Can I ask a really stupid questions about stockings?

[MrsSawyer]

We never had stockings in our house as children, just presents downstairs next the the fireplace (I think they were in massive plastic sacks shaped like stockings)and neither did DH, so im being incredibly stupid here but I dont understand what you mean?

Where do you buy the stockings from? What are they made from? Do your kids open them in bed then go downstairs for the rest of their presents?

DS is only just 4 so doesnt remember last year, so I think if we're going to do the stocking thing, we need to do it now before he starts remembering, if that makes sense?

Does anyone know the significance of stockings. Just wondering.

Many thanks

I will have to have firm words with the cuddlies as I put them in. I'm sure they won't be evil but they might be over-excitable, being as it's Christmas.

I put in choc coins, new flannel (those magic ones are brilliant), a book (from oxfam - cheap!), satsuma nd random bits I pick up throughout the year, so far I've got spiderman socks and plastic dinosaurs for ds and n activity book for dd and pencils for both of them with their names on. I made their stockings from material from john lewis which had stocking shapes printed onto them.
Stockings are always from santa, but I seem never to get one -dh are you reading?!

Our Dcs have lovely quilted stockings that my clever mum made for them. They are reasonably big so i put in as much of their presents from us as possible, and they think that their stockings are filled by santa, and all the other presents are from specific people. They always have a £1 coin, apple, clementine and chocolate money in the toe of the stocking.
We are so serious about stockings in our family that when I got married my mum ceremonially handed over my stocking to DH with STRICT instructions about what should be in it. He's terrified every year that he gets it wrong - not that I'm bothered, but he is scared of his MIL! I'm 38

jetgirl do you never get a stocking from santa because you haven't been a good girl all year? hmm? maybe you should be looking at your own behaviour instead of blaming your DH.
[stern look]

Aww these stories are lovely, bless your DH tralaa, and yes nickelbabe, i agree I shouldnt do my own, DH will be suitably notified!

I cant wait.

nickelbabe I had wondered that, but if baking yummy treats at least once a week, doing all laundry and other housework, cooking 5 out of 7 times a week and various wifely tasks as well as working is being bad then I don't see how I can ever hope to be good
Nope, definitely dh at fault here!

I went to a Fabric shop and brought 2x 1 meter lengths of Felt, then i drew a big stocking shape and cut out, i blanket stitched them together, leaving the top open and decorated, it cost me about £5 for each and now every year my boys have a personal/ lovely stocking.

I also did 25 little ones for their advent calender and mounted them on a board, i will put pics up in a sec.

Cant see your profile tits! Thats what im going to do, theres a fabric shop quite near here so thats my project for october.

Just one thing - whats blanket stitching?

In our house 'FC' brings the stocking presents and one big present each for under the tree. Anything else under the tree comes from us or family/friends etc.

When I was a kid my mum FC just used to stuff sweets and cheap little bits and pieces (a flannel, a keyring etc) into a long stretchy sock and lay it on our bed in the middle of the night. It was the best bit of Christmas, waking up to a stuffed sausage shaped stocking of gifts at 6am!

We bought some nice Christmas stockings from John Lewis when the kids were small and trawl them out every year. use brown paper or the cheapest wrapping paper you can find for stocking presents as they get ripped open in a flash!

I think the point to remember about stockings is that SANTA DOESN'T WRAP . SO much easier and greener.

I have huge felt stockings I found for DD in a charity shops and she also has my "santa sack" (pillowcase in Christmas fabric) from when I was small. Father Christmas leaves them full under the tree on the morning of the big day but we hang them as decorations for weeks in advance . Everything goes in there and it's opened before breakfast. We then do one "big" present from Mummy and Daddy after lunch/church.

My mum, canny as she is, used to sew the sacks smaller as we grew up as it would have cost a fortune to fill the sacks with gifts for older children. Toddlers stuff is bigger - last year DD had the sack and stockings full up but only a couple of items and satsumas/coins in each as the toys were so bulky. I also unwrap toys from packaging and put batteries in in advance - its the last thing you want to be doing on Christmas morning.

I know some people won't do it that way though as they want their DCs to know that the presents are from them, not FC. I think it's more magical to have loads from FC and one big present from parents.

We've always had proper old lady stockings - American tan for preference. A bit like a bank robber's mask, it makes trying to work out what's inside quite interesting!

