Last week a friend of mine said, “You’re German, would you like these? I found them at an estate sale”… and then she handed me these cardboard plate/bowls printed with Christmassy images. She had found paper plates for “Bunte Teller!” I was so excited to receive something from my childhood. But, What is a Bunter Teller? These special plates come out every Christmas. They act as a sort of “extra” gift. Each family member or child in the family receives a plate of treats meant just for that person. Or a Bunter Teller might be used as a communal plate for the whole family in the center of the table. Either way the Bunter Teller works to share the best Christmas Cookies and Chocolates. It’s colorful, and filled with delicious treats! Let me share a wonderful little tradition with you…
All photos take by Karen Lodder
What is a Bunter Teller?
Bunter Teller translates as “colorful Plate”… but it’s much more than that. It is a plate of colorful goodies like cookies, fruit, candy and chocolates that is given at Christmas. When I was a child, we didn’t get loads of gifts, but there was always a plate under the tree… a special cardboard plate decorated with pretty Christmas images… loaded up with our favorite cookies and other special treats. My plate always had a bar of Nougat on it (my favorite)… my sister got Marzipan (her favorite). These were ours to eat, and not have to share. My mother also set out a BIG Bunter Teller on the table LOADED with cookies, candies and other treats… and spent the whole season replenishing it daily. Domino Steine, Spekulatius, Lebkuchen, Chocolate Glocken, Eiskonfekt, and MORE.
After the season, my mom would clean up the wax coated paper plates and put them away for next year.
Where does the tradition of the Bunter Teller come from?
The Bunter Teller is mentioned in a song from the 19th century, “Lasst Uns Froh und Munter Sein” (see below for lyrics in German and English, as well as a video). While we associate putting out Shoes for St. Nicholas, somewhere along the line, a plate was added to collect goodies.
One theory goes like this…
Originally, Christmas trees were decorated with nuts, fruits and cookies. Kids loved that they could help themselves to these special seasonal treats… and then glass ornaments and lametta started showing up on trees. More and more families began using the made ornaments, and the treats were crowded off the tree in favor of these beautiful and re-usable decorations. But the kids still wanted treats (glass balls are beautiful, but you can’t eat them), so a plate was set by the tree, loaded with the cookies that used to hang from it. In a sense, the treats moved from shoes to tree to plate… Today kids get treats in shoes on St Nicholas Tag, and on plates for Christmas.
German Paper Cookie Plates
The cookies and treats on the plate are special, but the plates themselves have a story too. Paper plates were invented around 150 years ago by a retired museum director, who was also a master Bookbinder, in the Brandenburg town of Luckenwalde. He had read an article about how unhygienic it was to put food on old newspapers, so he did some experimenting with pulp made from sawdust. In 1867 he got his first patent, and before you know it, paper plates were in use. Picture plates came soon after this, and by the 1880s, special Christmas plates for Christmas confections were being offered. Colorful plates with pictures of Children playing, the Weihnachtsmann, and the Bethlehem stable. What’s interesting is that the pictures in the advertisements for the plates held mostly cookies and sweets instead of the traditional fruit and nuts. People loved the look… and started filling their plates with more calorie bomb sweets and fewer apples, oranges, dates and almonds.
Vintage German paper plates
Today, it wouldn’t be Christmas in a German Household without a Bunter Teller on the table, filled with all of your favorites. Whether you use the vintage paper plates, or you use regular serving plates, it is certain to become a favorite tradition in your home too.
Bunter Teller for New Year
Another time to have Bunter Teller is New Years Eve. The bounty of sweets on the plate represents the best of the past year, and is a hope for a plentiful New Year!
Make your Own Bunter Teller
Super EASY! Take a plate… LOAD it up with cookies, chocolates, chocolate Santas, nuts and even some dried fruits or Tangerines… and put it out for Christmas! You can even give everyone in the family their own!
Where to buy German Bunter Teller
Vintage Paper Bunter Teller Plates
You can find the Vintage Paper Bunter Teller Plates here. It’s amazing to me that the paper plates lasted since the 50s and 60s! Definitely a testament to the quality of the paper… and the care people take with their things.
Pressed paper vintage Christmas bowl. Made in Germany. Good vintage condition
Christmas plate cardboard colorful plate Christmas Nikolaus unused newVintage Paper Bowl Germany Christmas Cookie Server Fluted Ruffled Edge Charming Nostalgia Singing CarolersSmall Christmas plate cardboard colorful plate Christmas Santa Claus 70s 80s …-West German Paper Christmas Platter with Elves in Bakery, Vintage Paper Cookie Tray with Santa’s Elves in a Bakery, Fairy Tale Cookie PlatePaper bowls made in GermanyGerman Style Paper Bunter Teller Cookie Bowl Fluted Serving Plate Lot of 10Vintage West Germany Christmas Paper Bowl With Angels And Children
Pressed paper vintage Christmas bowl. Made in Germany. Good vintage condition
Beautiful Tin Plates for Bunte Teller
Tin plates with Christmas images have longer staying power… and you can clean them easier…
Vintage. Serving plate cake plate biscuits plate serving bowl plate cookie plate HP tin bowl Germany
German Porcelain Bunter Teller
These porcelain Cookie plates will last for Generations. Plates like these always turned up on the coffee table at home. Mom would refill them daily during the Advent and Christmas Season.
