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

joe_purdy

I love making up stockings for my mum and sister I tend to pick little bits up as and when i see them. My mums normally include; a mini bottle of wine, socks, shower gels, confetti and little bath bombs - normally i pick a bath bomb from lush as a treat as there very expensive and not the sort of thing my mum would buy herself, rum and raisin fudge, chocolates or sweets, cappucino set and i always include a christmas scratchcard and a lottery ticket. Normally comes to £15-20 but my mum likes all the little bits and shes worth every penny Ive only got some slipper socks so far this year from primark for 1.29 so need to get looking!

My sisters normally includes; drinking beaker/mug, some sort of hair accessories, sock, gel pens, hama beads, smellys for the bath and jelly tots and normally comes to £10-15 as i try and pick bits up in the sale or as i come accros them. For her stocking this year ive got a hello kitty coloring set from the works for £1, keyring for home bargains for 39p, disney princess gel pens 79p home bargains and some minnie mouse socks £2 from primark

jellyhead

Bath bomb is a good idea even for boys, mine both love them - especially if they turn the water a different colour.

I think crayola make the little tablets you can get that do the same job but are less exciting - more colourful though and more of a 'branded' thing if that's what he's getting into.

I am also going to buy a pack of bath crayons because his are all used up.

pinkclouds

Spendless wrote: »

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.

We always had stockings when we were kids. There's only me and my sister so the stockings were very large (or maybe we were very spoilt). Every single item would be individually wrapped, even if it was just a chocolate bar. Stockings could be opened as soon as you woke up. (In my case, that could be as early as 6 am.) The main gifts, under the tree, couldn't be opened until everyone was awake (presumably so our parents could observe us unwrapping everything). Hence, the stockings were always very popular, much appreciated and took up a reasonable amount of time before we attempted to rouse our parents. Tbh, I can't really remember much of the contents (mostly chocolates and novelties a la Hawkins Bazaar, I think) but I loved them so much that I will always do the same with my own kids.

bigmomma051204

Haha - those of you who mention sacks, that is partly why i have posted this thread! When i was young i had a lovely knitted stocking..not tiny but long and thin-ish so when the presents were in there it felt all bumpy and exciting! My little boy has a blinkin' SACK! My mum bought it him when he was about 2years old and i have always used it ever since. I want to get rid! It costs a FORTUNE to fill. When it is full, it doesnt LOOK full! And also, the biggest question of ALL - why would father Christmas fill a SACK when kids are supposed to have stockings!?!? Surely he would label them a greedy child and leave them NOTHING?!!!
So - i need to try and FIND a nice knitted medium stocking and then think of an explanation as to why i am getting rid of the sack!! :cool:

liney

My son (7) gets:
A magazine (Dr Who) £2.50
A new pack of felt tips £1.50
A pack of pencil/rubbers/sharpeners £1.00
Some collectors cards or stickers (will be Dr who this year) £1.50
Chocolate Santa or Reindeer £1.50
Christmas socks! £1.50
Christmas story books/Joke book or similar £3.00
Some novelty soap, ie Stig soap on a rope £1.50
A tangerine and a handfull of Roses chocolates £already bought

That costs around £14.00 by my reckoning, and a wrap it all up individually.

I like the idea of a small cereal packet; we go to my Mothers for breakfast so that we would be ideal to keep him going for a couple of hours, although I don't think he'll accept juice instead of his morning cup of tea lol

balletshoes

Spendless wrote: »

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?

We didn't have stockings - we had Santa sacks, with all our presents in/beside them, downstairs, in the living room. On Christmas Eve we'd all (me and 3 siblings) put our sack on a chair/sofa cushion, and thats where we'd find our filled sack in the morning once Santa had been.

I do the same for my DD.

eta - the sack doesn't have to be filled to bursting - and it does have everything she's getting from Santa in it/around it.

p-pincher

I absolutely love doing my 2 dd's stockings.I enjoy it more than the presents to be honest, though I do appreciate that it seems much easier to do a girls stocking rather than a boys. I fill mine with a mixture of sweeties, stationary and little pressies that they need,things like sock and knickers, from primark mostly.

ive only just started but at the minute ive got

Welly socks, primark £1.50
Socks, primark £1.00
Hairclips, primark 50p
Lockable diary, Poundshop

Not going to start buying sweeties til at least after the half term but i allways get choccie coins and a chocolate figure, mine loved the cadburys snowman they had last year. Noticed they were in tesco yesterday 2 for £3.00. Thought this year i might get some of the miniture boxes or roses and ferrero rocher, they were 2 for £3.00 as well. Loads of choccies for 2 for a £1.00, things like a mint aero christmas tree and a cadbury Star.

Spendless

pinkclouds wrote: »

We always had stockings when we were kids. There's only me and my sister so the stockings were very large (or maybe we were very spoilt). Every single item would be individually wrapped, even if it was just a chocolate bar. Stockings could be opened as soon as you woke up. (In my case, that could be as early as 6 am.) The main gifts, under the tree, couldn't be opened until everyone was awake (presumably so our parents could observe us unwrapping everything). Hence, the stockings were always very popular, much appreciated and took up a reasonable amount of time before we attempted to rouse our parents. Tbh, I can't really remember much of the contents (mostly chocolates and novelties a la Hawkins Bazaar, I think) but I loved them so much that I will always do the same with my own kids.

I fetched up with my Mum a few years ago why we never had them and she said the commercial stockings you can buy nowadays were not available to buy when we were little (I'm 45 this month). As a child she had literally hung up one of her stockings she wore as had her mum before her, but it wasn't something me and sis wore. We had more the experience of balletshoes below except they weren't put in sacks as there were only 2 kids we could have 1 side of the xmas tree each.

balletshoes wrote: »

We didn't have stockings - we had Santa sacks, with all our presents in/beside them, downstairs, in the living room. On Christmas Eve we'd all (me and 3 siblings) put our sack on a chair/sofa cushion, and thats where we'd find our filled sack in the morning once Santa had been.

I do the same for my DD.

eta - the sack doesn't have to be filled to bursting - and it does have everything she's getting from Santa in it/around it.

This is how I started but DS on seeing Xmas films said 'can I have a stocking too' a few days before Christmas so I rushed out and bought bits and haven't ever got the hang of it since.

This year I will try the idea of something for breakfast and something designed to keep him in bed for longer eg a book and see how that works.

balletshoes

I think the stockings in/outside the kids bedroom is a great idea with breakfast/book etc in - if my DD was an early riser on Christmas morning I'd do that if it meant I got a few more minutes kip. But I've had to wake her every Christmas in her 10 years, so I doubt things are going to change now :rotfl:.

Bumpmakesfour

balletshoes wrote: »

I think the stockings in/outside the kids bedroom is a great idea with breakfast/book etc in - if my DD was an early riser on Christmas morning I'd do that if it meant I got a few more minutes kip. But I've had to wake her every Christmas in her 10 years, so I doubt things are going to change now :rotfl:.

Oh wow..you have NO idea how jealous I am!!! One of THE main issues we have at xmas is actually getting DS to have a single minutes sleep..it really does dictate how xmas day will go But there may well be a newborn in the house by xmas this year so then all sleep will be out of the window anyway :rotfl: