A 4-step recipe for a perfect snow day

One of the upsides to winter weather blustering its way through January is the possibility any given morning of waking up and discovering that the roads are too icy or blocked with snow to make it to work. This marks the beginning of the noble snow day – a day when you have no choice but to do absolutely nothing useful whatsoever.

Here is a step-by-step guide – for you and your children – to making the most of your Brussels snow day.

1. Go sledding

First things first, a bit of exercise. Sure, snow days are built for some rest and relaxation, sitting in front of the fire – or radiator as the case may be – with a steaming cup of cocoa and a good book. But, as any kid knows, you’ll enjoy it ever so much more if first you roll around in the snow for an hour or two until you're soaked through.

No one is too grown up to not go sledding, so hit the slopes. Both the Bois de la Cambre and Josephat Park have some nice hills to glide down, if you’re near either of them, but neither holds a candle to the Parc du Forêt (pictured). Forêt’s steep descent makes it hands-down the best spot for sledding in Brussels.

Don’t have a sled? No worries, there is no keeping up appearances around here. People young and old will be shooting down Forêt’s slopes in everything from proper plastic and wooden sleds to flattened cardboard boxes or, in my case, a clean-ish plastic bag fished from the trash bin.

2. Warm yourself up with hot cocoa

Once you’re back indoors and you’ve peeled off your many layers of wet clothes and put on your warmest pair of pyjamas, it’s time to perform that most sacred of all rituals: preparing the hot cocoa.

Luckily, you’re in the country for it! Brussels has artisanal chocolatiers around every corner (at least if you’re standing in the Sablon). So for this special occasion, why not push the Cote d’Or aside and go for the good stuff: Frederic Blondeel, Laurent Gerbaud or Mary, just to name a few.

3. Order in

Far from the typical food culture of Brussels, ordering in is perhaps the greatest luxury of the snow day. Sure, you might feel guilty about making some other poor soul trudge out into the cold to bring you dinner, but your coat and boots are still soaking wet from this morning, and a person has got to eat.

While Brussels is not exactly food delivery heaven, it still has a few options to get tasty meals delivered to your door in an hour or less. The best deliciousness-to-delivery-price ratio is Take Eat Easy. With a flat €3.50 delivery charge, this small, cheesily named start-up has partnered with some of the most popular restaurants in Brussels, like L’Amour Fou and Kokob, to deliver to your door step.

Another option with a wider, if less trendy, selection is Resto-in. However, with this site, you will pay a higher delivery fee depending on the total cost of the bill and the distance between your residence and the restaurant. To avoid delivery fees altogether, check out Pizza.be, which ranges from the cheapest-of-the-cheap pizza places to decent Thai food. A last option is Eat.eu, which isn’t a delivery service itself, but offers a long list of restaurants that will deliver to your address.

For alcohol, unfortunately Brussels lacks a same-day delivery service of wine or beer. But if you’re staring at an empty cellar, the way around this is to order in from a restaurant and buy alcoholic drinks from them. They’ll be delivered to your door along with your food. 

4. Watch a movie

The only thing left to do to complete your ultimate snow day is to curl up on the sofa and watch a great film. There are a few on-demand movie streaming companies in Belgium. Last summer Netflix arrived in Belgium, a popular on-demand movie service in the US, however many local cable providers also offer some on-demand services. 

Photo courtesy © Revel Pointon