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:

 

Holiday Fruit Snacks:

(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.]

 

Cute hot chocolate:

 

Interesting hot chocolate:

 

Duke Cannon soap for Paul:

These giant bars are his favorite soap. They also have Big Ass Lump of Coal and Frothy the Beerman.

 

Rice Krispies treats:

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.

 

Shaving cream for the college boys:

 

New hair brushes for Henry and Rob, because theirs are gross:

 

Hair elastics for Rob, Elizabeth, Henry, and me:

 

Scrunchies for Elizabeth:

 

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?

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:

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:

 

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:

 

Ring pops:

 

My favorite kind of Junior Mints, I buy a dozen boxes each Christmas just for me:

 

Candy cane Tic Tacs:

 

Chocolate oranges:

 

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!”)

 

Gum:

 

This hand soap for Paul, who loves lemony stuff:

 

Ticonderoga pencils (thanks Alyson for the reminder!): black for Rob and William, metallic for Elizabeth and Edward and Henry, and NOIR HOLOGRAPHIC for Paul.

 

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:

 

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.

 

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.

 

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).

And Paul’s sister had these fingerless gloves on her wish list:

 

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.

 

Glitter Decorate-a-Christmas-Tree mini Dover book (kids are too old for it; this is for me):

 

Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies:

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.

 

Oreo dippers:

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.

 

And Chex Mix.

 

Trail mix packets:

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:

(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.

And you could get the nice foot cream (Target) (Amazon) Nicole recommends, for your own stocking. (I want to try the Night Treatment.)

 

I got a couple packs of these holiday Chapsticks last year and distributed them among the stockings.

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.

 

Mini staplers are the kind of thing I prefer to get on clearance:

 

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.

Elizabeth and Paul and I just spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to spell shipable/shippable. We still don’t know. We had good arguments for either one; spellcheck was not persuaded. In the end we felt “shipable” looked more likely.

Every year I mail a large Christmas box to Paul’s sister Beth. I struggle mentally with how much it costs to ship (just think of how many more presents I could have gotten her with that money!), but my sense is that what we send her is about 90% of her Christmas, so I use a lot of coping thoughts and I just DO IT. I could have things shipped directly for free, but then they wouldn’t be wrapped and labeled, and that feels grim when it’s 90% of someone’s Christmas; or else they WOULD be wrapped, and it would cost $$$ extra per gift, so I might as well channel that gift-wrapping expense into the shipping costs and then I get to use ribbon and festive tissue paper and tuck little treats into the crevices and so forth.

Where was I? Oh yes! But there are some things I wouldn’t wrap anyway—more like stocking stuffers or general holiday treats. Some of them are lightweight, and those are nice for the aforementioned tucking into crevices. But some of the things are heavier or bulkier, and take up a really surprising amount of room in the box, and what I would rather do is ship them separately for free. We talked about this idea before, for pandemic birthday boxes and pandemic Mother’s Day care packages, and now I am working on a Pandemic Stocking (box), for Beth. This would also work as a Christmas care package gift for someone: address it to Firstname GIFT Surname, and tell them to put the whole box under the tree as-is. (Not that it will all come in one box. No. It will come in like EIGHT boxes.)

Some things ship for free with $25+, other things require $35+. I’m willing to spend $35+ (we don’t budget quite as much for Beth as for my brother’s family of four, but…we do adjust disproportionately, keeping in mind that my brother’s family has two sets of parents/siblings shopping for them too, while Beth does not), but it’s something to be aware of as you’re shopping, so you don’t put together the perfect $25 package and find it doesn’t qualify for free shipping. And some things are drifting in and out of availability for shipping, or are only shipable/shippable to certain zip codes—but this is just to give a general idea of some things that might work for a Christmas care package / stocking box.

I briefly considered starting with an actual stocking, just to be cute—but Beth already HAS a stocking, so it would be more like an unnecessary increase in the cost. I was still tempted, for thematic cuteness.

 

In normal times, I would not have included a box of tissues, but these are not normal times. (They sometimes have the store-brand available for shipping even if nothing else is, though I’ll start by looking for Puffs or Kleenex to be fancy.)

 

Hand soap and hand sanitizer, too: the new ways to say I care about you.

 

And I feel a LITTLE silly about this—but I have been HUNTING DOWN this Lysol cleaning spray since March, and finally Finally FINALLY found it available for shipping from Target, and it comes in and out of availability, but if it is available when I’m ready to send a package to Beth, I AM INCLUDING A BOTTLE OF IT.

