Usually at New Years Eve everybody around here is having some sort of a party, watching a specific little television or video clip (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN9edpdCH7c). At a few minutes before 12, everybody bundles up, grabs their champagne and some fireworks and gets outside to see the fireworks in the city and toast the New Year with everybody else on the street...
This year, we are probably going to bed...
Ahhhh Dinner for One...
That's been on Dutch television for decades, too. I remember from when I was very little that my parents were in stitches about it.
The food at New Year's - apart from the oliebollen and appelflappen Principessa already mentioned - is nothing special here, but champagne is essential. Or cava, prosecco, anything sparkly. I'm not sure if many people still wait until 12 to pop a bottle, because we're usually drinking it all night, heck why not?
We used to go to a big wine trade show in Paris at the beginning of December (lately a slightly smaller one in Lille in November but they were all cancelled this year) and bring back a few boxes of champagne at a nice price, so indulging in bubbly was our normal.
Older kids would roam the streets, lighting firework long before it was officially allowed (from 0.00 to 02.00 or so on New Year's morning) but this year I won't let the Pomster out. Fireworks apart from the kiddy stuff are not allowed, and this has already resulted in unruly youths in one village wrecking the place and lighting heavy fireworks for a couple of nights. It seems quiet now (where are their parents you ask...), once the police started heavy surveillance. There will be double the amount of police on the street everywhere this New Year's Eve.
In some (rural) parts of The Netherlands there is a lovely (?) tradition of 'slepen', dragging/schlepping. Tradiotionally it was to remind famers to keep their yards tidy (anything loose would be schlepped to some place further away to teach the messy farmer a lesson, think carts, milk cans, etc). In my parent's village this would include the garden chairs (from your fenced garden!!), planters, bicycles, the mailbox so everybody would make sure all their stuff was safely indoors. I don't know if it is still this bad (because you coulf well classify it as vandalism or theft).
Around here, there's a traditions that groups/clubs 'steal' landmarks (e.g. a huge statue) overnight, put it on display somewhere far, far away (sometimes after a few days), and invite the bereft group/club/village/town to come and get it. The thieves will usually be quite helpful with the retrieval, and it's done in good spirits. I don't recall that one of these stunts resulted in the object being lost for good.
https://upload.wikimedia....e_fietsen_(Apeldoorn).jpgOne of these disappeared a few years ago.
(and retrieved).
And in the province of Friesland, the ceremonial chair of the governor was nicked. The Olympic Rings of the old Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam... it's a really crazy tradition if you ask me.
Yet, quite a few of the stunts draw attention to a social problem or plight.
