Eighteen months of planning. Six weeks to go. Nine women across three generations.
I ordered 50 charms for the women in my family. My mother cried. My sister tried to take credit. I am still emotional about all of it.
They thought I was crazy for ordering 50 charms...
Five of us are flying to Texas in late June to watch the Netherlands play. My sister Marleen, my two oldest friends from university, my 19-year-old daughter Iris, and me. We bought the tickets eighteen months ago, when the whole thing still felt theoretical. It is no longer theoretical. We leave in six weeks.
Four other women in my life are not flying. My mother, who is 74 and will watch every match from her flat in Groningen. My mother-in-law in Eindhoven, who has supported the Oranje since 1974 and is not entirely well enough to travel. My niece, who is 12 and is currently obsessed with both Memphis Depay and her own future as a midfielder. My oldest friend Saskia, who runs her own business and cannot take three weeks off in summer.
I am the planner of the group. I have always been the planner. I am the one with the spreadsheets and the airport transfers and the dietary requirements. This is fine. I have made peace with this role.
What I did not plan on was becoming the jewellery co-ordinator for nine women across three generations.
The one photo I almost did not click on.
It started six weeks ago when Marleen sent me a photo from her phone of a small charm bracelet she had seen on someone's wrist at a cafe. "We should do this for the trip," she said. "Like a thing. Like a group thing." My sister has been sending me ideas like this for thirty-five years. About half of them happen. The other half quietly disappear into the family chat.
This one did not disappear, because the more I looked into it, the more it actually made sense. The bracelets are Italian-style, stainless steel, the kind you can wear in the sea and in the shower. You add small charms to them, one at a time, each one marking something. A football. A flag. A heart. A tiny number. They are modular, so you can keep adding to them long after the tournament is over.
I started a list. A football charm for each of us, because obvious. An Oranje flag for the nine of us. A small heart in red, white, and blue for the trip. A "Texas" charm for the five travelling, and a "Living Room" charm for the four watching from home, which I thought was funny and which Saskia approved of. My mother wanted a tulip charm, which I did not know existed but apparently does. My niece wanted the year and a tiny "M.D." for Memphis Depay. My friend Bridget wanted a glass of wine, which I added without comment.
How I ended up at exactly fifty charms (and 50% off)
I did the maths. Nine bracelets, plus four or five charms per person, plus a few spares, came to roughly fifty. There is a bundle that takes 50% off the whole order when you buy fifty charms, which was the exact number I needed. I am not someone who normally finds herself ordering anything in bulk. The last time I bought fifty of anything was probably nappies, and that was twenty years ago.
The package arrived from their boutique in Italy the next day, because that is where the brand is based and apparently 24-hour shipping is real. We spent a Sunday afternoon at my kitchen table, the five of us travelling, putting the charms on. The four staying home got theirs in the post the same week, with a small note for each one. My mother rang me crying because the tulip had reminded her of her own mother.
What I did not expect, and what I am still slightly emotional about, is what the bracelets did to the lead-up to the trip. They turned the planning from a list of logistics into something that felt shared. Every time one of us put hers on, we were already at the match. Every time we sent a photo in the WhatsApp group, the bracelets were in the photo. The four women at home were as much part of the build-up as the five of us flying out. My niece sleeps in hers. My mother-in-law wears hers when she watches the Eredivisie on a Sunday afternoon.
How charms will mark the world cup for the rest of our lives.
We fly on the 18th of June. We watch the Netherlands play Japan on the 14th from my mother's flat together first, then we travel as a group. We come home after the group stage. By that point each of us, the five travelling and the four at home, will have a bracelet with five or six charms on it, a small wearable record of a tournament we have been waiting four years for.
If you have a group of women in your life around any moment this summer (a tournament, a wedding, a hen weekend, a milestone birthday) and you have ever wanted to mark it with something other than a matching t-shirt, this is the answer. It was for us. For the ones flying out and the ones cheering from the sofa equally.
Saskia is already asking what we are doing for 2027.
The 50-charm bundle Hanneke bought for her group
The Charmsoff 50-charm bundle is built for exactly this kind of moment: a group of women or a family marking something together. Buy 50 charms and the whole order is 50% off, which works out to roughly nine wristlines with the bracelets included.
Free shipping included. Ships from Italy within 24 hours.
Free shipping included.
Ships from The Hague in 24 hours.
30-day returns
1-year warranty.