Is this a lot less like a Christmas stocking and a lot more like a standard weekly Target shopping trip of yore? YES. THESE ARE ODD TIMES, MY FRIENDS. I AM LEANING INTO IT. I will maybe get her some paper towels and toilet paper, too, and I will KNOW SHE WILL BE HAPPY TO SEE THEM AS IN NO OTHER YEAR OF HER LIFE THUS FAR!

 

Okay, now for some better / more normal stocking things. These cute little Thayers face mists:

William got me started on Thayers when he went on a skin-care kick and was participating heavily in online skincare message boards and so forth. He got a bottle of Thayers, so then I wanted a bottle too, and then Miss Grace was talking about all kinds of other face-mist options, and anyway now my cabinet is filled with like a dozen face mists but I always want more of them. This set has three little bottles to try: the unscented, the rose, and a seasonal cranberry orange.

 

Seasonal dish towels:

 

Seasonal Lindt truffles:

 

Seasonal pretzels (these dumb things are so good; I don’t even LIKE white chocolate OR pretzels and I can eat a whole expensive little bag in one sitting EASILY) (I tried the dark chocolate ones ASSUMING I’d LOVE them, and they did not hold the same magic for me, there is no explaining it):

 

Seasonal Ferrero Rocher:

 

Seasonal Oreos:

 

Seasonal Pepperidge Farm:

 

Seasonal Belvita bars:

 

Seasonal Larabars:

 

Shortbread cookies:

 

Glazed nuts. They’re kind of expensive, but they’re good hearty food while also being coated in delicious sugar/salt.

 

Fun trail mix:

 

Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees:

 

Seasonal lip balm:

 

Fun little skincare samples to try:

(They also have cosmetics samples, haircare samples, “clean beauty” samples.)

 

Lotion sampler:

 

Cute seasonal face masks (FACE MASK SURE HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING THIS YEAR) (these are the old meaning):

(Or just one: reindeer, snowman, gingerbread, moose, penguin.) (I couldn’t find the polar bear sold on his own, so he must be a bonus that comes with the set.)

 

Seasonal tea:

(The peppermint is available year-round but I like it more at Christmastime.)

 

Seasonal coffee:

 

Treats for her pets:

 

Ridiculous charming birds:

 

New tree ornament:

 

Seasonal mug:

(Also available in dog.)

Several of my dears were talking on Twitter about heated shawls, and I went to get a link so I could recommend to them a heated throw blanket I had in mind for a future gift-ideas post, and it is ON SALE RIGHT NOW so I am going to mention it right now instead of in a future gift-ideas post:

Biddeford Heated Throw Blanket (also available in extra-long), on sale right now for $20 down from $30. That is the very price I aim for, and I believe it’s as low as I’ve ever seen it on a sale; I do sometimes get it on clearance for $15, but by then the color/pattern choices are usually down to my least favorites. And $20 is a nice price for many office/friend gift exchanges, if anyone is doing those this year.

(The SHERPA one, normally $40-50, is ALSO on sale for $20, but I haven’t tried that one so can’t personally vouch for it. I’m going to order one as soon as I can decide between the only two colors still available to be shipped to me.)

I bought one of these originally for Edward: he is a cozy indoorsy Edwardian invalid of a child, and was always tucking himself under a throw blanket, so I got him an electric one and he loves it so much I bought another to keep on a comfy chair in another room, plus another for my own personal sunporch room (mine is the navy/white patterned one pictured here, if you want to be twins; I get Edward the solid-color ones, since they blend better with our furniture, but there are no rules on the sunporch). And since then I’ve tried to always have one or two clearance-purchased spares in the closet in case one of the throws breaks or gets something spilled on it and can’t recover from the trip through the washing machine (sometimes they survive, sometimes not).

I highly recommend for anyone who tends to be chilly or for anyone who might be looking for a little extra coziness/cheer/comfort this long indoors winter. I’m thinking of getting one for Paul to have in the room he’s using as an office, which doesn’t get much heat; he’s been using a little desk heater but this seems better.

Edited to add: my friend J says she is buying heated throw + box of hot chocolate + those little airplane bottles of peppermint liquor, to give to friends/co-workers. Target doesn’t have the liquor for shipping so that part wouldn’t work if you wanted to send directly, but I love the idea of shipping a heated throw + hot chocolate + [cookies/mug/book/marshmallows/pillow] to a friend/relative—either for Christmas or just as a comforting surprise.

