Commenter Angela asked:
Sometime can you do a joint what-to-buy-for-your-own-stocking post where everyone chimes in the comments? I would love to hear what other people do when they buy for their own stocking.
And I saw her comment and IMMEDIATELY cut-and-pasted it into a new post so I wouldn’t forget.
I will go first and tell you what I do. FIRST! I set up a non-see-through bag in a place (like a closet) where I can put the things that I buy for my own stocking throughout the year. The idea is that once I put them in that bag, I won’t SEE them again until Christmas, so I WILL be surprised by at least SOME of the things. This works best in years when we do not have a CONTINUING PANDEMIC and so I am shopping in stores regularly, and so some of the things I buy for my stocking might have been purchased 11 or 10 or 9 or 8 or whatever months ago and I have GENUINELY forgotten about them.
SECOND! My general CONCEPT is that whenever I am out shopping, and I see something relatively inexpensive that immediately appeals to me but I think “Oh, I shouldn’t”/”Oh, I don’t really NEED that”/etc., I NEXT think “STOCKING!!” and then I buy it and I put it in the Stocking Bag.
This can include ALL SORTS OF THINGS. Nearer to Christmas, maybe I see some cute shortbread cookies! Or some interesting candies! Or some expensive keto treat! Or any OTHER treat I want to try! Or things you would have bought for yourself ANYWAY, but the fun is having to wait for it! Buy it, and pop it into the stocking bag!
Further from Christmas, anything non-edible/non-perishable might be added to the bag. Pretty gift-tags on clearance in January! Cute notecards in February! I’m already bored with this pattern and am going to stop doing it by month! Conditioning hand masks! Interesting tea flavor! Fun lip balms! Pretty fridge magnets! Sweet notepad! Cute traveling pill case! Pretty earrings! Nail polish/stickers! Hair thingies! Things I wish to buy at craft/charity fairs! Just, throughout the year, anything you see where your heart reaches out for something and your mind says no—let another part of your mind say “But: stockings! It’s perfect for your STOCKING!” and buy it!
I am not saying spend a million dollars, or buy ALL the things I am about to mention—but I AM saying spend as if you were making a stocking for someone you loved. How much do you spend on your child’s/spouse’s/partner’s stocking? Spend at LEAST that much on your own. I add a fairly hefty “having to buy my own” tax on top of that, because it really isn’t right to have to fill our own stockings and we all know it—including the person who ought to be handling our stocking. Think of how much it would cost them to pay someone else to make a stocking for you; that’s how much you should spend on your own stocking.
So that is the GIST. And I find that once I get into it, I think of SO MANY GOOD THINGS. Today at the grocery store I remembered I usually I buy one of those bottled/canned coffee drinks, the ones that are $2-4 each. Sometimes I buy an individual can of an interesting-looking energy drink. This year I have already bought an oversized bottle of beer. (A post for another time: Swistle has discovered that she DOESN’T dislike beer, as she previously assumed; she only dislikes IPAs. She is VERY KEEN ON coffee stouts/porters, and is planning to venture out into NON-coffee stouts/porters to see if it’s the coffee part she likes, or the stout/porter.) Last year I bought the foot cream recommended by Nicole (HI NICOLE!), which I kept meaning to try and then kept not buying. (“Things you keep meaning to try but then keep not buying” is a FABULOUS category for stockings. A facial mist, perhaps? One of my friends highly recommends the Olly sleep gummies; that’s the sort of thing that if you were thinking “I don’t know…should I try them?” would be PERFECT for a stocking. Or perhaps the ones to make us EVEN MORE RADIANT AND EVEN MORE LOVELY??)
I almost always buy myself some socks. I’ll see a pair at TJMaxx/Marshalls, wool-blend and a pretty color, and into my cart they go. Or I’ll be shopping a good pre-Christmas Old Navy / Gap sale, and there will be some really nice cozy-looking socks, and I’ll think “I don’t really NEED any more socks…” and then I’ll think “STOCKING.” I also like the Goodfellow men’s boot/crew socks (I wear a women’s 10-11, so women’s socks are sometimes too snug), and just bought myself these cute stripey ones on sale.
Lip balms, especially fun ones! Face lotions! Hand creams, maybe a special one that comes in a smallish tube for the same price as a large bottle! A nicer conditioner/soap than I’d usually buy! A nice-smelling hand sanitizer, or an interesting one that claims to moisturize! Face masks, the rejuvenating/moisturizing kind but also the pandemic kind! Hand/foot treatments! A bunch of fun samples! Laptop/bumper stickers! Wee teensy pots of jam! New pens/pencils! One year I bought myself a reproduction jade salt shaker for something like $3.99 at HomeGoods, and I keep it on my desk. One year a toothpaste company put out toothpastes in odd flavors, and I bought a mini tube of each. This year Elizabeth has misplaced one earring each from two pairs of earrings I really like (I like the circles and the dark flowers; the others, I don’t really Get), so when I saw this morning that they were on sale, I re-bought them and I will put them in my stocking.
I take a few days off at Christmas, but I love keto treats, and they tend to be expensive, so I generally buy some for my stocking: some years Quest has put out seasonal versions of their bars/cookies (a peppermint-bark bar; a snickerdoodle cookie), and I love that. Or I’ll buy my favorite keto peanut butter cups or my favorite keto alllllmost-kind-of-a-Snickers bars. It’s nice to have them to look forward to in the days when the treats and festivities are over and it’s back to the usual.
I often get ideas while shopping for other people. One year my sister-in-law asked for facial mists, and I bought a couple for myself as well. There are two people dear to me who have birthdays in December, and it’s not uncommon for me to say “Oh! THIS is cute! One for them, and one for me!” Or I’ll see something that would make a great stocking stuffer for several people in my life, and I’ll get one for myself as well. Or an online order will come with a free sample, and I’ll put that in my stocking.
Okay! Now all the rest of you who shop for your own stockings (this is such a sad/happy club to belong to—but so much better not to be in it alone), please add your ideas!
I love this topic. And your writing, as always.
I also buy myself cute little earrings each year. Nice pens or a small notebook. A cute dish towel I wojsojt otherwise buy. Maybe small kitchen utensils like a nice mini rubber spatula or tongs. World Market has some fun and cute ones. Yummy teas or hot chocolates that some in singles. Definitely always my fave candies. Reese’s Christmas trees and York trees or whatever else I can find that’s festive.
I don’t buy stocking stuff all year but I do definitely find several things in November and December and say, “yay, stocking!” just like this.
Goodness, that typo. *Wouldn’t otherwise buy. Ahem.
Only in the past five years or so has it occurred to The Husband that he should be handling my stocking. I wish I had thought of this idea of filling my own stocking for all those previous years, particularly when Man-Child was small and always wondered why Santa forgot me! The idea is brilliant.
Now, I will admit I do purchase a few things for me when shopping for presents for the family.
I am tasked with all of the gift buying. If not, there would be no gifts. So, I am also tasked with filling my own stocking. Here are a few I have stashed away for myself:
Lottery tickets
A pretty phone case
Headphones (mine always get ‘borrowed’)
A cute ‘inside your purse’ bag
Adorable cord organizers
My family stopped doing stockings sometime in the last few years, but here are some things I liked when we did do stockings:
*Makeup – sometimes products I already liked and used; sometimes something new.
*Hair thingies – I have very long hair and am constantly losing all my hair ties/clips/etc.
*Socks – I’m a fan of Blue Q for funny and/or sometimes slightly profane slogans. (I have a pair that says “More feminism, less bullshit.”)
*Miscellaneous inexpensive jewelry
*Coffee mugs – Depending on the size of your stocking compared to the size of the mug, this might be more of an under-the-tree type of gift, but smaller mugs usually fit pretty nicely.
*Shot glasses – I collect them.
*Underwear – This may not be an option depending on who you’ll be opening it in front of, but always nice to have a few new pairs.
