Surprise Avond Well, it is tradition in the Netherlands to have a Surprise Evening with friends. This is always right around December 5th - it coincides with Sinterklaas - He's like the Dutch Santa Claus - but like he's a saint and he comes from Spain (traditionally) but perhaps he really came from Turkey. And he comes in a steamboat with "Zwarte Piet" - aka black pete... (There are like hundreds of black petes, not just one but they all have the same name) and a horse named Amerigo. And when it's time for him to come the children put their shoes out and they put a carrot in the shoe for Amerigo - the horse, and then Sinterklaas leaves them a gift, like candy or a mandarine fruit (he's from Spain afterall). But the older kids and adults know that Sinterklaas is fictitious, so they do something different so they can still have fun and get presents. Here is what they do. Before, the Surprise evening, friends take turns drawing a name and then they prepare a gift...