It’s not a fucking stocking filler!

[YesJs]

I’m getting sick of gift guides with ‘stocking fillers’ that are around £15-20.

‘Perfect stocking filler for a teen’ says Glamour of a £25 lip balm kit. GQ, recommends a Stockings contain at least 10 presents - more likely about 15-20. Therefore (unless you’re super rich) they need, by nature, to be much cheaper than this.

I earn good money, I wouldn’t spend upwards of £250 on a stocking BEFORE the main presents. AIBU

Their clear nail gloss is the best.

This is the reason I don’t put anything other than sweets and chocolates in stockings. If something small is costing £25 then it’s a present under the tree. I remember my stockings as a kid just full of absolute tat that never got touched once opened - they were just token gifts but a waste of money. (Sounds very ungrateful I know)

Reading this thread I can’t help it feel we are near the end times… whether it’s the sweatshop produced tat being delivered half round the world to fill stockings or the aspirational mascaras version spending £200 on stuff just to fill a stocking for kids who are nearly adults themselves.

1. the environment is screwed esp by the Temu tat is ok brigade
2. we have forgotten the meaning of Christmas itself - which has bugger all to do with stockings and stuff
3. we are so influenced blindly by advertising and consuming glam brands that we think it’s normal to spend all this money on overpriced brands we don’t even really need
4. Santa doesn’t not exist and everyone who is not a very small child really should know this

An idea- what about going back to basic simpler enjoyment of Christmas and maybe resolving to do something selfless at Christmas instead of focusing on this? Maybe we’d all be a bit happier instead of feeling stressed if we decided to just NOT do this to ourselves and our families.

and ps. I love Christmas!

I agree with you, OP. I mean it doesn't take a genius to work out why retailers want to pretend that expensive items, just because they are small and so could theoretically be stuffed into a sock, are inconsequential "bits'n'bobs" that can be treated as disposable frou-frou.

Consumerism has changed things beyond recognition over the past half-century. I love having all the choice, and brands vying for my attention, but sometimes I do miss the good old gloomy old simple old days when every ordinary teenager knew what to expect for Xmas: a set of Aqua Manda bath cubes, a packet of Matchmakers, maybe a Boots 17 eyeshadow. Because there wasn't actually much else around to buy!

I never thought I'd turn into one of the Four Yorkshiremen in the Monty Python sketch ("You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank" - etc...), but I do worry for the kids being manipulated by marketing to grow up with such high expectations, because none of this is cheap and the future that awaits then is one of enslavement to a system that has us all chasing the next best thing.

FWIW, Xmas stockings when I was a kid had an orange stuffed at the bottom, a bag of peanuts, some chocolates, a puzzle book, something fun like a water pistol, and that was about it. There was no Temu churning out surprise novelties. Or expensive cosmetics companies pretending to be cheap.

Everyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas exactly how I do it is offensively wrong, destroying the world, and ruining their children. It's time we get rid of these silly notions that Christmas is about joy and goodwill for everyone - you can enjoy things my way or sit and reflect on your wrongness.

Stay tuned, I'll be sending out precise instructions for what you may each gift when, how they need to be wrapped, the time and manner they must be opened in, and which foods you can eat at their allotted times.

DS had his present from Father Christmas in his stocking. All other presents were under the tree and from me!

100% correct

as long as you celebrate exactly how I do it!

I feel like I’ve made a completely different interpretation of OP’s post than a lot of PPs - in that the complaint is about gift guides, the media, advertising etc, marketing things as ‘stocking fillers’ that are gift prices and/or actual gift items, and, going against the definition of what ‘stocking filler’ actually means.

I see no complaint about what other people may choose to put in stockings or how much they spend on them - and more to do with the pressure/ suggestion / pushing of actual gifts as fillers.

FWIW a stocking filler to me is a small inexpensive thing to take up space and add to the numbers of things … literally to fill the stocking. So whilst inexpensive to one person is entirely different to inexpensive to another, I think we all have to acknowledge that expensive makeup, designer items etc, is more likely an actual gift than an inexpensive filler - even if £25 for lipbalm (what on earth is it made of and how long does it last?!) is inexpensive to you.

Stockings to me are a traditional thing and contain a few pennies (like you’ve just scooped your change out of your pocket), some nuts if child is old enough, some fruit, some sweets or chocolate, toiletries (but small things you’d buy anyway - like new toothbrush etc), and a small toy/game or puzzle depending on age of recipient, maybe even something like socks if you have enough actual gifts to unwrap. I might class a ‘normal’ lipbalm (the kind you would grab off the shelf at the supermarket to carry in your pocket or bag and costs no more than a few quid) as a stocking filler, but to me, lipbalm that costs £25 and/or a gift set, is a luxury item and I’d be more inclined to consider that a present than a filler.

it’s quite something to be sanctimonious about giving a late teen child a Lancôme mascara whilst claiming the better option is a load of “fun” tat from Temu 😮

Wow, what shitty stocking. My mother always puts the smaller gifts in stocking. So yes, there is chocolates, but also a nice pair of earrings, or a necklace. Artisan soaps....Big stuff under the tree, small stuff goes in the stocking. Stockings don't mean it has to be cheap crap.

