Any ideas for thirteen small presents?

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Where I come from we have 13 days of Christmas, and every day of that, you get a present (a small one- a stocking filler but a bit more) in your shoe. We've done this every year as it is my home country's tradition, and we lived there until two and a half years ago, so my eldest ones (even the one who doesn't believe!) all grew up with it, and my younger ones are growing up with it.

The presents are all different and are meant to be special iyswim. And can fit in a shoe (probably a wellie) for a total of about £15 per child (so a bit over £1 a present). They have less Christmas presents as a result. We've spent £20 each on their presents under the tree, so these shoe presents are quite meaningful iyswim.

Any ideas which aren't tat? Last year I gave them typical stocking filler stuff but it was fairly useless, so I'd like not to waste it!

How old are those you're buying for?

13, 4 and 2 (and a baby). The 2yo will be happy with some tied together bubblewrap and crinkly stuff tbh, so I know what to get her. So really a 13 and a 4yo, the 13yo is a girl and 4yo is a boy.

Bar of chocolate
Soap
Flannel
whoopee cushion
xmas decoration
lego minifigure
hair accessories (girl)
funny / fluffy socks
nail varnish
marbles
small puzzle
variety pack cereals
book
shoelaces

Lots if these can be found in pound shop and supermarket

My teen would be thrilled with hot chocolate / latte sachets, a compact mirror ( you can get great ones in home bargains and pound shops), gloves, hat, scarves, novelty socks, nail varnish, lip balms, 2l of fizzy drink she didn't have to share, a poster, stationery

4 yr old? Tattoos, stretchy animals,top trumps or other card games, sweets, a ball, magic tricks, practical jokes, joke book, cheap watch

2 yr old? I would get loads of different balls , bouncy, squashy, glittery etc

We do this too! Only our presents go in socks rather than shoes. I have 2 boys and typical things are hot wheels cars, lego mini figures, bubble bath, torch, mini nerf gun, books, and of course sweets/chocolate coins. Sometimes something they need like new socks or mittens but that isn't so popular! For an older girl maybe some bits of makeup/lip gloss, jewellery, hair things, pens, stationery?

Perhaps that's a bit stocking filler type stuff but not sure what else you would do for the money. Mine love the whole idea and feel special because no one else at school gets this (they don't seem to realise that the other kids probably get the same just in a stocking on xmas day)

Lip Balm
Those straws with flavoured powder in to make your milk turn into a milkshake as you drink it.
Those Magic Beans toys
'Rattlesnake' magnets (here
Finger lights
Bathbomb

I do this, but only on the 5th of december :)
Mine is getting a paint your own giraffe kit, was about £1.50 in Wilkinsons. They do lots of little kits like this for no more than £3.
She is also getting a book set, look into bookpeople, they do books very very cheaply, you could split the box.

Get some paper and get them to do paper chains for the tree, or origami, or paper snowflakes.

Nail varnish pens? I bought a set of 6 I think, split them over few nights.

A box of marzipan fruit, one each every night?

Never heard of 13 nights of shoe presents, I am curious about your country now :)

I think this might work best if you alternate, 25-50p gift Haribos, chocolate coins, drinking chocolate, with £1.99 ish gifts so you can get usable makeup, and non total tat for the non edible gifts.

13x£1 is going to be hard.

If you split bags of Xmas choc over all three you should be able to throw in the odd cheap day.

Are you Icelandic?

I would go to Pound World or Pound Land and have a look round. Pound World is best, as you can get some nice hair and beauty things, but also Art supplies, small toys, stationery etc.

Over budget really (unless you spent much less than £1 on some things) but your eldest might like some mini bookmarks. If you are near a whsmiths they have lots of sets. I'm giving DH this sci fi set for DH and have dropped hints about a wile e coyote/roadrunner set for myself , and DSS was chuffed with a Mini Cooper set I gave him last year

Or for 4yo this Gruffalo bookmark is cute

Happyland figures - you can get sets of about 5 figures which work out quite cheap especially if you take advantage of sales

Have you got any Boots points? If you do, and you can spend them on your daughter and don't mind getting her make up and pampering gifts, then you could probably pick up a 2 for 3 deal in boots, and get it down to under ten pounds for all three sets, depending on how many points you have to spend. Usually there are lots of sets of nail varnish, make up, smellies and other 'prettifying' stuff, that would add up to quite a few if you got three of them. Depends on whether you and she like that sort of thing, though. I would look for a little tatty teddy or something to sit at the top, because that's always been one of our traditions. You can get them for about five pounds, I think. Ebay is good for things like bracelets or bangles. My daughter loves Russian dolls, and I got her a Russian doll bracelet and necklace off ebay for very little money, for her stocking las year. She's also had pretty little actual Russian doll sets that I've found on ebay for not very much money.