Also, in regards to beer: I also thought I didn’t like it, but then I went on a vacation in which I stayed a block or two away from a brewery that had at least a hundred different kinds, and I realized that I had just never had good beer. Now I love it – but I am also not usually a fan of IPAs. (My absolute favorite is Innis & Gunn, specifically the barrel-aged kind that comes in a red bottle or can. It’s a bit hard to find in the US, but big liquor stores like Total Wine and BevMo sometimes have it.)
Thank you, I had never heard of blue q but those socks are amazing! I bought my 14-year-old socks that she will love, but that will definitely have me judged by other parents – “Fuck off, I’m reading” was just too perfect to pass up.
Also in the spirit of this post I did by 2 pair of socks for my own stocking: “bitches get stuff done” and “bitch I am relaxed”
This makes me think of the SNL skit last year (or I saw it last year) where mom got a robe. And the children/husband each list off things they got FOR DAYS. I walk around saying “and I got a robe” to totally guilt everyone living in my house. I”m fun. (I AM fun, but am also always told “you’re such a great gift giver and SO HARD to buy for.” and smoke, ears.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOVCtUdaMCU
I’ve gotten the husband to do the stockings (mostly) and it still makes me INSANE because he’ll buy stuff that’s pricey, or just to have something to put in there (for both me and the children, stockings are for weird british/european/whatever candy, candy you love, a coloring book, some not fancy art supplies to occupy one until big gift time not things that are small and cost a fortune or things no one WANTS but take up space). Now I kind of want to reclaim my own stocking and Swistle it.
Oh, and I don’t really drink anymore, but when I did, stouts and porters are lovely. Youngs double chocolate stout – YUM. Guinness is pretty good.
IPAs are hoppy and you’ve gotta like bitter. Lindeman’s Lambics are also really good. they’re the fruity and taste like fruity beer should.
I love this idea! My husband would be offended if I even suggested that maybe I was less than thrilled with my (lack of) stocking gifts, so I might just buy myself a few and set them aside and know they’re there, even if I don’t put then in my stocking.
I got my kids each a stuffed Ty Beanie Boo, they’re only a few bucks each (and free shipping!), I got myself a stuffed owl as well. I also have a few bumper stickers/car magnets on my list that I might just get myself (the Nevertheless she Persisted car magnet!!)
I also love cute seasonal lip gloss and nail polish, fuzzy socks and chocolates.
I love this list Swistle, thanks for all the ideas!
I’m offended that your husband doesn’t get you stocking presents .
Well, for sure Santa brings you everything you would enjoy, but honestly, he will need to make a second trip back to the North Pole for the rest of the gifts! Oh well…
Target had 30% off beauty gift sets this weekend so I got myself a small assortment of facial treatments. Last year I got myself a cute little phone charger. My work is remote and I rarely write things down anymore, but if I did I would probably get notebooks and pens and things like that.
Dark chocolate. Pretty soaps. Socks and underwear. Lip balm. An extra charger. A tiny bottle of really good maple syrup (I’m the only one in the family who likes it)
Fancy hand lotion is totally something I get for my stocking! This year I did fun seasonal nail polish and moisturizing hand masks and fun fancy candy. As with the candy and hand masks: if it’s something I see and know another stocking recipient would like, and it also happens to be something I would like, I get an extra for me.
Santa always brings a new Christmas movie or book for our family; that goes in my stocking every year. Likewise, my husband gets the new game for the family in his stocking. I also get myself the chocolate orange, fun lip balms, fancy hand cream, my favorite chocolates, etc. I also have a hand-built dollhouse that my father built when I was 10. Every year I get something for the dollhouse. He also built one for my daughter and she gets things for it every Christmas and birthday. But she doesn’t really know about that yet- she is only 4 and that stuff is delicate and expensive!
In reading your posts I’ve realized I don’t really put much in my own stocking and I’ve resolved to do more for myself this year!!!
I was inspired to shop for my own stocking this year as well! I bought a cookie scoop because I have wanted one for YEARS but could never justify getting one when I only make cookies 1 – 2 times a year. And I’m thinking about getting a few cute coasters for my WFH setup. I almost bought a cute set of wineglasses from Anthro; I DID buy a set up half-size tumblers for milk, OJ and whatever else that doesn’t need a full 16-oz water glass. I’m even more excited now to take my day off tomorrow to shop for gifts — might just pick up a few extra things for my stocking!
OMG a cookie scoop!!! I have the same justification for not buying one though I’ve wanted one for years. STOCKING!
Cookie scoop!! YYESSSSSSSS!!!!!
Ah!! Thank you for posting this so quickly! I am loving all of these ideas already. I have, upon your suggestion, filled my own stocking for the past two years. I get myself a few fancy nailpolishes, small new art supplies (brushes- the kids always steal/destroy mine!) inking pens, fun eraser, those lipstick sample sets that have like 6 mini lipsticks (though with all the mask wearing, I don’t know if I will this year) some sees candies, and some fun planner stickers.
Our stockings are usually pretty formulaic—some British candy that’s harder to obtain now that we’re in the US so it feels like more of a treat, a pair of fun socks or similar item, very rich/think hand lotion, chapstick, a piece of inexpensive jewelry, and maybe a gift card to a local coffee shop. Even though it’s pretty much always the same, it’s somehow more fun to open than almost any other present!
I’m also curious to hear people’s ideas/traditions for making Christmastime feel more special/festive/Christmassy. I’ve felt so blah this past year that I’d really like to lean into the holiday joy by doing something holiday-y every day (or so—we’ll see how I do). Does anyone have ideas outside of the typical watch movies/listen to music/bake and eat and drink festive things that I’ve been able to come up with so far?
Oh! Also meant to add that I see a lot of overlap between these lists and the items in the care packages that Swistle puts together, so those posts could also be a good place to look for ideas!!
I lean a little towards the grinchest side when it comes to Christmas (especially Christmas gifts), but here a couple things that work for me:
1) I have a beautiful nearby winter nature place we go every Christmas Eve. It takes no prep from me aside from getting everyone dressed and in the car – and this is California, so its not special amounts of dressed. If I’ve baked cookies, this is a great time for eating cookies though.
2) We do Christmas light drives. Again, no prep from me. People who decorate their houses really do such a public service for tired moms with little kids.
3) I buy my kids cardboard playhouses at Michaels plus a new pack of markers. This started as a last minute evening out gift because I was worried one kid had more than the other, but then it turned out to be the gift both of them liked best. With one for each kid, you get a cute little Christmas village. Some effort from me, but still pretty easy.
re: 2), see if the local paper curates a list of the best light displays. My city calls it the “tacky light tour” and there are usually 5-6 different route options for different areas of the city/suburbs. Last year they even had a downloadable google map route so you could plug-and-play with turn by turn directions!
This reminds me one year, we had a contest with friends to see who could find the best decorated house for Christmas. We then got together and drove around and looked at them together drinking hot chocolate. At one house, they had just turned their lights off, and nicely turned them on when we asked. It was really fun, cheap, and easily adaptable (although ideally requires a vehicle big enough or cool houses in walking distance).
Make paper snowflakes? Potato-stamp your own wrapping paper? Take hot cocoa somewhere? Some sort of festive volunteering/giving? Learn the extra verses to one Christmas song per week? (or learn how to play a Christmas song on an available instrument, whether or not it’s appropriate and whether or not you can actually play the instrument in question “properly”)
Decorations also sometimes do a lot.
And other times it is okay to have the blahs for a season.
We do advent calendars, hang lights outside on our eaves and trees, listen to Christmas music, plan holiday menus, and buy gifts and stocking stuffers. We’ll check out holiday lights at some point, no doubt. Last year I bought 3 new Janet Hill art prints that were Christmas themed and put them in inexpensive frames and now I swap them in for other art on my art ledge, and I’d like to do more actual decorating in the house. Christmas cards are put on the mantle as they come in, and I’ve gotten two so far. We do make an effort to seem more of friends in December in general, though of course the pandemic put a big damper on this. This weekend we’ll get a tree and decorate it. I’m going to start adding more peppermint and hot chocolate – and maybe peppermint hot chocolate – into my diet soon.
It won’t, however, truly feel like Christmas is imminent here until we’ve got snow on the ground. Right now there’s only a light dusting.
