I have turned my mind to the issue of the kids’ stockings, and I guess Paul’s and mine too, but I feel like Paul and I could have some pretty sub-par pandemic stockings and not really worry about it, whereas more than one kid has commented in the past that they almost like the stockings better than the gifts.
Normally I shop for stockings bit by bit, when I’m out and about anyway. Maybe I’m shopping with my sisters-in-law after Christmas and find some good stocking stuffers on clearance and set them aside. Maybe I’m shopping with my mom at HomeGoods and we find some fun gadget or useful little item. Maybe I find some nail polish or earrings or socks and set them aside. And I fill my own stocking by seeing little things I want while out shopping, and thinking “Yes, but do I really NEED that?,” and then thinking “OH I can get it for my STOCKING!”—and then tucking those things aside in a bag in the closet, without looking into the bag as I add each new thing—so that things I bought earlier in the year are genuine surprises. Then, closer to Christmas, I buy a whole bunch of candy and snacky things to fill in the gaps, plus useful supplies they need anyway (socks, hair elastics, new toothbrush, anything anyone puts on the shopping list during December), plus little bottles of interesting boozes for the grown-ups.
But this year I am not shopping as I normally would. I do have a few things I bought on clearance back before the pandemic started. But everything else feels WAY more difficult, because I have to THINK OF the thing and go looking for it online, rather than letting the ITEMS find ME. And I haven’t been finding things on clearance all year, as I normally would have. And searching “stocking stuffers” brings up a lot of stuff in the $20+ category which…is not how we do stockings. And I think this is going to end up meaning that this year’s stockings will be heavier on candy/snacks, lighter on everything else.
Here’s what I’ve been finding online, in addition to what I’m already considering from the post about Paul’s sister’s stocking box:
(image from Target.com)
(or if you need more, there’s a 28-pack box). It’s rare to find something packaged with the same number of items as I have children! I bought two 5-count boxes, because the kids all like fruit snacks; if I’d seen the 28-count box, I probably would have ordered that instead BUT OH WELL. [These have arrived, and it is only 1/2 ounce per fruit-snack packet, so now I definitely wish I’d ordered the 28-count. I might order those TOO.]
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
Duke Cannon soap for Paul:
(image from Target.com)
These giant bars are his favorite soap. They also have Big Ass Lump of Coal and Frothy the Beerman.
(image from Target.com)
I panicked and bought five of these, then realized I could have bought a 32-count box of minis for much less money per ounce.
Razors for the college boys: disposables for Rob and refills for William.
(image from Target.com)
Shaving cream for the college boys:
(image from Target.com)
New hair brushes for Henry and Rob, because theirs are gross:
(image from Target.com)
Hair elastics for Rob, Elizabeth, Henry, and me:
(image from Target.com)
Scrunchies for Elizabeth:
(image from Target.com)
If you have a number of people who would enjoy scrunchies, may I recommend this bizarrely inexpensive set of 40, which sells in the $8-10ish range?
(image from Amazon.com)
Elizabeth wanted to buy them with her own money a year or two ago, and I was all, “Oh, honey, at that price those are not going to be any good”—and I was completely wrong, and Amazon tells me I have bought them FIVE TIMES now (they’re great to donate for fundraisers/auctions).
Similarly, this surprisingly inexpensive set of pom-poms to clip onto backpacks:
(image from Amazon.com)
You can put some in each stocking and let people trade colors.
I thought Elizabeth might like to try this hair-drying tee that may be no better than the actual t-shirts she’s been using:
(image from Amazon.com)
These dumb over-priced M&Ms tubes I buy anyway because the kids inexplicably love them, and now it’s been so many years it’s become Tradition:
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
My favorite kind of Junior Mints, I buy a dozen boxes each Christmas just for me:
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
Socks (last year Rob commented, “I can tell I’m getting to the boring grown-up stage of life, because I am genuinely glad to see these!”)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Amazon.com)
Gum:
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
This hand soap for Paul, who loves lemony stuff:
(image from Target.com)
Ticonderoga pencils (thanks Alyson for the reminder!): black for Rob and William, metallic for Elizabeth and Edward and Henry, and NOIR HOLOGRAPHIC for Paul.
