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No more presents gathering dust in a cupboard
How a family tradition grew into Kerstlijst.be, the Belgian wish list website
Buying a present often means guessing what the other person would like. The result: well-meant but useless gifts that end up unused in a cupboard. Kerstlijst.be has been putting an end to that for more than fifteen years: you immediately see a whole range of gift ideas from the person themselves. What started in the Belmans family is now a trilingual platform with separate sites for Saint Nicholas, birthdays and other celebrations.
Born at the family table
It all started in the Belmans family, who decided to draw names for their Christmas presents: everyone bought just one gift, for the person they had drawn. Who had drawn whom had to stay strictly secret.
That was the real challenge. The giver always had to guess what the other person wanted, and many a present was never used. The family wanted everyone to see a whole range of gift ideas straight away, without revealing who had drawn whom.
Sending e-mails around or using a forum seemed too cumbersome. So Davy Belmans, software developer and owner of Standing Out BV, designed a website: Kerstlijst.be was born. Davy Belmans still runs the application today.
In its first years, the site was reserved for a small number of families. That gave the platform time to grow into a full-fledged tool. In December 2010, Kerstlijst.be opened to everyone.
The site has been updated year after year since. At the end of 2025 it got a complete makeover: a modern design that also works on smartphones, photos for gift ideas and a simpler way to reserve. 2026 brought the biggest expansion in the site's history.
How it works
The principle has stayed the same all these years. Someone creates a group for the family, friends or colleagues and invites the others by e-mail. Each member fills in a list of gift ideas, optionally with a photo, a price and a link to an online shop.
Whoever buys a present reserves it on the site. The other members then see that it is taken, so nobody buys the same thing. By default the owner of the list does not see this, so the surprise stays intact.
The group administrator can do even more:
- Draw names: the site does the draw. Each member only sees who they are buying for.
- Agree on a budget: a maximum or target amount per present, in euros or another currency.
- Set the gift date: a countdown shows how many days are left until the celebration.
- Reminders: members with an empty or short list automatically get an e-mail.
Anyone who likes can print their list as a PDF. Each present then gets a QR code that leads straight to the online shop. Handy for grandma, who prefers paper.
From Christmas to every occasion
In 2026, Kerstlijst.be grew into a family of websites. The main new features:
Three languages. The site now exists in Dutch, French and English, each with its own address: kerstlijst.be, listedenoel.be and christmaslist.app. French-speaking in-laws and an English-speaking cousin can be in the same group. Everyone receives the e-mails in their own language.
Saint Nicholas. On sinterklaaslijst.be and listedesaintnicolas.be, parents make a list for their children. It comes with a letter to the Saint in a handwriting font and a drawing the child makes on screen. Everything can be printed as a PDF too.
wishbird for everything else. For birthdays, communions, coming-of-age celebrations and other occasions there is wishbird.be, in English mywishbird.com. wishbird is also the umbrella name for all the sites. Such a list is shared with a single link, for example via WhatsApp. Recipients don't need to be in a group.
A private gift list. Everyone gets a hidden list to keep loose ideas all year round. An idea that pops up in March moves to the Christmas list with one click.
Lists for children. Parents manage a profile for their children, without the children needing their own e-mail address.
Log in with Google or Facebook. No need to remember a separate password.
wishbird AI. The newest addition is a chat assistant that helps fill in a list. It asks a few questions about interests and age and then suggests real products from online shops. Invented products are ruled out: the assistant only picks from what is actually for sale. The user always decides what goes on the list.
Free, and the surprise stays intact
Kerstlijst.be is free for its users. The site earns a small commission when someone buys something through a partner link at an online shop such as bol.com. Whoever buys such a present pays nothing extra.
New is that the site sometimes gives buyers a tip. If a present is cheaper at another shop, or no shop was given, the site shows where it is for sale. Only the buyer sees these tips, never the owner of the list. The present itself stays unchanged.
Ready for the busiest weeks of the year
November and December are traditionally the busiest months for the site. Groups draw names, lists fill up and the first presents get reserved. Davy Belmans keeps improving the site and welcomes ideas from users. The starting point is still the one from the family table: giving a present the other person really wants, not one that ends up in a cupboard.