Sorry this is long, but I feel like you’ve sent out my personal bat signal. We have a “countdown calendar” that is cloth with little pockets for each day through the 25th. For the past several years, we do a calendar activity a day. I bought a huge pack of Christmas-themed origami paper (e.g., https://amzn.to/31fpdzC), and I write down the activity and fold the paper into an envelope (youtube is great for learning origami) to slip into the calendar. My kids take turns opening and reading the day’s activity. Note that I don’t fill it all at once – just one envelope is in there on the actual day, which allows me to change my mind/cancel an activity based on circumstance/move things around as needed. But I try to plan out the entire thing in advance, so I’m not caught on a cranky day with no ideas. Some things cost money – we try to do one “expensive” activity each season (this year I bought tickets to the local zoo’s evening light display, which we’ve done a couple of previous years as well), and sometimes I spend a little on snacks/treats/craft supplies, a special gift, etc. Here are some of the things we do or have done in past years:
Holiday Family movie night – each family member gets one night to pick a favorite holiday movie; a different treat is served for each movie night
Neighborhood lights walk (this can be your neighborhood, or a better one in your area – or both!)
Cut and hang snowflakes (I use the Xmas origami paper for this, it’s a really fun way to kick off decorating)
Indoor/outdoor decorating day
Cut/buy/put up and decorate Christmas tree
Put together a Christmas puzzle (we have a couple we always do, and I just bought a new one this year, because I am puzzle obsessed since the pandemic)
Open an early gift of Christmas themed clothing (e.g., a holiday shirt; sometimes, a fancy dress if we’re doing a family photo that year)
Family holiday paintings – I pick up small canvasses and acrylic paints at Ross, where they’re fairly cheap, and we all do one or two winter/holiday themed paintings – no skill needed, it’s just for fun. These are added to our decorations box and pulled out every year to reminisce over.
Shop and drop for local firefighter toy drive – I take the kids to the store and let them each pick a toy to donate. Last year, we shopped online. Then, we go to the firehouse and drop them off.
Gingerbread tea party – this one started last year during the pandemic, and because I have a great gingerbread cookie recipe and a lot of fancy teacups.
Family game night (with lots of snacks)
Indoor snowball fight (you can buy these now, or make them out of balled up socks)
Gift wrapping day (my kids love to wrap what they’ve bought, so I just make it an activity)
Christmas shop with Dad (he has a special place he takes them to pick out my gifts, so it’s also become an activity)
Have a fancy, candlelit homemade dinner
Put together and decorate a gingerbread house kit (you can do this from scratch, but I refuse, since most of it inevitably ends up thrown away)
Christmas book night – everyone picks their favorite Christmas story from our collection and reads aloud. We finish with Mom’s favorite, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Frost/decorate sugar cookies (this one has become an “invite the friends and neighbors” event for the kids, except last year, obv.)
Library holiday story time (our library is not doing this due to the pandemic, but it used to have an evening craft and story time that we did every year, and some libraries may still have activities like this)
Pajama day – usually the first day after the kids are off school, I let them stay in their pajamas and watch TV all day (or until they’re bored of it)
This year, we’re adding one more movie night – “Dinner and a Muppet Movie,” where we watch Muppet Christmas Carol outdoors with pizza and hot cider and invite the neighbors and their kids.
Family photo shoot (if we need to do this for our Christmas card, I often just call it an activity. It is my least favorite, but the kids seem to like the idea of this as an official event).
Find and watch a version of The Nutcracker (one day, this will turn into “take the kids to see The Nutcracker,” but just about the time they got old enough to sit through a ballet, the pandemic hit, so.
Camp out in front of the Christmas tree (depending on where you put your tree – ours is usually in a carpeted room, so we’ve let the kids put out sleeping bags on the floor and fall asleep with the tree lights on).
Make homemade ornaments (salt dough, wooden ones you paint, etc.)
A lot of these activities are centered around the kids and making things festive for them. But I find that it helps keep me feeling celebratory, especially if it’s an activity that has to be done anyway (like gift wrapping or the family photo). And if it’s on the envelope, the kids will nag until it happens, so I don’t get to let whatever mood I’m in stop us from enjoying the season.
