Stocking Stuffers
When my husband and I started dating and celebrating the holidays together, we discovered some little differences in the holiday traditions of our families. Christmas stocking stuffers, for instance. My parents always put small gifts in our stockings in addition to candy and the required apple and orange. The Picky Apple’s family primarily filled their stockings with candy. So when The Picky Apple and I got married, I had certain expectations about how my stocking from him should be filled, and it took him a little while to embrace this way of doing things. Not that he minded, it was just different from what he was accustomed to. He’s really become quite good at picking items for my stocking and has surpassed my expectations on a couple of occasions. One year I got jewelry from Tiffany’s in my stocking in addition to my other gifts….boy did I feel bad that year as he pulled boxer shorts, socks, and a calendar out of his stocking!! (Now we’ve got this thing called a BUDGET so I doubt that will be happening again anytime soon.) I always enjoy finding fun little things to put in The Picky Apple’s stocking (and now The Littlest Apple’s stocking) too. I’ve got a good start on this year’s stocking, but I still have some shopping left to do this weekend to get them finished.
For those of you who are still shopping, here are a few stocking stuffer ideas, based on things we’ve done before, or things we’d like to have in the future (wink!):
- favorite candy (for about 5 or 6 years in a row, my husband got Peachies in his stocking from me AND in his stocking from my parents)
- lip gloss/lipstick
- fingernail polish
- gift cards
- small books (sudoku, brain teasers, crossword, inspirational, board books)
- daily calendars
- boxers/underwear
- socks
- t-shirts or camis
- slippers
- neat markers/pens/pencils/crayons
- matchbox cars
- desktop toys (past examples: small gong, Star Wars lego figures…Barnes & Noble and Target always have a good selection of these)
- DVDs
- cooking utensils
- stickers
- playdough
- snacks (goldfish, caramel corn)
- slinky
- homemade coupons
- love notes
- small photo frames
- batteries for toys or other gifts under the tree
- post its
- jewelry
- coffee sample packs
- bubble bath/lotions/soaps
- tools
- nails/screws (other small things for a guy who likes to build stuff)
- baking supplies (bottles of vanilla, flavored extracts, exotic spices, cupcake papers, cookie cutters)
- sample size skincare products
- small candles or tarts
- toothbrush
- small stuffed animals
- sippy cups
- shoes (for the littlest kids, whose shoes would still fit in a stocking)
- Dollar Store/ discount bin finds
- coloring books
- bubbles
- tickets to concerts/sports events/plays/museum
So readers, do you put gifts in your stockings, or just candy? Got any other neat ideas for stocking stuffers? I’d love to hear from you!!
We’ve always done a mix of gifts and candy – luckily both our families had done that in the past! I think you hit almost all the ones we normally do
Last year I did fill a small notebook with “reasons why I love you” and that was a big hit!
Corinne- I LOVE the “reasons why I love you” notebook! What a great idea! Might have steal that one!
Great suggestions! I especially like the “love notes” and “tickets” ideas. Oh, and the cupcake liners! That’s a really good one (and inexpensive too).