A tip I picked up from my mum (once DD was old enough for stocking) is how to switch: you put the empty stocking on the foot of the bed, and then you actually stuff another one, so you only have to go into the room once, whip out the empty one and replace it with the full one.

I think we also had a big present from FC. DD's main presents have always been from us, as DH didn't want FC to get all the kudos.

Sadly, DD (10.8) no longer believes (she asked me outright and I wasn't going to lie to her). Bet she will still expect a stocking this Xmas though!

I made ds' stocking for his first christmas when he was 10months, he has the same one. In this house the rule is that you wait til 7am, then everyone opens stockings together. Main presents gt opened after christmas dinner at lunch time.

Stockings in our house contain:
something chocolate
toothbrush
a book
pens/pencils/pencil sharpner/ colouring pencils etc.
something fun (bath bomb/small toy etc)

BUT the total budget for the stocking contents is approximately £5-7. absolute max is £10. And that is the entire contents

However, ds (5) never really believed in FC and it is me and him so i do all stockings and it is just something we do because it is really nice.

Wow LadyWellian you did well to get your daughter to 10 before she stopped believing in Santa my almost 7 year old is looking sceptical this year .

And yes Tippy Santa definately doesn't wrap which is why I try to get as much as poss into the stockings

Yeah i think apart from the making of them (which we'll use year after year) im going to make ours up to £8, i genuinely cant wait, and I agree about taking all the plastic wrapping from toys and inserting batteries beforehand, we normally do it just so all the packaging is out of the way as our bin emptying is dodgy at the best of times, never mind christmas!

Im still undecided about whether or not to wrap them, im thinking maybe yes though because DS does love unwrapping, but agree, FC doesnt really have that kinda time

LadyWellian I am so pleased to find someone else who had proper ladies' stockings! Have carried it on with mine. The struggle to get everything out of a proper stocking eliminates the need to wrap anything!

Sorry, pictures on profile now.

I still have a stocking and I am over 50!

My sister and I do this, we buy little items over the year, nothing more than £5 but the stocking must have chocolate money... to remind me of my dad coming home tight on Christmas Eve and putting all his loose change in my stocking! You must have a satsuma in there and useful but silly gifts.

Aw. This is lovely.

We always had stockings at home, but we agreed that last year would be the last time, as the 'new generation' had arrived. I was 32, and my sister 34! My mum used to love doing them for us, and she even used to do a small one for our DHs.

For DD last year, we had a small stocking, hung up on the fireplace at my PILs, where we were staying. We've got lots of photos of DH and I hanging up the stocking, putting out the mince pie, etc. and then more photos of us the next day looking shocked when the plate was empty and the stocking full. DD (3 months) looks slightly bemused at our antics........

But I'm hoping we can start to create some traditions around stockings for ourselves. I'm hoping to knit one for DD this year, and I would love it if she could use it for years. I was always slightly disappointed to find that FC had wrapped his gifts in the same paper that my mum had used for our main gifts, so resolved that I would always use different paper for stocking gifts when it was my turn. Last year I hit on the idea of using brown parcel paper for stockings - useful because it means I can wrap stuff as soon as I buy it throughout the year, and it doesn't cost a fortune. Also, will hang the stocking by the fireplace, in accordance with the St Nicholas tradition, but mostly to resolve that whole sneaking into the bedroom hassle.

Will keep an eye on this thread for ideas, but expect that DD will be getting hair slides in her stocking this year, as well as a decoration for the tree (already bought half price in the sales last year). Will definitely do satsumas, chocolate coins, etc. when she's old enough for them.

Love the idea of a balloon - I've just put that on my list.

We have boughten ones for every member of the family. They hang from the doorknobs of the dresser in our front room. They get initially filled with the small presents our ch. give to each other, which they put in the stockings before they go to bed. Then we fill up the rest once they're asleep with all the usual bits, plus any small gifts that will fit in. They always have choc coins, a sugar mouse, a candy cane.

we (DSis and I) used to have my mum's old skiing socks as our stockings, which would be hung on either side of the fireplace with a letter from Santa attached, and we would open these in the morning, main pressies came in the afternoon after lunch. I really like doing it like this cos it meant there was always something to look forward to - stockings, then dinner, then sack of presents (we never recognised my parents' duvet cover) - so you didn't crash and burn by 3pm. Am determined to do this for DD when the time comes!