(image from Amazon.com)
A metal 2-tablespoon measuring spoon for Paul, who every morning uses the 1-tablespoon measure twice for peanut butter and has already broken two plastic tablespoon handles:
(image from Amazon.com)
Bonds of London Pear Drops. I don’t know who was eating these online but SOMEONE was, and I wanted to try them, so I ordered a bag for my stocking. I am appalled to see that “pear drops” (I love pear-flavored things) are apparently also BANANA-flavored (I am…not fond of banana-flavored things), which I didn’t notice until after I ordered. I also bought the sherbet lemons for Paul, so perhaps I will just…switch bags.
(image from Amazon.com)
According to Amazon, I have bought these Kikkerland pens 15 times, and that doesn’t even tell you how many packs I bought each time. They are my favorites and my sister-in-law’s favorites, so I buy some for our stockings each year when they’re in the $6-7ish range.
(image from Amazon.com)
I don’t know where all the gloves go, so I buy inexpensive ones for the stockings every year (or, better yet, the year before on clearance).
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
And Paul’s sister had these fingerless gloves on her wish list:
(image from Amazon.com)
These paper glasses are so odd, and I don’t know how they work, but this is our third Christmas playing with them and the kids exclaimed upon seeing them come out of a box. They turn lights into pictures, I don’t know how. So if you wear the “snowman” pair, and you look at Christmas lights, you will see a little snowman in place of each Christmas light. And if you look out the window and a car is driving by, you will see snowmen where the headlights are. It is BIZARRE, and well worth the price.
(image from Amazon.com)
Glitter Decorate-a-Christmas-Tree mini Dover book (kids are too old for it; this is for me):
(image from Amazon.com)
Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies:
(image from Target.com)
I had some of these leftover from doing care packages for grown-ups, and I put them into the kids’ stockings. Henry surprised me by REMEMBERING them the next Christmas, mentioning in December that he hoped there would be Chessman cookies in the stockings again. They ARE yummier than one would expect. And there’s also Milano snack-packs, if you prefer a little chocolate.
(image from Target.com)
I’ve been getting these for stockings since Rob was a toddler. I like to get the big pack so I have enough for my niece and nephew and for at least some of the grown-ups, but if you don’t need as many they’re also sold in a 6-pack. And there are pretzel-and-cheese-dip, breadstick-and-cheese-dip, and crackers-and-cheese-dip versions, if you prefer savory: sometimes stockings get kind of overfull of sweet.
Speaking of which: Pringles.
(image from Target.com)
And Chex Mix.
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
Caramel Cashew is a favorite, but they also have Monster, Peanut Butter Monster, Cashew Cranberry Almond, Omega 3 Walnut, and Simply Trail.
If you know someone doing keto and you don’t mind spending more money than you’d expect, there are some pretty yummy Quest bars and cookies and snack-size bags of chips sold individually for about $2 each (I KNOW) at my grocery store. My own favorites are the chocolate-chip cookie dough bar, the double chocolate cookie, and the nacho tortilla chips. The past couple of years, Target has had some seasonally-flavored Quest items in the stocking-stuffer section: a peppermint-bark flavored Quest bar, a snickerdoodle/gingerbread flavored Quest cookie, things like that; I’m not seeing those on the site, but they might have them in the store. I’m getting these Quest Peanut Butter Cups for my own stocking, because I have been longing to try them and they’ve only just become available for shipping:
(image from Target.com)
(I will of course be eating ABSOLUTELY NOT KETO AT ALL for Christmas, but it’s nice to have a “fun” “treat” to look forward to in the sad aftermath.)
Paul likes the O’Keeffe’s brand, so I usually get him hand cream (Target) (Amazon) and/or lip balm (Target) (Amazon) for his stocking.
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from Amazon.com)
And you could get the nice foot cream (Target) (Amazon) Nicole recommends, for your own stocking. (I want to try the Night Treatment.)
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from Target.com)
I got a couple packs of these holiday Chapsticks last year and distributed them among the stockings.
(image from Target.com)
And I got myself an adorably wee little mini-Vaseline in creme brulee flavor, which I can still find at my grocery store but I’m having trouble finding online. Here it is in a 3-pack of flavors from Amazon. Or there’s a cocoa-butter two-pack or single. Or a rosy-lips single or two-pack.
