Where do you all get stocking fillers from and what do you spend on each item?

bigmomma051204

Hiya - just out of interest really. I am trying to get myself motivated to finish xmas pressie buying. Have got a fair few of the biggies but i think that what costs me the most (if i actually sat down and worked it out which i am too scared to lol!) is the stocking filler buying! I only put cheap items in, mostly from poundshop etc but it still costs tons! And i am finding this year that now my little boy is nearly 7years, i cant just get the same old colouring books, toy guns, cars etc as he is more "aware" of branded items (grrrrr!) and is getting a bit too old for the items those shops sell. I have so far got a couple of mini lego bits for not too much ££ from amazon and also have a couple of mini boxed jigsaws but i am struggling!


So where do you buy your stocking filla's from and how much do you spend per item-ish?

:A

jellyhead

A chocolate santa takes up a lot of room in a stocking unless your stockings are large, in which case, consider getting a smaller one

I buy them from Lidl and not just because they only cost around £1 - the chocolate is just so much nicer!

My youngest gets very excited about the huge chocolate coins, so I buy those at Boots. They around less than £2 I think, and are in the 3 for 2 offer. Maybe a flannel from the offer too, depends what they have. Star wars would be okay, but perhaps not Ben 10. they also do little shower get pouches, or you could just buy a pack of christmas cards or a roll of paper to get the 3 for 2.

Lotus-eater

Bootsales! Stock up on very cheap toys.

I wish I could find some Sylvanian families though at bootsales

jellyhead

a pack of top trumps, and a book (maybe an audiobook of longer story?)

keep an eye on 'the book people' and 'red house books' sites, oh and 'bananas' but I think they charge for postage.

MatyMoo

A friend buys stockings ready made done (I think) Hawkins Bazaar. She says it works out cheaper and they do age/sex specific. Her kids have had them for about 5 years and are always happy with them.

My sister used to fill them with things that she would have had to buy them through the years anyway - pants, socks, that sort of thing - and then add in a sweetie or two and an orange.

FatVonD

Quite often the newspapers do those free mini Lego kits, you could look out for those (I think you have to pick the kit up in a store so maybe make a point of buying the paper there so you can check they've not run out.) Chocolate coins are a must. Since DS was small I've always put a Mr T toy snowman in his stocking each year (last year it was replaced by the PG Tips monkey though), he's waaaay to old for it now but puts up with it for my sake

Alikay

I spend quite a bit on the stocking fillers but a lot of it is stuff I'd consider necessities and would buy anyway - toothbrush, toothpaste, new flannel (one of those compacted ones which swell in water) maybe some other toiletries, socks etc.

Much of the room is taken up by the mandatory chocolate Santa (as mentioned by jellyhead) and those big tubes of Smarties or whatever. A few stationery bits come in useful for school and we always have chocolate coins and those mini boxes of Celebrations or Roses which are usually on BOGOF in Superdrug near Christmas. A new shiny £1 coin is nice too as is a lottery scratchcard, oh and a mini can or bottle of some unusual fizzy drink. I usually only put 1 or 2 proper little presents in there - the rest is mainly consumable stuff.

Spendless

I've been meaning to ask about this for a while but I can't seem to get stockings 'right'.

I find they are overlooked in favour of the main presents if I hang them on the fireplace. If I put them in kids bedrooms or on outside of bedroom doors they wake up in the early hours wanting to go downstairs cos they see the stockings are full. And the bits I put in them though I love finding them they aren't overly interested in which I can understand, I wouldn't want to spend several minutes watching a magic flannel when I was hoping a bike was downstairs. I find the kids tend to go back to them to see what was in them later on in the day, which sort of makes the stocking pointless.

I do wonder if I struggle because as a kid we did not have stockings so I have not radition to fall back on. We had plenty of stocking fillers but each was wrapped individually and under the tree with all other presents. Initially I didn't do a stocking for my eldest but he was seeing it so much on Christmas films he asked for 1 when he was about 3 and I've been doing them every since (he's 11) but never hitting on what makes them a success.

Any help?

Bumpmakesfour

So far DS(8) has..
~ a pack of 5 hot wheel trucks..93p tescos clearance
~ lego truck...£3,half price amazon.
~ Horrid henry DVD..£2.97,ebay
~ Horrible Histories activity book..£1.30,ebay
~ Ben 10 pencil/pen/coloured pens set £1.50,tescos clearance
~ Lego minifigure..99p,argos.
~ Will add loose chocolate coins,tube of smarties and Santa/snowman chocs.

DD1(6) and DD2(5) have...
~ my little pony set...£1,tescos clearance
~ Disney princess/tinkerbell necklace/ring set...£1.50,sale tescos.
~ Disney princess/tinkerbell lipgloss set..£1,tescos sale
~ Barbie sing along DVD/Barbie swan lake dvd..£8,BOGOF toys r us
~ Fairy/princess activity book..£2.50,BOGOF tescos
~ Hello Kitty pen/pencil set..£1.50,tescos clearance
~ Will add loose chocolate coins,tube of pink smarties and santa
/snowman chocs.


This is the first year I've tried to do xmas on a tighter budget,usually go nuts and spend far too much.So am very pleased with three stockings for about £30 (waiting for the stampede to tell me a tenner a stocking is over the top still )

building_with_lego

I've heard of people doing 'breakfast' in stockings and may steal the idea: cereal bar, tangerine, carton of drink, packed lunch type fruit sweeties etc. Keeps them upstairs a bit longer as they're not so hungry, you see

We put the smallest presents in, tangerine and chocolate coins. I'm stealing the chocolate Santa idea. Oh, and we made the stockings ourselves a couple of years ago so they're fairly compact. :T

YORKSHIRELASS

No I think a tenner for a stocking is about right. My two are older, will be 10 and 13 this year and they will get some choccie coins, stationery, a book, maybe some socks and always a small cuddly toy. I love to be able to put in something that links to whats downstairs as a teaser if it doesnt give the main present away completely. For example last year DS1 got an IPod and we put some headphones in his stocking.

Stockings go outside their bedroom door - they have strict instructions not to touch them if they wake up in the night and its always worked so far. I dont think I ever sleep very well on Christmas Eve though! They open their stockings in our bed before we all go downstairs for the main event.

I really want to cut down on the number of presents my two get this year and spend more on one main present but its so lovely to see piles of things under the tree!