To ask if anyone else DOESN'T do Christmas stockings?

[VioletSpeedwell]

We Speedwells can't be the only family in Britain who don't put gifts in stockings.

Can we?

Nope, we don't do it either and never had them growing up. Presents were in a pillowcase left out near the Christmas tree in the living room.

We don't do stockings as try to minimise on gifts, especially the kind of junk stocking fillers entails.

I didn’t have one as a child, I now do one for my child not a stocking but a little sack of small things. Did anyone else’s parents not wrap the presents from Santa? Mine were in my room when I woke up so I just played in my room til my parents got up.

In our house santa brings the stockings and mum and dad buy the presents under the tree.

We never had them growing up (my parents were completely joyless when it came to Christmas and we never even had a tree). I've always remembered my DGM leaving a book and some chocolates in a pillowcase for my cousins and I one Christmas morning, and I thought it was the most exciting thing ever, so I've always done it for my children. The stockings presents are always the most exciting in our house.

I never had one as a child and now I do one for my partner, baby and dog 😂 my partner does one for me too, I love sitting in bed on Christmas morning and opening them up!

I think not everyone can afford huge presents under the tree so it's easier for the children to believe that santa fills up your stocking while you're sleeping and mum and dad have to pay for anything else. It's how I grew up.

Not a thing in our house. Don't get it, but each to their own.

When I was a child in the sixties the stocking was one of dad’s old socks and there was a red apple, an orange a few nuts (in shells) and some shiny new coins. This would have been a real treat when my parents were little. I haven’t carried on the tradition!!

We don’t. DH is French and can’t fathom it. Christmas is much « less » in France. 1 gift or just a few gifts per person and no mini gifts, no giving of novelty chocolate (or at least not in our city.) Tat for office secret Santa type thing is available but not as much as in England.

Never have. Never will.
For me, it's as unnecessary as these Christmas Eve boxes some people are doing.

I do for my kids but didn't have them growing up which even back in the 90s/00s seemed unusual

We only put Lindt chocolates (reindeer, Santa, strips of both etc.) in the stockings that are hung up on the mantle.We have sacks for the actual gifts and anything that is too big for the sack is left beside the tree. No distinction what is from us and what is from Father Christmas.

We’ve never done stocking either, I didn’t have them as a child and DH thinks he did but can’t imagine being very excited by them.

The kids do get small presents but they just go on the pile.

Same here - perhaps you are my sister.

We had them as children up to about 12 and I loved it. It's the part of Christmas I remember most tbh. It was literally a giant sock of my dass, (we had 1 each) that was the only 'father Christmas ' presents in our house (and that only til I twigged as the youngest at about 7). It would appear hanging on the end of our beds overnight and was filled with various small toys, puzzles, sweets etc. We would open it in bed, so I guess it gave us something to do until we had family presents after breakfast.
I wouldn't do them for adults. And tbh I was the last one getting them and after the age of pretending to believe and siblings not opening them with me it was a bit flat. And parents stopped sneaking them in overnight and just kind of lobbed them at me in passing 🤣. But as a smaller kid with all of us opening them and playing with the toys in the early morning they were great.
Tbh I can still remember the excitement and some of the stocking toys. Can't really remember any normal presents I got at that age!

I never had one growing up and have never done them for my kids who are in their twenties now.

Oh, other posters have reminded me 😅. Always chocolate coins, sometimes chocolate oranges (although they were more expensive when I was a kid) and we would feel all the bumps from the outside and try and guess what was in them. Chocolate coins in bed before breakfast still feels festive to me 🤣

I just wrapped the smaller presents and added them to the pile. Mine still had chocolate coins and whatever, just not in a stocking.

Nope, but I'm not British and frankly I still don't quite understand the idea. What do people put in them? And why is it separate from other presents?

However we do a 1st of December thing - the children wake up to an advent calendar each and small bits like activity book/stickers, a Christmas story book, hot chocolate (a box to be used throughout December), some Christmassy baking - sprinkles or cookie cutters/shapes or just a premixed box from the supermarket, and Christmas socks.

Nope, never had one, never done one, you just get 'a pile' here!

We don't do them either. We did when the kids were small but they are grown up now and we haven't since they were in their early teens.

Growing up I never had a stocking and all my presents were under the tree and from Father Christmas. My husband’s family had stockings from FC and gifts from parents under the tree.

Our son gets a stocking but only for small gifts, the main presents are all under the tree. Stockings are too small imo! I’d happily not do stockings for him but want to maintain the tradition from my husband’s side.

We never had stockings growing up, just a big sack of presents under the tree. My children now have a stocking and a sack but the stocking is really just another bag to put presents in.

Our kids were deprived, they never had them and never looked for them.