We did a post on this topic already to distract us from the election, but I’ve had more ideas / wanted to tell you which ideas I’d used, and also I’m getting a little panicky about shopping ARE YOU GETTING A LITTLE PANICKY ABOUT SHOPPING? It’s just…you know. Pandemic. Schools going remote or hovering on the edge of it. The uncertain gap between the election and the inauguration. Potential impending snow. The USPS still under poor management. Stores promising shortages and shipping delays. IT’S A BIT MUCH.

I talked last time about my idea to get Rob his own pizza pan, pizza cutter, and potholders, hopefully a pleasingly practical gift (he makes pizza A LOT) but also to give him a feeling of hope that one day he might not have to live with his parents; I’d expect him to keep using our stuff in the meantime, but to tuck this aside for his days of freedom. I did go with this idea: I couldn’t find the same pizza pan we have (which is completely unmarked) but I chose him this well-reviewed Doughmakers pan that is about the same size; I got him the same OXO pizza cutter we have; and I got him this set of potholders.

I also talked last time about how the one thing Rob misses about his phone (his broke and he is trying to go without) is its ability to have timers/alarms. He is currently using a kitchen timer that maxes out at 99 minutes, and he just keeps resetting it, and it is driving me crazy, I mean I wanted to solve that problem for him. I first tried to find a watch, but I got bogged down in options, and nothing seemed right anyway: even the ones that DID have alarms only had, like, three. I asked Rob how many daily reminders he needed, and he said about TEN. So anyway I chose this, and who knows if this is even the right kind of thing but anyway I bought it:

Robin Clock with Custom Alarms and Calendar Reminders. It’s designed for older people who need memory help, but it seemed perfect for what Rob needs it for, and it allows for limitless reminders—as well as annual recurring things such as birthday reminders.

And I got him a kalimba, which was Elizabeth’s idea: she remembered that my brother asked for and got one last Christmas and that it was fun to play with.

Rob also has a melodica (this Hohner 32), which has been tremendously successful, if you’re looking for a fun and interesting musical instrument for a musical kid, especially a kid who already has some keyboard/piano skills and would like to try them out in a new and odd way (it’s like a…piano-flute):

 

Based on your collective game reviews and also a reply to an email I sent to my friend whose family loves board games, I’ve bought these games so far to give to various children:

Carcassonne Big Box. I was hesitant to spend so much money (it’s been going up and down in price; I bought it at $60) for a game plus ELEVEN expansion packs when I don’t even know if the kids will like the game or not—but my friend said it was one of her family’s favorite games, and the price of the Big Box was going for only a few dollars more than the price of the basic game plus only ONE expansion set, so I risked it.

 

Duple. I thought this looked like something the kids would like, but to be honest the real reason I bought it is that it was in my cart going “Only 10 left!,” “Only 4 left!,” etc., and I panicked.

 

Ticket to Ride. A lot of you mentioned this and then my friend mentioned it too, so I bought it. I am a little crabby that I bought it on sale for $44, and this week Target has it on sale for $25. But BYGONES. I already considered the option that I could email Target and ask for the difference, but I am not going to do that (for one thing, I’d ordered it more than a week before the price change) (for another thing, all Contact Us links lead to phone calls or live chats) [edited to add: OKAY FINE I contacted them via live chat and they refunded the difference and I DO feel so much better about it].

 

Plus, I DID get Settlers of Catan on the $25 sale, after ALMOST buying it on the $44 sale, so I feel that averages out nicely. This is another game a number of you recommended and then my friend also strongly recommended. I have been warned that I need an extension set if I want it to work for 5-6 players, so I have one of those in my cart and will hope for a sale. (Does anyone know if the EXPANSION packs ALSO make the game work for 5-6 players? I got overwhelmed trying to figure it out and gave up.)

ALSO: on the recent Tipsy Swistle post, commenter Erin in CA mentioned to another commenter that she buys Deadbolt Mystery Society packs for her family and I went “!!!!!!!” followed by IMMEDIATELY ordering one to give as a gift to all five kids. I had no idea which to choose so I went with their 2020 Holiday box. (Make sure you pay attention to their instructions for how to order a single box that DOESN’T automatically renew. I ordered it as a gift to myself, which seemed to be one of their suggestions? I hope that works.)

 

If you’ve had any further ideas for the high-school/college-age/early-twenties set, this is a good time to mention them!