Stocking fillers for boys

[Virgil]

I know it's August but I need to start getting small bits and pieces so that I don't have a mad panic closer to the time and to spread the cost.

Any thought for boys stocking fillers. Mine are five and seven.

So far I have a compass each a star wars expanding flannel thing and a new head torch.

I go to music venues (eg Sage Gateshead) museum shops and art gallery shops/online for my daughter's stocking fillers to try to balance out some of the more gendered stuff -maybe you should look at Claire's Accessories though in case your boys want to express their feminine sides?!

Lego minifigures
Comic
Little tubs of slime
Tubs of play-doh

Mine are going to be 5 and 8 by Christmas.

Oh and I got little bottles of gem stones from the museum shop and some shark teeth. They weren't expensive at all but should be a hit with my pair.

Me again.

A disposable camera each to take photos on Christmas day. With lots of advice about less willy/bum pictures and more shots of people!

I haunt hOme bargains and charity shops, mine has sone large glitter glue, stickers, a few books and whatever else I pick up for 50p/£1 when I see them.

I love home bargains.

Toothbrush (always have a toothbrush) bubble bath to encourage bedtime that night, small book for same reason - bedtime reading, ds will be getting a new torch too and playmobil figures. I'm of the "keep it simple" camp. He wil also get one thing to take to church as they do a show and tell an we don't open family presents til the afternoon

Matey Bubble bath
activity packs (contains stickers, book etc)
Hotwheels cars @ 99p each (more for the 5yo than the 7yo)
Character socks
Pyjamas to wear on Christmas night (mine love it when their pyjamas are the same)
Rubicks cube
new character sandwich boxes/drinks bottle
slippers
practical jokes like fake dog poo, sour sweets etc- always a good ice breaker if you have rellies over Xmas

Also last year in Poundland I got some good water pistols, a pinball game and a mini connect four.

Are they too small for cricket balls? They do these in Poundland at the moment. I have no use for one - at four months my dd is definitely too small for now - but I think it's amazing value and have been dying to recommend them to someone!

My DS enjoyed the stopwatch we gave him last year - he would try to time how quickly he could do all sorts of tasks.

Whoopee cushion - they will find them hilarious for weeks (unfortunately)
Top trumps - you can can get younger ones such as Ice Age
Key rings - I know they don't have keys but DS hs a whole bunch fastened together which he thinks is great but I think odd

I recently got mine (7 & 4) a pack of playmobil men on a bike and a motorbike for £2.50 instead of £10 in the sale. Also some crafty bendy things for £2.50 instead of £10 from the entertainer plus some bargain books from the book people. Also got a 5 pack of hot wheels from sainsburys sale for less than £2 and assorted other bargains from their sales with 70% off.

Pens, colouring pens, ream of paper etc also go down well, plus a pack of the next size pants, socks and vests, broken down into individuals and wrapped separately (some end up under tree but enough in stocking to at least have a new set of everything to wear on Christmas day). Plus other boring but necessary stuff so toothbrush (more likely to be a fun one), bubblebath etc that they would have probably got or needed anyway).

There are also sales on in elc at the moment and debenhams which are good for picking bits up. In fact I always keep an eye on sales and then try to finish most stuff off in the sainsburys half price toy week in november. Fingers crossed they do it again.

I have learnt though that I need to keep a list (hidden on phone as Holly fabric notes!) as I can forget - so this year I already have little transformers as I managed to buy them twice on offer last year!)

I just got some glow sticks today. 10 in a tube and only £1! From a shop called Tiger. Also got giant pegs, because who doesn't love a giant peg?

Mine will be 3 and 4. I have alrady filled the stockings for them .

They have,
a Playmobil figure each,
a packet of the Lego where you can build a little car, my oldest has the batman one and youngest a little tractor,
a splat ball each so they can throw them at the wall and watch them splat,
a dinosaur egg with dino and goo in,
a magic flannel each,
a toy car each from the Cars films,
some tattoos,
playdo,
bubblebathand washglove of their favourite character
and closer too Christmas they will have a bag of santa choccies each.

I also got mine some Spiderman socks, Sonic socks and Thomas ones for the youngest.

Glow sticks sound great. I will have a look for some, the stockings are bulging already.

Ooo tattoo packs and glow sticks. Some great ideas on here. I'm off to google

I got mine off Ebay. They were only a couple of quid. I got a pack of 12 Batman tattoos and 16 cars ones.

Hawkins Bazaar have disappeared (but AFAIK they are still on-line) .
They were a treasure trove of little stocking gifts.
My DS is 12.6 yo but some of the things I bought him last year would suit any age.

Little key ring torches (The Range)
Small jigsaw of a T.Rex
I-Spy books
3D bookmarks
Optical Illusions book (he was reading this yesterday, really enjoyed it)
A large pad of tracing paper ( The Works)
Some dinosaur egg shaped things that you made the models up.
And if you don't mind the mess, those plaster cast things that you dig away at the 'find' dinosaurs.

DS likes dinosaurs, can you tell

And don't forget- if you use the Stocking Gift Time to buy yourself a lie in few extra minutes sleep (no chance on Christmas morning ) wrap your stocking gifts individually. I use loads of Sellotape, just to make it last longer.
I love listening to DS and DD whispering and tearing open the wrappings as quietly as they can, and telling each other what they've got.

Yabbadabba - you might want to rethink the toys with goo in as stocking fillers... If your dc like to play with everything or at least open stiff as they go along, especially if you are dozing or not around, the potential for goo to cause chaos should mot be underestimated...

Shudders at thought of last Xmas and the tubs of scoobydooby goo. And I'd even given them under the tree to reduce the chance of anything bad happening. Unfortunately dh opened the packaging and then moved on to other stuff while I was checking on the turkey. Needless to say the ensuing messeant the rest of the goo was disappeared down the loo pretty quickly!

Thanks for the tip zipzap. I may remove the goo and replace with the glowsticks and maybe play with the goo myself

yabba or save it and take it along for the dc to play with at wicked PIL's house (if you have bad PIL of course!)

or indeed have lots of fun with it yourself!!

Without fail my Mum would put a large pack of felt tip and a tube of Smarties in mine and my brothers stockings!

I think I would put something similar e.g paints/felt tips/crayons. Got to have gold coins too!

I'm not really sure what boys are into, but all the suggestions above sound excellent to me!

Colouring book
Gold coins
Toothbrush
bubblebath/shower gel
one of them expanding flannel things-mine love them
reading book
playmobile toys/little cars/pollypockets/dinosaurs
little game.....connect four
educational book....handwriting/numeracy ect
pack of slime/goo/playdough
little notepad
glowstick
rubix cube or other hand held toy.
childrens puzzle book
washable tatoos
keyrings
pair of socks
christmas pen/pencil
christmas glass/mug
slippers
most things i get from poundland, the works, 99p store, asda....although ive bough quite alot from ebay recently.
lots of sales on at the moment

in case it's of interest...

sainsburys have got a toy sale on at the moment - some stuff is 50% off, other stuff is 25-33% off. I've just got some nice playmobil stuff for my dniece's birthday that had 50% off which was very convenient! had ds2 with me so bit tricky to buy any santa stuff

Plus they have garden games, toys, gardening sets etc with 50-70% off