Toy’s Delight Cake Plate by Villeroy & Boch – Perfect for Christmas Gift or Entertaining – Premium Porcelain -Dishwasher and Microwave Safe – Gift Boxed – 13 Inches
Villeroy & Boch 14-8332-3635 Pastry Plate, Porcelain, RedVilleroy & Boch 14-8332-2241 Toy’s Fantasy Pastry Plate, Porcelain, White/ColouredVilleroy & Boch 2022 Toy’s Fantasy Bowl, Large, 9.75
Lasst Uns Froh und Munter Sein
Lasst Uns Froh Und Munter Sein
Lasst uns froh und munter sein,
und uns recht von Herzen freu’n!
Lustig, lustig, traleralera!
Bald ist Nikolaus Abend da, bald ist Nikolaus Abend da!
Dann stell ich den Teller auf,
Nik’laus legt gewiss was drauf.
Lustig, lustig, traleralera!
Bald ist Nikolaus Abend da, bald ist Nikolaus Abend da!
Wenn ich schlaf, dann träume ich,
jetzt bringt Nik’laus was für mich.
Lustig, lustig, traleralera!
Bald ist Nikolaus Abend da, bald ist Nikolaus Abend da!
Wenn ich aufgestanden bin,
lauf ich schnell zu dem Teller hin.
Lustig, lustig, traleralera!
Bald ist Nikolaus Abend da, bald ist Nikolaus Abend da!
Let Us Be Happy and Cheerful
Let us be happy and cheerful,
And rejoice in our hearts!
Fun, fun, traleralera!
Soon Nicholas’s evening is here, soon Nicholas’ s evening is here!
Then I set the plate out,
Nik’laus certainly puts something on it.
Fun, fun, traleralera!
Soon Nicholas ‘s evening is here, soon Nicholas’ s evening is here!
When I sleep, I dream,
Now Nik’laus brings something for me.
Fun, fun, traleralera!
Soon Nicholas ‘s evening is here, soon Nicholas’ s evening is here!
When I get up,
I run quickly to the plate.
Fun, fun, traleralera!
Soon Nicholas ‘s evening is here, soon Nicholas’ s evening is here!
Here is the Sing-Along version (note, they’ve added an extra verse)
Fill Your Bunter Teller with DELICIOUS Cookies and Chocolates
Favorite German Christmas Chocolates
Favorite German Christmas Cookies
Thank you for this article! i started pinning some ‘Bunte Teller’ I have for sale, and wanted to show people how they are traditionally used. Your article did that – and so much more! Re-pinned…
Frohe Weihnachten, Claudia
(another German in America)
Hi Claudia…
Send me an email at [email protected]… I’d love to share your Bunte Teller with everyone
ich erinnere mich,nice
We still share our “bunte Teller” on Christmas. I even make some for my american family members.
My kids would be disappointed if there were none. And they are grown ups now.
Another german in Ami-land. lol
Danke fuer die Erinnerungen… I just wrote a blog post about Christmas memories and the Bunter Teller was one of them so I linked to your post. My grandfather’s birthday was on Nikolaus so we always sang that song!
Thank you!
(sent you an email..)
Hello! I’ve just come upon your website and am thoroughly enjoying seeing so many things from long ago when I was a child growing up in my Bavarian grandmother’s home. Could you possibly help me? I am trying to find the right name (and spelling) for a filled raspberry hard German candy my grandmother had in our candy dish every Christmas. When she said their name, it sounded like she was say “Himburrs.” They looked like a raspberry, had a thin hard candy outside shell and delicious raspberry jelly inside. They were one of my favorite candies when I was a child. I’ve found some that look similar on the internet, but they are not made in Germany and the German name is not listed. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
I think you are remembering Himbeer bonons…. like these–>http://amzn.to/2DPaRZt
or are they these–>http://amzn.to/2Fn0I3z
I have been looking for these for so long. My mum was German and i remember these from my chikdhood. So many happy memories
aren’t they wonderful?!
Love the “Bunter Teller” article. Brings back so many memories.
Especially from 1945!
My father ad returned from Russia, (prisoner if war), we didn’t have much that Christmas, but my Mother had the plates, We had some nuts on them, my Mother had made Gingerbread, the almonds were substituted by pumpkin seeds, and we were happy, because as my Mother said: we were all together again in one piece!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Christmas isn’t about the things, it’s about being together, and enjoying what you have.