Kinky On The Beach — KOTB to the people who go — is one of the established names in the Dutch kinky-party calendar, run by JDV Events and held at the DS Event Center in Culemborg. The name is a leftover from its earlier homes: the party was originally held at beach locations, and the brand kept the title long after it moved inland.

Its own description of itself is unusually clear about who it is not for. This is not, the organisers write, a party for people who want to put on a nice dress and dance to a local band on a Saturday night — it is a kinky party. Kinky, they go on to explain, is English for anders, ondeugend, stout: different, naughty, badly behaved. Swingers come, but so do plenty of people who are simply drawn to the different, to watching and being watched. The organisers describe the atmosphere as accessible rather than intimidating, with a warm crowd and a music policy that is chosen for the people in the room instead of for a booking agent — well-known and lesser-known DJs, but always vetted for fit.

The dress code is the hard boundary, and the phrasing is theirs: a lot is allowed, nothing is required — except the dress code, which is strict. Leather, latex, lacquer, rubber. That is the KINKY part. The other rule at the door is that single men are not admitted; same-sex male couples are explicitly welcome. Together those two rules do most of the work of setting the tone before anyone is inside.

Inside, the format is a large hall with the party's own production, DJs and hosting, plus a VIP area that has become part of the draw: ice cream to start, sweets, savoury snacks and fresh fruit laid out, its own bar and its own toilets included in the treatment. Secured parking sits fifty metres from the door, with VIP parking tickets sold separately. The organisation has been running its newsletter since 2010 and has passed seventeen thousand subscribers, which is the clearest public measure of how established the party is — presales for the bigger editions are announced there first. Browse EroticAdvisor for the next KOTB edition dates, dress code and line-up.