Okay, my first Danish birthday party. Okay, it wasn’t even my party…
I still remember waking up the morning of my 7th birthday. I put on a new pink dress, got my hair tied up by my mom, and waiting anxiously for all my friends to arrive at my party. Games were played, food was eaten, presents were opened, and worries were non-existent.
Over the summer, Sebastian’s little sister had a birthday party and it brought back some nostalgic memories. 13 little girls, lots of screaming, some tears, hot dogs, soda, candy, and cake!
Being a foreigner, I was fascinated by all the little things that gave this party a Danish charm (all the things that are very normal to the Danes). I went around taking pictures of everything and the little girls probably thought I was crazy. That’s probably why they didn’t want to play with me and just wanted me and Sebastian to kiss. Kids are weird.
Danish people are weirdly proud of their strawberries. They are teeny and fucking delicious.
No, the party was not “Danish themed”. In Denmark, the Danish flag also symbolizes birthdays! Everything from table cloths, napkins, little flags on the table, toothpick flags on the birthday cake (see image below), big flags outside the house, to teeny flag confetti scattered all over!
At restaurants, you can tell when it’s someone’s birthday if they have a little flag sitting on their table.
It’s interesting that the use of flags doesn’t have the same connotations as it does in the United States. The Danish flag is not so much associated with nationalism, but more with celebration.
If I were to do this in the states, people would think it was either a 4th of July party, or that I am some sort of a patriotic weirdo. Americans: It’s true and you know it. If I threw all kinds of American flag paraphernalia around, you would not come to my party.
Hot Dogs, the Danish way! With fried onions and remoulade. WARNING: it may cut up the roof of your mouth (from the fried onions), but it is totally worth it. SoOooO good.
This is Lagkage. Layer cake. Also another birthday tradition in Denmark! The cake layers can be bought at any grocery store (comes in yellow and chocolate cake flavor) in packages, and you can choose any kind of cream, custard, jam, NUTELLA, or fruit you want in between the layers. So awesome and easy, fuck baking.
This was the best layer cake I have ever had, but thanks to my bad memory, I forgot how Sebastian’s step-mom made the frosting/cream (even though I had asked her twice…). It’s some sort of cream mixed with little bits of chocolate meringue. I don’t remember, I just know I ate a lot of it. All of it. I let everyone else have the crumbs.
Ahh, pink sprinkles! [Sorry for the product placement by Pepsi, they’re paying me a lot for this.]
Well there you have it, a Danish birthday party!! [If you were turning 7.]
Tillykke med fødselsdagen!! {Translated: Congrats with birthday!}
ARE-YOU-BEE-WHY 