(image from Target.com)
Mini staplers are the kind of thing I prefer to get on clearance:
(image from Target.com)
Fundraising/political t-shirts. These are on one hand WAY too expensive for stockings. But what happens is that the kid feels neutrally-positive about having the shirt (not strongly enough to put it on their wish list, but generally positive toward the organization/politician), and I feel high-positive about supporting the organization/politician, so I buy the shirts (or get them free with a donation), and I will put the shirt in someone’s stocking. Or one year, ACLU had their basic tee for $10, so I bought one for each of the three kids who were mildly interested in having one. It isn’t so much a stocking gift as something I would have bought them anyway if they’d wanted it, and it takes up a nice amount of space in the stocking.
(image from HRC.org)
You definitely approach stockings the way we do.
My son always gets a small puzzle – like the kind made of twisty metal that you have to figure out how to get apart into 2 pieces, or a mini rubiks cube, not the kind made of many pieces you fit together to make a picture. My daughter always gets lip balm. They both always get candy. I’m still looking around for other small items – no toothbrushes this year because we got them electric toothbrushes and the boxes won’t fit in the stockings, but I did nab a couple of small shower gels from The Body Shop in scents I think they’ll like. They wanted bath bombs 2 years ago, but there is still one left from my daughter’s package of 4 so clearly she can’t be that keen.
Thanks for the reminder: my daughter wanted mini hair clips and I’d kind of forgotten!
Oooh the Santa bubble tape would be great for my daughter’s stocking!
Oh my gosh, I virtually ran to amazon to get those scrunchies! Youngest hasn’t had a haircut since February and already had long hair, but gets tired of boring old hair elastics, she’s going to love these!
One year growing up during a particularly sad Christmas (a grandparent just went into hospice, where we spent Christmas Eve), my mother did something that brought much joy to the household. She took more expensive gifts and added them to the stockings: jewelry for the girls, designer sunglasses for the boys. It was such a delightful surprise to find a “big” gift in a stocking where we were otherwise accustomed to seeing little gifts. Also, we sometimes do underwear in ours, if that is something that your children would not find embarrassing. We do ones with fun prints.
My house loves the stockings as much as the presents and YES- it is hard this year. I made one lucky trip out a month ago and gave myself permission to grab absolutely everything I could think of for either diy advent calendar or stocking. It was an early Christmas miracle because now I would NEVER go browse at the same store in the midst of all this community covid. I have had good luck in the seasonal section of the grocery store as well. Mostly it is the permission granting part that is helpful. Stockings don’t have to be overthought (although I usually do) or difficult, just when in doubt, grab it instead of not grabbing it. Particularly seasonal or novelty stuff. This is how we are drinking sprite cranberry now because I saw it Nov 1st and bought two. I have not seen it since.
Some good ideas here! If you’re near a Trader Joe’s, I think the Hot Chocolate Sticks would be fun in a stocking.
TJs has the best holiday stuff!! I had a great trip there early LAST December… which appears even more rosy in the rearview, when I was happy to drive 20 min to the next town to shop at a fun grocery store. Sigh. Not happening this year.
We do stocking the same way!!
As some commenter above said, we do occasionally slip a small high-value item into stocking, just to add to the mystery/surprise.
In these times, I’ve found myself browsing the clearance/sale sections of the websites I’m already ordering from. I sort by price (low to high) and usually stop scrolling around the $10 mark (depending on the site!) I’ve found that most places I’m ordering from (including Target) has clearance sections and a lot of them have things I never knew they carried! It’s a bit like looking at all the “junk” near the registers at in-person stores. I don’t’ always buy something, but more than once it has helped me get to the free-shipping threshold.
I felt SO pleased when I either came up with or came across these stocking ideas:
– masks
– fun socks
– CHOPSTICKS (I feel SO BRILLIANT)
– fidget cubes
We’ve never done stockings before but may start now after seeing some great suggestions – on my list is some new bamboo toothbrushes for the kids!
