What do you class as "stocking gifts"

[BankerMommy2010]

To me, stocking gifts are sweets & chocolate and maybe a little car or figure...

Ours are more like sacks, I do regret starting off with such large stockings --damn you Mothercare and your cute velour sacks-- so we actually need a substantial amount to fill up . I look all year round to find large but cheapish things that take up lots of space!!! This year have got some fab bulky packaged items lol that should do the trick

I always pop in a small doll or teddy to poke out of the top of the stocking

Small gifts, pretty much anything that's not the 'main present' as I only give him one main gift under the tree. It will be things like books, a DVD, activity set, toy car/figure, something crafty, chocolate coins and an orange.

Our stockings are a gift bag ( so potential for bigger things there) but everything has to be useful or fun and cost less than £3-£4,

They (the DC will be 14 and 11.6) have asked for money/voucher type presents.
DD likes Primark and NewLook.
DS likes Game and money (but he is a saver)

They have Lindt chocolate deer or bears, Lynx for DS, Body Shop bubbles for DD.

Underwear (much to DS disgust but he needs new undercrackers) socks, small make-up items for DD.
Paperback puzzle books.
Selection Box.

I've bought her some silver earrings and a pendant but they'll go in her 'normal' present pile.
DS is getting an X-Box Game for his birthday (early) and they are both having a Young Driver Lesson next month, so the presents are spread out a bit.

Smaller 'proper' presents. Not the sort of disposable stuff you'd perhaps put in party bags

E.g. Japanese candy or eraser kits, kawaii notebooks and accessories, Tinti bath sachets, small dolls (last year was mini American dolls). Knitting and sewing accessories. Replica historical coins, writing quills. We also bought Sonny Angel figures last year. And yes, chocolate coins! I also have some Cath Kidston bouncy balls for this year.

Practical things, which I think have a place in stockings most definitely, would be met with puzzled looks here, but I've bought some Mamegoma face flannels this year.

Oh yes, Lego mini figures. Small Schleich and Ostheimer figures, too.

Stuff under usually £2 unless its in a deal (Hawkins 10 for £20), I've spent £35 at Hawkins today for stocking fillers and we have 16 for one child and 14 for the other :) retro wooden jewellry, squishy eyeballs, whistles, purse, scratch art etc and they will get a selection box (opened and tipped into stocking)

I do anything that fits in xbox games, DVDs, aftershave, chocolates, plastic tat, books, pencils, pens, jewellery, iTunes cards,

My stocking fillers are usually cheap little bits and pieces:

Toys - balls, books, craft items.

Practical items - a bag, drinks bottle, hair clips, umbrella, bubble bath.

Sweet treats - chocolate Santa, tube of smarties etc

I buy presents throughout the year and get things on offer. I tend to go to places like Poundland, wilkinson, primark.

My children are 3 and 1, so I don't want to start a precedent of expensive stocking fillers.

They are also having an Xmas eve hamper which will be a new toothbrush, pjs, chocolate coins. These are things I would have put in their stocking anyway, so it's not extra spending.

Books, craft kits, colouring stuff, socks, pants, gloves, little toys, sweets, hair clips, card games, stickers, bubble mix...

We actually may have a bit of a stocking crisis this year - when dd was three, my mil brought out her old copy of he Night Before Christmas for Dd to read, and the last page saw the children's stockings hanging up with candy canes poking out. So that year, I made sure DVD's stocking had a stripy candy cane in too, and the next year. Then last year I found some in different colours in a shop when we on holiday, and got dd yellow and orange stripes (her favourite colours). She was incredibly excited, and it was all she would talk about whenever anyone asked what she had got for Christmas. So now of course this year she is totally convinced that FC is going to bring her a blue, pink and yellow striped candy cane, and has been asking her sister what her fave colours are and telling her that FC is going to bring them. So now I am desperate to find somewhere selling candy canes in outlandish colour combinations to avoid her being disappointed .

Broadly speaking, things smaller than A5 size.

Some years that might mean a Nintendo DS will go in the stocking, but here, stockings have always been from Father Christmas, so not reserved for 'cheap stuff'.

