February 12, 2013

An original take on duvet covers for adults and children

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 4:33 pm

Designed in Amsterdam and made in Portugal, SNURK (Dutch for ‘snore’) sells playful duvet covers for adults and children. Their first design was called Le Clochard (French for ‘homeless person’), which we wrote about a few years ago and features a print of a cardboard box, with close to 40% of the proceeds going to various European foundations that help homeless youngsters.

Their astronaut duvet cover aimed at boys and princess one aimed at girls are both on pre-order.

If I were still a little girl, I would have gone with the astronaut one, like in the picture. The idea that the company suggests girls should dream of a prince (passive), while boys have space ambitions (active) unfortunately makes me itch.

(Link: www.blessthisstuff.com)

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March 6, 2011

Children’s carnival parade in Heerlen

Filed under: Food & Drink,General,History,Music by Orangemaster @ 11:26 am

It’s carnival time again in the South provinces of the Netherlands and yesterday in Heerlen, Limburg they had their children’s parade with parents, prams and princes. The red-green-yellow scarf that doesn’t match the rest adorns the carnival colours, a must have for many.

Besides a good story I wanted to know if the kids on the floats threw sweets like they did in when attended carnival in Cologne, Germany a few years back. Just as I reached into my purse to get my camera, I got beaned by a waffle! And I collected enough for breakfast before writing this.

Eventually the children’s carnival Prince, ‘Martijn 1’, showed up in full dress, waving to the crowd. From what I’ve learned, picking the carnival Prince is done by a serious carnival association and is chosen from different schools alternately. They also have princesses, it is done months in advance and is kept secret until the very last minute, a very dear tradition in these parts.

Has the tradition changed over the years? Well, I’m sure some things have, but a few things have definitely remained the same according to a former junior carnival Prince, vintage 1981.

Notice the ship-like float the junior carnival Prince and Princess were standing on here back in 1981? Well, they still use it today, the Blauw Sjuut in local dialect.

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