Also my daughters always love a pretty notebook and a pen.

And because I am quite mushy I would probably make one of the presents a letter from me listing all the things I love about her, maybe with a few little chocolates added. I find that as silly as it seems, everybody loves hearing about the special things that make them who they are in others' eyes. Esp in the teenage years where they often feel so self-conscious and awkward.

Another idea for a gift that doesn't cost (right now, anyway) is a jar with a selection of 'vouchers' for a special thing to do together, just you and her, maybe to be redeemed on weekends in January? Things like - go for coffee and cake, or out to see a film, or maybe an evening staying up late (perhaps on a school night to make it extra special!) snuggling up with popcorn and a new DVD, or maybe a pottery activity or some other arty thing if she is creative?

Another vote for pound shops. I have started buying a few stocking fillers from there already and have got things like:-
CD
Small toiletries
Character toothbrushes
Socks and slipper socks
Hat & gloves
Headphones
Phone covers
Sweets/chocolates
Mini torches
Stationery
Mugs & drinking bottles
Pocket money toys
Mini craft kits
Bubbles

I can't think what else at the moment....

Are you crafty at all? You could make some nice little things for next to nothing. A felt tree decoration, a friendship/bead bracelet (could do their names in alphabet beads?), a cute bookmark (especially if you have a laminator... I'm currently coveting one ), crayons in funky shapes (melt old ones down into shaped ice cube moulds if you have them), tiny canvas paintings (I've found 10x10cm canvases in Hobbycraft - adorable!)? Would certainly be meaningful :)

These count as tat really so may not appeal but in my family we all love poppers (in fact I seem to be recommending them on so many threads that I may as well bookmark the page ) - could give one each and then have a laugh seeing whose goes the highest! I got some for my DCs back in June and we still use them loads

Ooh ooh ooh (ok getting carried away now) do your DCs have any lego? I'm wondering if you could actually squirrel away some bricks to make particular models, or just provide the bricks with a little diagram of how to make a little model? I think you can look up online how to make a snowman etc, you could probably print off instructions and then assuming you have the right pieces already then it's basically free!

oooh I've just thought of a good one ....a DIY Sock Monkey Kit.

You can print the instructions off the internet (example here) and all you need to provide is a pair of stripy socks ( I bought a fabulous rainbow striped pair for DDs sock monkey from a £ shop), 2 buttons for the eyes and maybe some filling - I bought a cheap cushion pad (or use the filling from an old cushion at home)

Sorry for taking ages to get back. to all who've answered.

Crafty? Um, nope. I'm the opposite of crafty. I'm not artistic, good with my hands, nothing. I'm even crap at Lego DH is so I'll suggest all the ideas. He's coveting a laminator too, he's desperate for one. I've caved in and got him one for £13 this year. He also wants a glue gun...

My eldest is quite crafty. I think I'll print out some sheets of craft stuff and provide some materials, for a few of the days, so she can get the filling/socks/buttons + instructions? She'd love that.

Poppers look great. I'm definitely getting them those!

Holger I love the list of love idea. I'm a mushy type person and I made one of those for my DS' memorial service. I think doing one each for my other DC would be wonderful.

I love the jar idea too. It would be very personal and special to them. I've got some ideas of what to put in already! Thanks! No Boots points actually and I think my DM is getting her some makeup/pamper stuff, I'm a bit clueless about makeup tbh

Bella thanks for the list! Ithink I'm going to use nearly eveyrthing on your list. I'm so hopeless at ideas so

Oh, someone up thread suggested iceland and I looked it up. I knew nothing about Icelandic christmas traditions, but this is a lovely little read.
I love reading about other countries's traditions, so thank you for the opportunity.

Ooh do any of your DCs like Hama beads? You could get them new beads, or maybe a new funky shaped peg board? They sell them individually on amazon and in Hobbycraft - you can get various animals and probably Xmas themed ones etc.