One of my favorite little quirks about Swedish newspapers
is, undoubtedly, the Undenbedes ads. There is an entire section of Swedish
newspapers devoted to Swedish people saying things like ‘Do not show up at my
house on my birthday, I will be in Thailand’ or more simply ‘Please don’t come
to my house on my birthday.’
I was afraid, with the arrival of the internet, this
mysterious section of the newspaper would disappear. But so far, it has not.
The undenbedes ads make me wonder all kinds of things like:
Who are these mysterious people who show up uninvited and
without calling on your birthday? Where do I get me some?
Who would show up uninvited to your house on your birthday and
NOT know that you have booked a birthday trip to Thailand?
Do they not call their friends and find out what time the
birthday party is, but do check the newspaper to see if a party is on at Sven
Svensson’s house?
More importantly, would they leave the gift on your
doorstep?
Is this a senior citizen group activity? Aka –‘What are we
going to do this weekend?’ ‘Wait, isn’t Sven turning 87 this Sunday? I bet he
will have some cake!’ ‘Oh, good idea Inga, let’s order a taxi and invite
ourselves to his party’ ‘Brilliant, then we can save all of our cinnamon buns
for the weekday fikas instead’ ‘And we can regift this old embroidered wall
hanging and pretend like we made it and didn’t buy it off of Ingrid’s estate
sale’
I hope one day I have so many Swedish friends that I will
need to uninvite them to my birthday party via the local newspaper. Oh who am
I kidding, I cannot resist a great birthday party and would be thrilled if any
Swede showed up at my doorstep without 2 weeks of advance planning
But can I also admit that I believe there is a large group
of Swedish thieves that thrive on the undenbedes ads as well? ‘Hey look, Joakim
von partypooper is going to Thailand for his birthday. According to the
registry his birthday is Nov. 5th, he lives at 4 fågelgatan, and his
income is xyz. Looks like we have a place to be on Nov 5th, don’t we
den of thieves?’
So, um, you are all welcome to my place on my big day as I will most certainly not be in Thailand.
Posts
You’re forgetting that even decade birthdays (usually from 50 on) in Sweden are often celebrated by the celebrant staying at home all day, and people from their job, organizations, and friends come by at any time during the day to congratulate.
ReplyDeleteI will have to ask my inlaws about this, since they are about that age, and usually let us know when the open house is, I wonder if they tell their friends and just assume we don't check the paper!
DeleteHahahahaha...God Is this funny!!! And looking from your point of wiew -totally unbelievebly...hahahahaha.
ReplyDelete//Maria
Love this blog post :)
ReplyDeleteThis is hilarious. What a nice problem to have... I'm going to have to look for these in our newspaper the next time we get one!
ReplyDeleteYes I am quite fascinated by those (paid!) party pooper ads!
ReplyDeleteThat's how it works for my parents and their friends. I guess it started when they all turned 50 during a few years - that birthday is, as commented above, often celebrated with an open house, so people can come when they want during the day, and stay for as long as they want, and there is food and wine. Then it just continued like that, and now they never invite anyone for any birtday, people just show up and there is a party. My parents prepare food and buy wine of course, but they only talk to people about it if they are going away over a birthday and don't want people coming over expecting a party and they won't be there!
ReplyDeleteSo, this makes perfect sense to me.
So jealous! I want one :)
DeleteThat's how it works for my parents and their friends. I guess it started when they all turned 50 during a few years - that birthday is, as commented above, often celebrated with an open house, so people can come when they want during the day, and stay for as long as they want, and there is food and wine. Then it just continued like that, and now they never invite anyone for any birtday, people just show up and there is a party. My parents prepare food and buy wine of course, but they only talk to people about it if they are going away over a birthday and don't want people coming over expecting a party and they won't be there!
ReplyDeleteSo, this makes perfect sense to me.
How funny, I love this custom! Unfortunately, where I live (midwestern U.S.), putting an ad like that in the paper would be an invitation to burglars.
ReplyDelete