Stocking Stuffers | Pad Patter 20 Dec

Just one stocking - for the grandson. It's hanging beside the tree. It will be filled on Christmas Eve.

 

We don't go overboard on stockings in this house. (BTW, Christmas presents are from us, not Santa; stockings are the only Santa-related items...nope, that's a lie. Christmas morning Santa leaves a wrapped book on their beds. It's just a ploy to keep them in bed a few minutes longer lol!) Anyway, they always get a board game and a DVD as a joint gift (the game and DVD are wrapped and left between their stockings) and then I give them some candy and a little toy and/or LEGO in their stockings. I think this year I ended up with two DVDs, so maybe they'll each get a movie. *shrug* They're getting less candy because they both got a ton on Halloween and they still have quite a bit left. No need to refill their FULL candy stash!

 

Well, it used to be that DH filled my stocking and I did all the others, but now that everyone has a significant other, each couple does their stockings. I fill DH's stocking with things like shaving cream, tiny bottles of liquor, snacks he likes like Corn Nuts or beef jerky, socks maybe, little gadgets that I find. My stocking may have specialty teas, gift cards to bookstores, office supplies that I need & use often, personal products like facial scrub, etc.

 

Stockings are filled with whatever is small enough to fit, often with a small stuffie poking out the top. The big kids always got candy and canned squeeze cheese as well, but J doesn't like candy or cheese so I stick with small toys for him.

 

My hubby and I take a date night sometime the week before Christmas and go shopping for stocking stuffers for our kids. I do the majority of the Christmas shopping and this is sort of his way to contribute. LOL! He does like it though. We usually pick out one main thing to put in their stocking, 1-2 goofy or useful items and then a candy that we thing they will each like. We have 7 kids so....it's quite a lot to keep track of. LOL.

We actually went out last night.

For instance we got our oldest some nice pens, a cute stapler and some salted caramel chocolate (her fave).
Our youngest we got Unicorn lights, a little Frozen figurine, and a Frozen Pez dispenser with candy.

 

Stockings are kinda my favorite. I loved inheriting that job from my mom when i had my own kids to shop for.

When i was a girl, my mom would always fill it with stuff we'd use like deodorant, razors and toothbrushes... we'd get candy, some gift cards. Like $5 to McDonald or something. Maybe a movie ticket. Some other random small things.

For my family this year, i bought silly string, gum, pencils, coloring/puzzle book, pez candy, chapstick, legos... my daughter also got some nail polish, and my son got some pokemon cards... i found a few of those surprise blister pack things for some of their favorite shows. And one or two small dollar gift cards.

All the candy they are getting, minus the pez and gum, i bought right after Halloween when it was 50% off clearance. I bought the non Halloween marked bags.

I get as much as i can at the dollar store, because i know it won't last long anyway, and it's just for fun... silly things, and i buy enough for all 4 of us when i can.

 

I need to pop out and buy a couple of smaller more treat items as "stocking stuffers" so to speak but if I don't get to them its not the end of the world

 

Gahhh I got home last night after my last day of work and my goal had been to have everything done by the time Christmas break started, then last night I thought "crap, the stockings!". So, I still have to do that. I have a few little things like lotions, soaps, etc to stick in there, but I'll just make a trip to Dollar Tree and grab some candy and other little random things.

 

Usually, my husband and I don’t really swap gifts and just do small things in stockings. Our anniversary is a week before Christmas and my birthday is two weeks after, so we just take a trip somewhere since we both highly prefer experiences anyhow.

this has been a crazy year with the move and such, so we are actually doing gifts and NOT stockings for each other. Stockings tended to have quite a bit of candy and living in Hershey, we definitely don’t need anymore candy. So we decided to pass on it.

santa will still bring my daughter stocking stuff. This year that includes a couple tiny LEGO packs, a Buddy the Elf PEZ dispenser, mini tins of Thinking Putty, the world’s smallest Rubik’s cube, a Kinder egg, and a hot wheels car.

 

Mine are older so this year I am just telling them to put their feet in their stockings! LOL

In the past, I would always forget too, and have to go back out and buy stocking fillers at the last minute. I used to fill with chapsticks/lip balm, candy, hair products/accessories, nail polish. It was always easier to find little cute things for my daughter than for my son - definitely lots of candy seemed to make its way in those stockings!

 

We have stockings and they are last minute fills. My husband tries to remember them as we go along, but I usually just end up hoping something we bought will fit into them.

I have three kids and Santa wraps their gifts in wrapping paper that is unique to Santa. (They are all the same paper. Santa buys the giant roll from Costco and it lasts *years*.) They are not tagged; they are put into piles and topped with a filled stocking -- that is how the kids know who the stack is for.

It sounds like you all have fun with your stockings -- I see them as kind of a chore. When the kids were younger, we could fill them with toys and candy from the dollar bins, but now they are mostly video games or movies.

I will say that we have mostly Santa presents here; we as parents give the the kids one large notable gift (so that when they are asked what they got, they say that) and anything else they get comes from Santa.

 

genius!

 

I grew up with gifts from Santa unwrapped so that's what we do for our kids now and I love it!

Our unique stocking stuffer is fruit. I grew up getting an apple, orange, banana, and grapefruit in my stocking. Now my kids get oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, and mangoes!

 

It's something my husband likes to do, and is normally last minute. The last two years I've slowly been making decorative stockings for putting small gifts into instead of the gift bags my husband has previously been using. Also got some for us this year too. The gifts will be small things like hankies, keyrings, bookmarks and mini note books (often decorated by hand), also citrus fruits and shelled nuts are traditional stocking fillers in the UK.

 

We do stockings every year and the kids expect certain candies in there - or it just isn't Christmas! I usually get them one little gift and my husband usually gets them a DVD (some old show or movie).

The most haves:
Nerds Rope (left these out one year and boy did I hear)
Chocolate Santa
Chocolate covered cherries (for DH)
Reese chocolate tree

I usually buy stuff for my own stocking because the family often didn't. Although this year, I hear there is a plan and my stocking may be overflowing.

Growing up, we always got an orange in the toe. We were talking about that and I think it was because fresh fruit was so rare during the winter in the frozen Midwest 50+ years ago. Now, with all the trucks, etc. it is more common.

We have cross-stitched stockings that I made over the years and this year I was asked if I would make one for our new DIL. Seems the son wants to keep his stocking here. Although, I did hear he is getting a 2nd one at his in-laws because the DIL's stocking is staying at her parents. And they will have a 3rd set at their house. Hmmm - a ploy to get more candy?

 

I do stockings for my grandkids, daughter and son-in-law. The kids get various small items that have evolved throughout the years. Daughter and son-in-law get scratchers (California lottery). This year I got brand new stockings - when I took out the old ones they were a bit scruffy and too babyish for my grandkids.

 

Candy ... PEZ, “gold” coins, big/thick candy cane, plus a few other boxes of candy from the Christmas candy aisle; gift card; ornament; then misc. other small stuff. This year the stockings are mostly candy b/c this elf was lazy, lol.

 

Traditionally from my childhood that I kept up on with my children, stockings are allowed to go in before parents are up.... a way to stay in bed later... tee hee. Fillers are always
Orange
Single serve box of cereal
Candy
Fun pair of socks or underwear