God that sounds shit. Just save the tenner that would cost and put it towards another present.

Terry chocolate orange, some lynx and lip balms are stocking fillers, I agree not £25 per gift.. that’s a gift

its something i'd expect from grandma like i have no idea what you like so this should do haha

its like how my other half relatives give me scented soap stuff every year even though i am allergic .I told them once but in typical british style i just smile gee thanks haha. Well at least they tried

Stocking for my now young adults
10 Greggs voucher
alcohol minature
chcolate coins
chocolate santa
they seem happy with that 🤣🤣

Never knew people interpreted “filler” as literally any old thing to fill the space!

I do agree that magazines articles on gifts often contain a disproportionate number of higher value things (and I say that as a big spender with a high income). Those articles are just advertising though- either affiliate links or else quid pro quo for taking out ad space for elsewhere. I guess when satsuma and nut growers start paying for advertising in GQ, they’ll start recommending satsumas and nuts in stockings.

Have to say from reading this thread - I’m quite pleased stockings have never been a feature of our Christmases as it seems a minefield to be argued around . Having seen the posts around stockings being for kids to open in their bedrooms so as not to wake mom and dad sort of makes sense why we never had them - no-one in my household is an early riser (all owls by nature) so the first person up has always been the adult who is putting the turkey in. We’ve always opened all presents together as a family so I find the idea of family members sitting in their bedroom opening their presents alone a bit weird. But each to their own, and I’m obviously a minority.

Who's said they're buying tat from Temu?

There are plenty of high street retailers you can buy small gifts, toys, stationery, undies, sweets..etc.

The option isn't just Expensive Shit No One Can Afford or Temu Tat.. there is an inexpensive, perfectly reasonable middle ground.

@MycroftSholmes I do agree even though I’m as guilty as anyone of spending £200 ( in total) on my 27 year old adult son - ( including his stocking) - funnily enough I’m not bothered about receiving presents much - what I enjoy more is a fridge full of lovely food, a 6 bottle majestic mix and match, a nice warm house and my twinkling tree and the lead up of crap music, pretty lit streets and the odd party

If they are 15 and still believe in Santa it’s probably worth spending £25 on a book entitled “Santas not real and other stuff we should have told you by now” and put that in the stocking.

there were always plenty of tree presents to open.. my dad used to hand them out while we all sat together with a cuppa.

Stocking presents were for amusing kids, nothing more.

going against the definition of what ‘stocking filler’ actually means.

Except who gets to define what 'stocking filler' actually means for all of us? Saying that the problem is that these suggestions go against what really counts as stocking fillers requires we establish a universal definition that sets limits on the nature of the items.

What if 'stocking filler' is just anything people choose to fill stockings with? Each family is going to have different norms for that and that's fine.

No one outside your own family needs to have a say on what gets put in a stocking or under a tree.

Spot on. A few posters who are completely missing the point are unfortunately repeatedly posting over and over. I’ve spelt it out to them so they’re either wilfully doing this or genuinely can’t understand. Don’t know which is worse!

An orange, an apple, some nuts (either a handful of loose mixed nuts or a packet of nuts - maybe even a packet of fruit and nuts if - excuse the pun - you want to go nuts), a regular priced lipbalm (Nivea is £1.90 at Tesco - or £3.00 for the posh pearly shine one), a few coins, a pack of cards, a colouring book, a puzzle book, a small puzzle game, a toothbrush, an extendable back scratcher, a handbag mirror, a pack of nail files, make up remover wipes, foot/face masks, a polystyrene model plane kit, a finger skateboard, stress ball, fidget spinner or similar fidget toy, a game (top trumps, matching game, unbranded jenga, travel game - eg I’ve seen travel connect 4 on Amazon for £4.99), slime, small jigsaw puzzle, stationery (note book, pens, pencil case, sticky notes, shopping list pad), a pocket hug, key ring, a coaster, hair bobbles/clips, sleep mask, headband…. this list could go on and on and all of these items cost less than £5 - and it hopefully contains things suitable for male/female of various ages. None of it ‘tat’.

The OP posted a screenshot of the dictionary definition earlier in the thread.

and also you are still missing the point - it’s nothing to do with what individuals choose to put in stockings in their own families. And all about what is being pushed as stocking fillers.

@Throwaway65131 lots of those nice travel sized things they do fit the bill too - and aren’t tat .