This list is SO AWESOME! Thanks for getting me vicariously in the holiday spirit! I don’t suppose you’d consider sharing your gingerbread cookie recipe, would you? :-D Understood if it’s a family secret!
Haha, no secret, I lift most of my best recipes off the internet. The gingerbread cookies are this one, from Bless this Mess:
https://www.blessthismessplease.com/soft-gingerbread-cut-out-cookies/
It’s a soft cookie, which I vastly prefer, and which makes it great for eating without any icing.
Can’t wait to try it! Thanks so much for linking to the recipe! :)
I am sad that only my kids and dogs have stockings b/c I totally want to fill mine! And my husband and I don’t do presents for each other so it’s just watching the kids open stuff and that’s kind of lame. Maybe I’ll get boxes and fill them up for us instead! So my thought for another blog post is… what do you put in the guy’s stocking? B/c clearly I’ve never done this so I have no idea.
Confession: while I do stockings for just the kids at home, we go to my mother’s place on Christmas morning and she still does a stocking for everyone, including me. I do sometimes pass on a few small things for her to put in my or my husband’s stockings, and I also put together a few small things for her to receive when others are opening stockings. But in my family the oldest generation in the household does stockings for all the younger generations.
My kids generally get chocolate (Lindt Lindor truffles – the red and blue kinds, and Terry’s chocolate oranges). My son usually gets one of those puzzle things where you’ve got a couple of pieces of twisted wire that you have to figure out how to get apart, and my daughter gets art supplies like a couple of micron pens. I always put our favourite lip balm in my kids’ stockings (Body Shop hemp lip balm) and give some to my mom to put in my stocking. I always get marzipan and some sort of chocolate in my stocking. I often get something to bake with like vanilla or a vanilla bean, or cook with like a tube of Italian double-strength tomato paste. My mom always includes ornaments and sometimes she hand-carves and paints them herself!
Second confession: I normally do a stocking for my dog. Unfortunately she has now been diagnosed with a chronic condition that doesn’t allow her to have treats, and she’s never been a toy-loving dog, so I’ll have to lay her stocking across the two new bowls I got her for her food and water.
Oh I just added a jar opener thingy to an online order and I think it will be destined for my stocking.
JAR GRIPPER. Thank you for this excellent idea.
Also I love that your mom does stockings. Does she love it? I would love it if I were her. I love doing stockings.
Some years she embraces it more than others, but a few years ago she pinned our original childhood stockings to large commercial stockings so she could fit more stuff, so she must like it for the most part. She’s managed quite a few excursions to shop in cute little stores this year so probably has built up quite a stockpile of stocking-able items. And she’s hinted that this is one of the years she’s hand-making our ornaments.
My mom does stockings for all us kids and grandkids too! Last year because of COVID she couldn’t visit, so she sent us money to do them. My husband did my stocking, and it was sad. This year, she was able to visit, so I’m looking forward to my stocking again! She does lots of kitchen gadgets, tea, and seed packets for me. I often add a few things to top up stockings like candy, magazines, or small practical items on the kid’s wish lists (last year it was phone charge cords since we seemed to go through a lot of them).
This year I bought myself a Terry’s chocolate orange, because in years past I have bought only 1 for the family to share and a) this way I finally get a chance to whack one without snatching it away from a child b) I really like the orange chocolate so I will finally get to enjoy a reasonable serving.
Not stocking-specific but: in general my strategy is to buy myself something in each category while I’m shopping for other people. Like, I went to my local bookstore to get a bunch of books for gifts and treated myself to a signed hardcover, instead of putting it on hold at the library or waiting for the paperback. I was shopping for scarves and sweatshirts and things for other people, and added a pair of gloves that caught my eye. I placed an online order for cosmetics type things and threw in a nail polish I didn’t really need but definitely wanted. I end up spending about as much on me as I do on any one of the various people I am in charge of shopping for (kids, husband, my parents, my in-laws, etc). The best part is that i can be excited when packages arrive in the mail, because in addition to a bunch of things I need to wrap for someone else I get a bonus for myself! And my husband struggles to find things for me that I want, so this way I can genuinely tell him I don’t expect much and mean it.