Stuff they can play with so we get an extra half hour in bed (last year it was new model animals)...

... and something not too messy but chocolatey to eat, and a ceremonial satsuma.

As my children get sacks rather than stockings we're not limited by size.

However, it tends to be smaller novelty items or practical items. I tend to include vests pants, socks etc. it also includes books. This year the girls need new umbrellas, that would be a stocking gift, for example.

The children get 5 gifts from us. That's their big / expensive presents.

Stockings in our house at for small, cheap things ...prob nothing over £2or £3. Contents vary but always include a tangerine, an apple, a £1 coin, toothbrush, hair bobbles/clasps, pens, notebooks, bubble bath, chocolate coins. This year I've also got a moshi monster blind pack, a puzzle, lip balm, glitter tattoos.... So not tat but a mix of fun and practical things.

Everything that goes in the DD's stockings are usually under a £5. Things like DVDs/games go under the tree.

So usually
A selection of the christmas themed chocolates (malteser reindeer etc - currently 3 for £1.20 at Tesco :) )
Lip gloss
Pencils and notebooks
Hair things
Temporary tattoos
B&M/Home bargains/pound shop cheapie bits and bobs.

And yes, the ceremonial satsuma too. I used to put a banana and apple in there too, but had a nasty surprise once when upending DD2's stocking a week after christmas to find a manky banana still in there. :)

Basically small stuff that can fit. I don't set a price limit on stocking fillers. I have an aversion to party bag type tat (in the sense that I don't buy it myself anyway) so I get things that I would be getting anyway, and the small stuff goes in the stocking. Things like Disney character figures, but I unpack them and wrap them so they are much smaller than they would be in the box.

Apart from that it's our traditional components - character socks/undies, toothbrush, magic flannel etc

Oh and chocolate/sweets, needless to say :o

DVDs don't go in stockings here as we get far too many of them these days. We will be getting recent movies (despicable me 2, monsters university etc) under the tree as a family present along with popcorn tubs :)

DS has asked for £30 for the last few years but at the moment he's doing a few odd jobs before uni and has more money in his hot little hands than he's ever had before and has asked for a stocking again this year. He's almost 19 and will probably get and mini thing of ferrero rocher, some anti-perspirant, a packet of Rizlas, some Golden Virginia (I know, I know - don't kill me), and a few other bits and pieces.

DD (15) will get a nice little Cath Kidson Nail kit (which I bought last Jan for £3, ditto some pretty little note books, and a little bubble bath gift set), some chocs, some haribos, some hair bobbles, some lip gloss, a few bits of tat from Tiger Tiger and anything else I see that's small and pretty and not more than a pound or two.

I use little Christmassy gift bags by the way and wrap up everything individually. Bloody hate doing it - don't mind buying it but the sodding wrapping nearly always finishes me off. Makes mental note to do it before Xmas Eve

Kids usually have the following in their stockings

Book(s)
DVD
Hair stuff for dd
Lego / playmobil mini figures
Bath toy
Teddy or soft toy poking out the top
Sweets
Socks
Pants
Toothbrush
Magi flannel
Gloves and hat if need them
Disposable camera

ajandjjmum same here. My Dds are 19 and 22.

Everytime I say I'm stopping stockings the 19 year old says its not fair, as dd1 has had stockings until she was 22, so she needs to.

The 22 year old says its the best bit of Christmas!

They are only half joking, but I keep going because I like doing them too.

Hair clips, balloons, chocolate, bubble mix, socks, toy cars etc. generally small inexpensive stuff.

Smokedmackerel - I have seen different colours of candy canes in Hamleys. Last year I bought a box of Willy Wonka candy canes from Cyber Candy which had blue, green and dark red striped canes. They sell them in American sweet shops if you have one near you. I would avoid buying online because they crack so easily.

Yy to satsuma in the toe, plus lots of chocolate coins. All the above, plus I always put in a novelty pen from Rymans, you know the fluffy/blingy/topped with a Christmas pudding type thing. The kids always groan when they unwrap these, so I've taken to re-wrapping and re-gifting them each year rather than re-buying!

lade - do your children really use umbrellas? I am impressed.