What is a “blind box” trend among Dutch kids?
Waarom kinderen blind boxes kopen en soms spijt hebben
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
A blind box is a sealed package containing a randomised collectible toy or trading card, where the buyer doesn’t know what’s inside until it’s opened. The format exploded among Dutch kids around 2023-2024 with Labubus (Pop Mart’s plush-vinyl monsters), Pokémon TCG packs, mystery figures from MINISO, and various sticker-and-charm series. NOS Jeugdjournaal estimates roughly a third of Dutch kids have bought at least one blind box. Dutch parenting writing increasingly raises concern about gambling-adjacent psychology in the format, and some gemeente are debating sales restrictions for under-12s.
In this clip, kids explain the appeal: “Het is gewoon lekker gevoel dat je iets koopt.” And the random pull: “speelgoed, Pokémon kaarten of Labubus.”
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How common in written Dutch
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Harder words in this video
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch parenting and child-consumer-psychology writing (Kek Mama, Ouders van Nu, Trouw)
- ▸In Dutch news features about Labubu and blind-box culture (NOS, De Volkskrant, NRC)
- ▸In Dutch kids' media and trend coverage (Het Klokhuis, Schooltv, NPO Zapp)
- ▸In Dutch addiction-policy and youth-spending journalism (Trimbos Instituut, De Correspondent, AD)