I have fond memories of when our budget was something like $15 apiece for the main gift to each other, and nothing left for stockings; I filled our stockings with things we already had to be grateful for. Some good chocolate, fancy tea someone gave us, nice pens. Some of the things were even open, but we could look at them with fresh eyes and be glad all over again.
In addition to the classic orange in the toe, fancy nuts, and good chocolate, I like to add spices, seed packets, nice vinyl stickers, lip balm, a journal or notebook…
For my own stocking, I also keep small gifts other people gave me in Nov/Dec and tuck those in too.
HI SWISTLE
I love this post and the comments so much. My husband usually mails it in and puts a bottle of wine in my stocking. I mean, I like wine, but he gets it out of our wine rack and so it’s not like it takes any effort. However! I adore the idea of having a little bag and picking things up year round. It is so happy-making.
At Target you can get wee tiny little jars of NUTELLA which are the absolute cutest. They are like one serving. Ok, I just looked it up, they are one ounce
and everyone should buy them for stockings.
I bought these last year for stockings! They were perfect!
I looked for them online here in New Zealand – and found them in our local mall. SO cute! My three girls will almost definitely say these are the fave stocking items this year. Thanks for the tip!
I just made a list of what I might put in my own stocking:
– Glade scented candles
– hand lotion (basic)
-coffee mug coasters
-coffee mug
-Lindor chocolates
-earrings
– baby sitter (lol – dreaming. I wish my husband would line up the sitter. I hate doing it and therefore we never get one)
-book
-tea
-candle wick cutter
-stretchy gloves
-a winter themed to do list note pad with magnet
I don’t 100% buy for my stocking, but sometimes I supplement because my husband goes to one store every single year so I tend to get the same kinds of stocking stuffers. I like lip balms (usually Burt’s Bees, but sometimes I get the Bonne Bell soda flavored ones for a fun flashback to my youth), small fancy notebooks, cool pens, seasonal or unusual candy, fancy soap, nail files, and small kitchen gadgets like mini spatulas or new measuring spoons. (I saw the most adorable tiny Lodge cast iron pan at World Market but unfortunately have no use for it.) For my husband, I get fidget toys, tiny bottles of hot sauce, beef jerky, nuts or olives, and other small toys or games. Oh, and everybody gets a lottery ticket in their stocking!
My approach is to fill everyone’s stocking with all the gifts that physically fit into them so that I need to wrap fewer presents. This often includes among other things a book and socks for each kid and a couple of chew toys for the dog, If I need a few filler items for the kids’ stockings, I’ll get them a fun pen and lip balm. I don’t buy stuff specifically for my husband’s and my stockings so some years they look a little limp.
My husband and I have started a tradition for stockings. We go to Target BY OURSELVES and have a little shopping spree where we sneak things into the cart for each other’s stockings. It gets very dramatic, with me saying “Wow, what LOVELY EARRINGS THESE ARE” and then turning my back and him going “I wonder what this new peanut butter cup tastes like…no way to know!” and then pointedly looking away.
This is adorable and fun.
My single mom always filled a stocking for herself when we were growing up. I was shamefully old (literally 15) before I clocked it, and I still remember her happy tears when she realized there were things in her stocking on Christmas morning that she didn’t put there herself. (Aww, that was nice to remember this morning.)
In our house Santa only brings presents and stockings for children, which started out of budget necessity and now just lessens the pressure. But if I were to put something in it would be a lot of things mentioned above, as well as little eco friendly stuff I want to try but don’t want to commit to for the whole family until I try it; think beeswax wraps and glass straws and avocado keepers and whatnot.
15 is not a bad age to begin seeing from others’ eyes. 15 yr okd BKC did good.
The story about your mom 😭😭😭 I’ll bet you that Christmas morning is a gem in her motherhood crown.
I don’t buy for my stocking throughout the year, but I do start shopping for the others after Labor Day. I too use a tote bag over a hanger in the closet. I use the same tote bag so it’s a clear association.