I hit the jackpot for stocking stuffers/small gifts at Trader Joe’s yesterday. I had only been one other time since the pandemic, and they had so much new/holiday/gifty stuff. Not only food and treats and snacks but personal care items and strangely, a beautiful olive wood cutting board. I feel like I did most of my shopping in that one trip (but we don’t buy much or for many). Anyway, get to Trader Joe’s!
Rob is totally right about socks becoming exciting when you become a grownup. Also, Ticonderoga pencils are TEH BEST. I learned this from hubby when he was in grad school and doing a lot of math longhand. I got some for my kindergartener this year, so naturally for her stocking I got eraser toppers.
I have one recommendation: oranges! You must have an orange in the toe. Very satisfying to drop into the stocking. But not just any orange. If you can get your hands on Satsuma mandarins, those are sooo good, but hard to find. I recently got Honey Drop mandarins and those are almost as good.
I did (actually, am doing; due to shipping delays, they are in two parts) advent calendar boxes for a couple of people this year because 1. it is really fun and 2. their situations SUCK in a way that is not financial.
Anyway! Categories of cheap items for Advent Calendars, some of which might overlap with stockings and might spark things to look for. (I did some of my selection process by going to our online grocery ordering website, going to categories, and sorting by price low-to-high; strongly recommend this. Collect whatever looks at all promising/entertaining, and then after you have collected a bunch of things, thin your cart to the best of the herd)
1. fun office supplies (interestingly-shaped paperclips! colorful binder clips! star stickers! post-its! tiny notebooks! and I personally adore RSVP pens, so those went in)
2. yep, socks (either extra-cushy or funny), gloves, hats (also consider earrings or enamel pins and other Style Accessories?)
3. consumable bath/body products (sugar scrubs, bath bombs, lotions, lip balm, peel-off masks, nail polish, nail polish accessories, etc.)
4. semi-durable bath/body products (hair ties, loofahs, nail buffing blocks, cushy washcloths; this is presumably also where toothbrushes would go)
5. toys; fiddly toys or nostalgic toys (silly putty! slinky!) or just highly-entertaining things.
6. used books or DVDs (often available <$4 online); nostalgic favorites that are not currently available for free streaming are good on DVDs, whereas used books could be from recommendations-for-this-gender-or-age-group-or-category-of-person (there are lists online), or another book from an author they've liked, or a childhood book that was lost, or a book you liked that you think they might like. (Comic books might also be worth considering here?)
7. yes, 100%, snacks. Pocky! Gummi bears! Funky-flavor potato chips! Seaweed snacks! Luxe granola bars! Freeze-dried fruit! (I navigated to the International Foods section and three of the snack sections and sorted by price to find good candidates – either because they are interesting or because they are specific favorites of either the recipient or they are specific favorites of mine but maybe the recipient hasn't tried them yet) Also tea/coffee/hot chocolate/other-beverages-including-alcohol-if-age-appropriate, and nuts/dried fruit/jerky/slim-jim-like things.
8. experiences or interactive things. One of the "presents" in my weirdo advent calendar is a set of 5 sheets of tissue paper carefully pre-folded to make perfect six-pointed snowflakes when snipped with scissors (fold the sheet in half, fold in thirds veeeery carefully, fold in half again, and then trim down until there are no places where one of the layers of tissue paper is "missing" from the form). Stickers, books of crossword puzzles or sudoku or whatever, Dover activity books, coloring books or pages, "make your own" kits, "decorate your own" kits, jigsaw puzzles.
9. Household items. Candles! Hot pads! Kitchen towels! New spatulas! Novelty throw cushion cover! Soap dish! Pillowcase! Twinkle lights (either USB or plug-in or battery-operated)! Tea caddies, salt boxes, infusion metal ball thingies, fancy spoons, kitchen shears, knives, fridge magnets…
10. Something I did *not* do for this, but thought of mid-project and would like to do sometime, is fill a mini photo album with actual printed-out photos of fun/good photos of the recipient. (particularly, I'd like to get the whole friend group to send in a couple of photos of them-with-recipient or photos they have with the recipient, which would then be printed out and slid into one of those $1 photo-holder books, bonus points if I can get them to write a note that's the same size as a photo that would slide into the opposite page from the photo…)
11. note cards, and, if your budget springs for it (mine didn't), really fun stamps. (there are Sesame Street stamps available now at the USPS store, and also State Fair stamps!) Fun wrapping supplies (printed/fun-color tissue paper, ribbon); nice tape.
