollandsche Manege

The Hollandsche Manege translates to 'The Dutch Riding School', and the manner in which it is spelled (in Dutch) conveys that we are talking about an OLD riding school here. The building, based on the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and located on the Northern edge of the Vondelpark, dates back to 1882 and was ...

AMSTERDAM

De Taart van m'n Tante

Yesterday I took my little family for a treat: we went to 'De Taart van m'n Tante' (Cakes of my Aunt) for coffee and cake. 'De Taart van m'n Tante' is not just an ordinary tearoom with your everyday kind of cake -- in fact, it might be the most kitschy tearoom of Amsterdam, with ...

AMSTERDAM

De Parade

Once a year, a magical event hits the city of Amsterdam... De Parade! Although 'De Parade' does translate into 'The Parade', it is nothing like one - it is in fact a theater festival, disguised in an old-fashioned looking fair ground! 'De Parade' offers a mix of art, theater, film, magic, comedy and music, together ...

AMSTERDAM

Raining? Go tropical!

The Tropenmuseum (Tropical Institute) of Amsterdam is one of those museums where you walk in and feel the grandeur of what once was... I have that same feeling in similar beautiful buildings, like the Natural History Museum in London, or the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Brussels... It's about anthropology, discovery, history, about dangerous ...

AMSTERDAM

Strand Zuid

Last week we finally had a nice and warm, summery day in the Netherlands, so a girlfriend and I took our children to one of the hip & cool city beaches here in Amsterdam: Strand Zuid (South Beach). Behind the (big & ugly) congress centre, 'Amsterdam Rai', and on the border of the Beatrix Park ...

AMSTERDAM

Tony Chocolonely

Since we moved back to the Netherlands, about half a year ago, I've noticed these brightly-coloured 'Tony's Chocolonely' chocolate bars around. The wrapping is very garish and in-your-face (cool though), and not at all like the packaging I usually go for in Chocolate Land (meaning matte dark-brown paper, golden accents and names like 'La Maison ...

AMSTERDAM

Airport fun...

If you're flying with children, make sure that you check the website of the airport you depart from beforehand. With kids, it's advisable to arrive at the airport in time; not only to avoid stress (and fights with your husband :-)), but also to make sure that you get good seats (meaning next to each ...

AMSTERDAM

Issa

Every now and then, when I really don't feel like cooking and it is still early in the evening, we take the kids to Issa, a little Japanese restaurant around the corner from us here in Amsterdam. This restaurant is particularly popular in our family because not only do we all love Japanese food (even ...

AMSTERDAM

Praq

Last weekend Courtney came to visit us with her family - such fun! Thankfully the weather in Amsterdam was nice for a change, so on Saturday we loaded all the children on the bikes, and off we went to our favourite kid-friendly restaurant: Praq. Praq is located along the Amstel river in the beautiful little ...

AMSTERDAM

White asparagus

It's that season again! Currently, white asparagus is available all over the Netherlands... Originally from the south of the Netherlands (which is considered the asparagus epicenter of the country), I remember that as a small child eating the first asparagus of the season was considered a 'special meal'! And this special meal usually took place ...

AMSTERDAM

Tall people

When I was living in New York City, about 5 years ago (gosh, time flies), I considered myself reasonably tall (I'm 1.76m, or 5'-9") compared to the average American gal. And my husband, with his 1.91 m (6'-4") literally stood out of the average crowd... Until we would go to the monthly NL borrels gathering, ...

Amsterdam

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