I splurge on hobby stuff for myself for my stocking. Pre-wound bobbins for my sewing machine! Maybe a spool of Aurifil thread for piecing. There is very often some wonderful indie-dyed yarn, or maybe some circular needles to go with it if I didn’t have that size. A new knitting bag is a wonderful treat. I’ve been known to give myself a bundle of fat quarter fabrics for quilting. The bundles never have a purpose, they’re Just Because and they go live in the stash.
I don’t do perishables for myself, but this year I ordered some Olive and June nail polishes just for me. Perfume samples would be another good thing if I saw some in my time frame.
Yes! This! I’ve just ordered myself some sewing supplies that I want but don’t need. Thanks for the encouragement!
Does everyone know that the Dollar Tree sells books? I always go to Dollar Tree for stocking stuff and I inevitably end up stuffing mine with like four books. In the past I’ve found such gems as Lindsay Faye’s Timothy Wilde trilogy and Love With a Chance of Drowning.
We do stockings instead of gifts with the extended family, because I have 6 siblings. (So 17 and under still get gifts, but adults only have stockings.) We get all the fun of fancy flavor coffee and tea and exotic candy and hand creams and candles and mittens etc… one brother buys lots of batteries for us all which is very practical. We get the joy of buying for each other without the financial strain of a big gift for each. So although DH contributes nothing, I still get an amazing stocking full of surprises from my siblings.
I love this post & the comments so much.
Me too! My family doesn’t even do stockings, but I am having the best time reading about other people’s stocking plans.
The head massager things that look like they have 20 legs!
I shop for everyone’s stockings and finally had my husband doing mine, then he was so bummed to miss his holiday event last year that he didn’t realize he did nothing for Xmas until we got home from his brother’s bday dinner with our pod on the 24th!
I bought myself a little jar of tea I loved from a local tea shop, the head massager things for everyone that always seem so impractical because they get bent out of shape easily, various candy (chocolate covered gummy bears and Kinder bueno feature heavily), and a fidget. The things I remember for my husband were a book of card games and onion goggles.
I’ve asked for onion goggles this year!
Just gotta say – I love my onion goggles. I bought them as a joke but use them all the time!
I love this whole idea and I am going to adopt it! In fact, after I finished reading your post, I remembered that I’d put a small whisk on my Amazon wish list and keep not buying it because “I don’t really NEED it.” But I keep running into recipes that want me to whisk small amounts of things (yeast, cornstarch slurry, etc) and my regular whisk is far too large for these tasks. That whisk will be the first thing in my stocking this year! :)
We don’t really do stockings for the grownups and every time I read this post I think WHY DON’T WE DO STOCKINGS FOR THE GROWNUPS. I do buy myself little things while Christmas shopping though, and my husband always gets a few little things with his present. My kids have giant stockings that my mom made them, which is fine, I like filling them. The only issue is that my daughter is much easier to buy little things for than my son, and this year I’m struggling a bit to find stuff for his that isn’t food. Which is FINE, he’s 21, I am being ridiculous, look away, I’m hideous.
I’m a single [foster] parent, which means no one fills a stocking for me (though the kids did last year, which was UNBEARABLY sweet). It has honestly never occurred to me to make MYSELF a stocking. Maybe I will.
Though at this point, I’m pretty committed to getting myself new AirPods for Christmas…
I am looking forward to the banana Viking hat and the hard boiled egg timer I bought myself for my stockings.
Now I must look into onion goggles….
I would also like to suggest a joint what are you buying the teens or tweens in your life post. While I don’t mind when people add suggestions I’m really interested in what is actually being given this year.
I love this post so much. We don’t do much with stockings and in fact I am not in charge of them. So there isn’t much in either adult’s stocking. But I love this post and I love every idea you have forever.
Do you have any idea how often we say “The drop is IN the bucket,” or talk about Surprising Expenses in my family? You made these up and now they are aphorisms. You should write a book.
Seriously, “drops IN the bucket” has gotten me through so many days. Such a helpful concept.