12. Craft/hobby enabling. A needle-minder for an embroidery person; project temporary storage bags for almost anyone; yarn of the brand they like/use for a knitter/crocheter; golf balls; you get the picture. It is probably good to ask the advice of someone who also does that craft/hobby, though, if you do not, so that you get something they'll be more likely to use.
13. Ingredients/foods that don't quite fall under snacks. Weird spice mixes; alphabet pasta; novelty pasta; your favorite brand of spaghetti sauce or hot sauce or salsa; jam; nut butters; fancy chocolate chips; interesting sugars or salts; pudding mix; imported cup-noodle or ramen. Maple syrup is spendy, but good.
14. If they have a pet, stuff for their pet – toys, treats, collar/accessories.
15. Ornaments, if they are at the "collecting their own ornaments" stage of life.
16. This year only (we hope), toilet paper; hand sanitizer; face mask; clorox wipes.
17. Things you have handmade if you do that sort of thing and have a "homeless items" box like I do.
We also keep a Things To Pass Along gift storage area; really nice candles/soaps/etc. that I am allergic to; high-quality socks that are one size too small for me; decor items that are nice but that we have no room for or that are really not our style but do match one of our friends' styles; craft materials that are for a craft I will Not Be Doing Thank You but I know someone who does; duplicate books that are good books; this sort of thing. It is important to keep track of where they came from so that you do not give it back to the same person or within the same friend group, but post-it notes work for that if your memory is not up for it.
Anyway. This is my master list of Item Categories, some of which would cross over into stocking stuffers? If anyone has additional categories, I would be ALL EARS because this is fascinating to me. :-)
This is masterful, KC!
Thank you so much! When I posted it and realized what a giant wall of text it was, I had Regrets… but if you enjoyed it, then it is worth it!
I AM SO GLAD YOU DID
First, love all the ideas, thanks so much.
Second, how big are your stockings? Or do you put things around/under them?
I too wondered this.
Also wondering! Happy to hear how big other commenters’ stockings are as well or how they do stocking gifts that don’t fit in the actual stocking?
When I was a kid, my mother got frustrated trying to fit coloring books into stockings, and from then on, we got “goodie boxes” instead. Much more flexible! Our stockings were still hung up, but she could find a box of any size she wanted.
When I was a kid we had stockings my mother had made each of us out of felt and only got things that fit in the stocking and didn’t feel that this was anything other than a bountiful situation. But now that I’m an adult and my mother has grandchildren she’s handmade a stocking for each kid but pinned these and our original stockings onto huge commercial stockings and fills those.
They are large and stretchy, but also, some years I have to do Supplemental Target Bags. But also-also: I don’t buy ALL this stuff every year! This is just the Ideas List.
I have a bag of Bond’s Pear Drops in my purse right now. They are not at all banana flavored. I didn’t even realize until you said so that they were supposed to be, and I have eaten most of the bag.
Also, I highly recommend treating yourself or Paul to Bombas socks. They are expensive enough that you wince at buying them for yourself, but once you own some you want to wear them every time they’re clean.
I AM VERY RELIEVED TO HEAR THAT. Perhaps it is just an error with the listing.
I’ve eaten many a pear drop and they do not taste of banana at all! Just very pear-y and if you eat too many it still strip the lining off the roof of your mouth but I keep eating them anyway
I am very amused by Rob’s comment about socks, which is nice because Rob stories so often leave me irritated with him.
I assume my irritation is because you describe the interactions so well. Often when my friends complain about something their kids did, I want to leap to the kids’ defense (I don’t! I would never!), but with your stories, I think “Oooh, I would HATE that!”
We don’t do stockings, so I am basking in the magic without needing to make notes. Fun!
I love to put card games in the kids’ stockings. Small unique ones like Quixx, Sushi Go, Monopoly Deal, Phase 10, 5 Crowns… those are some of our faves and I can usually find new ones each year. They’d be located online pretty easily.
