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

You are spectacularly missing the point.

If you want to put an orange/ an apple/ some nuts/ some tissues/ a toothbrush/ a pack of crisps
in your stockings, feel free, no one is stopping you.

I am not embarrassed because I really can't see the point. I am not stuffing "things" just for the sake of stuffing things, might as well add dishwasher tablets and some of the hamster's boredom breakers.

I buy presents that I enjoy giving and people enjoy receiving.

You are the one starting a very angry thread and writing very angry posts.
I don't need retailers or brands to tell me I should waste my time finding any random cheap stuff and cheap chocolate because we need STUFF but it must be cheap.

You are the one who seems to feel pressured, we don't.

That's not why gift giving is about, but each to their own. If my kid is happy with the watch that he finds in his stocking and the sports kit that is his big present under the tree, I fail to see how it affects you, your cheap tissues don't have any impact on my Christmas 😂

I guess it depends what your budget is really? I always budget £30-40 for stocking contents, I collect little bits all year tho and buy stuff in sales. My kids are still young tho so fancy makeup for them isn’t on the horizon but i personally think of stocking contents like chocolate oranges, socks, lip balms (not mega expensive ones!), pens and paper, little notebooks etc and fun things.

if mine were older and I had a much bigger budget maybe a £30 cosmetic set might happen but doubtful 🤨

Feet?! 😜

I do enjoy those ‘how the other half live’ programmes channel five do at Christmas where people have stockings full of rubies and faberge eggs and engraved golden lipsticks.
Lush had some good contenders for this on the counter last Christmas with teeny capsules of product packaged like retro jokes for £15 quid a pop. Joke on me I thought when I saw the prices .
In my world it’s a dash round home bargains and everyone seems happy enough. For little ones there are some brilliant things in charity shops, little books, toy cars etc that do bulk it out and provide a bit of novelty.
I would really like it if Santa could do me a nice faberge and caviar version this year though and I wouldn’t throw it all over the bed in a frenzied riot like the kids do 😇

I think the key point really is that there is no right or wrong way to do stockings so it doesn’t matter how many responses you get here OP. Do your own thing and it will be the right thing for your family.

If I were listing my favourite things about being a mum, stockings would be right up there. They’re where I put most of my Christmas present time and energy and they’re the main event in our house. I perhaps spend more than others might, but I also put a lot of time and love into choosing little things I know each of my children will enjoy. They seem to really look forward to the stocking full of bits and pieces I’ve chosen with them specifically in mind and I love doing it for them. I’m not generally very sentimental, but it’s really important to me that they open their stockings and find things that someone who knows them and loves them has chosen just for them. My husband thinks I’m ridiculous and he’s probably right but I don’t care.

There’s only so many times you can clearly spell out your argument and have people argue completely random points back at you though. It becomes nonsensical. Comprehension is not everyone’s strong point. And then I get bored

You may be taking this more seriously than others, op.

Our stockings are the only present from Father Christmas nowadays so we do sneak in some pricier items like a cologne but most of it is kitsch crap which everyone loves.

I’m not debating what people do in their own houses though am I….

How dare people have a different opinion and believe you are completely wrong!

Disgusting, how dare they.

Goes against the spirit of Christmas 😂

Lol certainly wouldn't be for us 😂We're doing Secret Santa in our family, for the adults. Everyone gets one gift, of something they want, for under £50 - bliss! No "stocking fillers" or small gifts of any kind to buggar about buying, wrapping and carting around.

Santa gets the little children about 8 items, half of which are things they need anyway like toothbrushes. So about 4 items of fun, landfill fodder each (£20 total?).

Halloween is much more fun anyway 🎃

Sounds perfect!

OP I think the lovely thing about Christmas is that every family does whatever works for them. My best friend buys piles and piles of presents to wrap and put under the tree, but does a £20 B&M trolley dash for stockings. I do the complete opposite. Both our kids have the Christmas we’ve made for them and they love it. It’s not a big deal, just do whatever you think Christmas should be and that’s what it will be in your house.

I got a bit tight last year and put new toothbrushes and packs of socks and pants in them. Will try to be more fun this year.

Me and my partner do stockings for a £10 it’s a challenge the thing really in addition to gifts. No kids here. I didn’t grow up with stockings so it’s a bit of fun.

Same. And all three (19, 19 and 15) still open them at the end of the big bed. Best bit of the day.

No. Stocking gifts are just wee. They can be expensive. We do the much-hated poem for gifts but I don’t restrict the monetary value at all. It’s about consuming fewer ‘things’, not spending less money.

Op your thread would have been boring if we all just said "Yeah, its crazy they push that."

Posters are enjoying themselves. Why be such a crashing bore about it?

My mum brought in a tradition which became a highlight for us when we were teens - and had no reason to get toys anymore.

We would all budget a certain amount (often £20) and go to somewhere like TK Maxx or similar and spend it on toys for the Salvation Army, Barnado's or similar (anyone collecting gifts for children). There was (very loosely) competition between us as to who got the most exciting looking pile of gifts for the children with the specified budget. Mostly we bought what we each would have liked if we were still young enough to get it, but there was definitely a lot of eyeing up each other's baskets! I intend to do the same when ours are older. It really was a nice way to spend time together pre-Christmas - and hopefully there were some very happy children getting brand new boxed toys.

I'll go against the grain and say stockings are the best bit of Christmas. I love doing them, I love opening mine. In my family, the presents under the tree for adults are boring bulky things you either need or had asked for - like a new dressing gown. Stockings on the other hand are full of surprises and we go all out.

I agree op. Maybe if you're fortunate enough to have a big budget it's not such a concern but surely the majority of people are saving the higher value gifts for under the tree, and the stocking is to keep the kids entertained while you find some matchsticks to prop your eyes open with?!

I saw someone mention something that was large in size and cost as a stocking filler the other day. Doubly baffling.

Our stockings tend to have things like a big tube of smarties, a pair of silly character or Xmas socks, a Lego minifigure, lip balm, mini torch, key ring, novelty magic flannel, choc coins, pens, candy cane, mini soft toy, stuff like that.

Anything that can fit in a stocking they’ll class as a stocking filler. I’m not one for buying tat, so I try to get stuff dc actually want. DS17 has a switch game in his but that’s purely because I can’t find much else to go in it. The most I’ve spent on dd on a stocking filler is £8.00 on some spot patches she asked for. The rest is £6 or less and several are actually freebies I got that were sent with presents I ordered for her birthday.

That made me laugh

Huh. Stocking filler to me just means “small enough to fit in their stocking.”

As they get older, their stocking fillers do seem to get more expensive!