Tips for rainy days

Unfortunately, it rains quite often in the Netherlands, especially in the fall. But that is certainly no reason to be grumpy. In fact, we have great tips for activities you can do on rainy days: both out and at home.

Tips for home

Is it raining but don’t feel like hanging aimlessly in front of the tube? Invite some friends over, bring out the chips and make it cosy at home. Let the rain beat down outside because it’s cozy and cozy inside. Here are our tips for a fun day or evening at home.

Organize a game night

Get out some games and hold a game night. Have some goodies and enjoy. Game nights are not only fun but also very entertaining. Especially games played with a healthy dose of humor such as Party & Co and Hitster from JumboPlay are guaranteed to be a success. But also other games such as Catan, Short Circuit, 30 Seconds and Cluedo. And how about an escape game? More tips for a successful game night can be found in our blog: The evenings are getting longer, time for a game night.

Organize a movie marathon

It’s raining cats and dogs outside, but it’s cozy inside. Curl up with the family on the couch with a blanket, chips and Coke (or wine ;-)) and binge all the Harry Potter movies. Or watch The Lord of the Rings all over again. Enjoy The Hunger Games with your teenagers or watch all parts of Home Alone together, even if it takes a while until Christmas. Just enjoy a golden oldie together. Or choose a new movie on Pathé Thuis, Netflix, Videoland, HBO Max, etc.

Organize a creative afternoon

Round up your girlfriends and spend an afternoon getting creative! We’ve found some fun creative activities for you and your girlfriends that are perfect for rainy days:

Make your own candles or scented candles

Making candles is not only creative, but also a wonderful way to fill your home with homemade scents later on. You can use different colors of wax and fragrance oils to make unique candles.

What do you need to make candles:

• Soy or beeswax
• Candle wicks
• Gum oils and dyes
• Molds or old cups for molds

Extra tip: Add dried flowers or herbs to the candles for a decorative effect!

DIY natural care product making

Make natural skin care products such as lip balm, body scrubs or face masks together. Not only is this fun to do, but you’ll immediately have some homemade wellness products for your girlfriends to take home.

What you need:

• For lip balm: beeswax, coconut oil, and fragrance oils
• For body scrubs: sugar or salt, coconut or olive oil, and essential oils
• Small jars or containers to store everything in

Also fun to do on your creative afternoon: jewelry making, painting on canvas, cooking or baking together, painting ceramics and hand lettering. We have previously collected fun tips for you in our blog: Crafts for adults.

Tips for going out on rainy days

For the following tips you have to go outside first, but at your destination it will be nice and dry.

Visit a museum!

Rainy days lend themselves perfectly to a visit to a museum. For example, go to the Mauritshuis in The Hague and admire the Girl with the Pearl Earring, visit the Naturalis and take a selfie with Trix, the Tyrannosaurus Rex or be surprised by Museum Voorlinden. Have you known for some time that bad weather is on the horizon? Then book a time slot at the Rijksmuseum and admire “the Night Watch.” Or learn all about other peoples at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. With a museum annual pass, many museums are free to visit, so this is definitely recommended. Out and about with the kids? Earlier we gave tips on do-museums. Success guaranteed!

Culinary delights at the Market Hall

Rotterdam’s Markthal is the place to enjoy delicious flavors. For example, have you tried a Dubai bar? Or how about a crispy sushi sandwich or a corndog? Ever tasted a Japanese mochi? And have you ever had bubble tea? Bring your teens along and they can surely tell you all about the latest Tiktok food trends. Instantly a fun outing for the whole family!

Indoor fun for the whole family

In several places in the Netherlands you can play Glowgolf. That is miniature golf, but different! Or rent a bowling alley and see who has the best skills with the bowling ball. A very nice place to do this is The City in ‘s-Gravenzande. There are many other fun things to do there like laser gaming and mini golf. At Adventure City in Rotterdam children can enjoy climbing and clambering. They have a large indoor area there which makes this activity fun all year round! For kids we recently wrote a nice blog about even more indoor activities. You can find the blog here.

To the indoor amusement park

Plopsa Indoor Coevorden is the indoor amusement park for children and their parents. With up to 25 attractions you can have a great time and all the famous Studio 100 characters pass by. Amusement park DippiDoe in Best has an outdoor harbor as well as a very nice and very large indoor harbor. This is a true climbing paradise where boredom has no chance. Preston Palace in Almelo is not only a place where you can stay overnight: they also offer everything for a wonderful day out. There is plenty to do and experience. For example, there is a fun fair, you can go bowling and of course to top it all off: the tropical swimming paradise!

Visit a zoo

Huh, visiting a zoo when it’s raining? Yes it does! Often it does not rain all day in the Netherlands and if it does rain during your zoo visit, we have found some nice ones for you that also have an indoor section. Think about Burger’s Zoo in Arnhem and Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam. You can find all our tips in our previously published blog. Also fun: visit a butterfly garden. Pantropica in Flevoland is fantastic fun when it rains. Inside it is always nice and warm and the atmosphere is tropical. But also Vlinders aan de Vliet in Leidschendam is a very nice butterfly garden to visit when the weather is not so nice.

Nice shopping

Just a day of shopping is of course also a good idea on rainy days. Earlier we wrote a blog about indoor shopping malls where you can have a great time when it rains. Or go shopping at Loods5 or Ikea for fun stuff for your home. By playing a little with accessories and colors your interior immediately has a different look. We also wrote a blog about this. And how about brightening up your living room with new plants? All that greenery will cheer you up. Buy them at the garden center or online. At Intratuin Duiven you can now get into the Christmas spirit with their huge Christmas show. But there are more garden centers that have the most fantastic Christmas shows. You can find them in this blog.

Photos: www.canva.com and OpstapmetLisa