Great list. I was thinking the same thing about stockings – that they are going to be kind of sad this year because I haven’t been going into any stores or thrift shopping. I have a couple of candy things from the Walmart grocery pickup, but that’s not going to be very exciting. :/
Thank you!! I just added a bunch of things (hair elastics!!) to the stocking list. If anyone else is looking for inspiration, I’m also doing water bottles for each kid, sharpies, paints, and slime for 10-13 yo kids.
Oh and phone chargers because we’re already on our THIRD set (what are they doing to them?). I bought two three packs, which is ridiculous, but they were the same price as a single charger.
Inspired by you, I also just added a note to buy them all the school snack stuff they beg for, but I never buy because I’m a Grinch for their stockings.
I love the ideas from everyone!
Those Junior Mints are seriously the highlight of the holiday season for me. I start looking for them as soon as Christmas decorations appear in the stores.
THERE ARE PEPPERMINT CRUNCH JUNIOR MINTS WHAT
I don’t think you can get those here. OMG! That sounds like an actual dream. Mint chocolate forever!!! I never think of practical things for stockings, but it’s such a great idea. Between you and Suzanne, I’m inspired to up my stocking game.
When Swistle posted that there were mint truffle Hershey’s Kisses I tracked them down on Amazon in Canada and paid probably three times what they’d go for in stores in the US, that’s how much I wanted them! As far as I could tell they don’t sell them up here otherwise. True story: I didn’t get any serious pregnancy cravings, but I certainly developed an enhanced appreciation for chocolate mint!
These are great options!
My stocking buying is governed by: a) price, b) limiting levels of disposable plastic that are just going to leave me feeling queasy and sad on Christmas Day and c) useability.
Google tells me Lush is a thing in the States? Admittedly my daughter is five, but I got her a Lush bath bomb for her birthday and she basically lost her mind, so I’ve gotten another one for her stocking. Plastic free! And not just for kids, I’d love it if someone got me one, whereas if someone buys me another tub of body butter… ***brain explodes at the idea that I have time for regular lotion slathering***
My husband is American and we live in the UK so I always get him peanut butter cups, junior mints etc. Snyder’s pretzels, jerky. But his stocking does always end up very food heavy and unbalanced, I could use some new ideas.
My 7yo daughter and 3yo son both LOVE bath bombs of any kind.
My mother just sent my 9-year-old son a glowing bath bomb. Once it dissolves under water, there’s a little electrical gadget that lights the whole bathtub green. He lost his MIND.
If anyone is near a Five Below store, I think it is the mother load of stocking stuffer shopping. I went a few weeks ago and was able to get unique candy, food, gadgets, bath accessories, etc. Enough stuff that was kinda special so that I could just fill in the rest with stuff from online shopping. Also, only self check out which I prefer over others touching my stuff. Love everyone’s suggestions.
Thank you! You reminded me to get both gum and tic tacs! We are right there with you on the M&Ms minis. Both my boys love those, and they are tradition. I tried to get the bubble tape in my WM order this week, and they were out. I’ll try again on that one.
Thanks for the ideas! I immediately ordered the cute hot chocolates, duke cannon soap, and tic tacs for stocking stuffers (along with a few other things), and the junior mints for myself. :) Also, I left them sitting in the Target bag in my car for a couple days, so I just had a couple nice chilled junior mints for breakfast. My only disappointment is that they’re a bit smushed, but they still taste delicious!
This list just keeps on giving: I’ve now gotten my hands on stocking gum and tic tacs, and I just bought a set of 2 coffee scoops like the one you posted, but one is 1 tbsp and the other is 2 tbsp since I like to mix half regular coffee, half decaf.
You: “It’s not often I find something with the same number of things as I have children” Me, a simpleton: – “SHE HAS 28 CHILDREN?? … oh.”
I love that you, like us, do some things that are too expensive and don’t make any damned sense but are just tradition.
I am going to try the pens because I once had the perfect kind of pen for me and somehow I lost track of what it was and am eternally in search of another one.
I am bitter that the 3d paper glasses are way too expensive in Canada.
My mother made my kids GIANT stockings when they were babies, and they also love the stockings just as much if not more than the bigger presents, so I am always appreciative of idea on how to fill them.