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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

Stockings - when do you stop ?

60 replies

didireallysaythat · 07/11/2015 09:51

DS1 is 9 but I suspect has sussed out father Christmas. DS2 is 5 and is still bought in. When do you stop ?

I don't remember stockings by the time I was at secondary school. My brother is 4 years younger so I think he got stockings when I didn't.

What's the norm ? Not that it really matters what anyone else does, but it's useful to know what DS1's mates might be going through

OP posts:

MrsDeathOfRats · 07/11/2015 10:02

My DC are still small and I'm doing stockings for the first time this year.
But at 31 my mum still does them for me and my siblings. It's the tradition not that we still believe. I also think she just loves doing it. We get silly stuff like a chocolate orange and socks or hair bands and clips etc. Practical stuff but it brings us together to open them like we did when we were kids!

Donge13 · 07/11/2015 10:03

I still do stockings For dds (22 and 18) and dp 49 . They love them, it is a bit of a tradition

DurhamDurham · 07/11/2015 10:06

My two girls are 22 and 18......... We still do them . They have always loved getting their stockings, I also do one for my husband and he does one for me so it's a family thing.

Neither of the girls live at home now but they'll be coming home Christmas Eve and they will expect their stockings to be on their bed posts come Christmas morning.

Stockings are easy really, and you can make them age appropriate. When I started them when they were babies I didn't think I'd still be doing them 22 years later, maybe I'll stopping them for the girls when I become a grandma, them I can do them for the grandchildren instead

Ancienchateau · 07/11/2015 10:06

Never!

DurhamDurham · 07/11/2015 10:06

Donge13 Snap!!

ijustwannadance · 07/11/2015 10:08

Never too old for a stocking.

choli · 07/11/2015 10:10

Time to stop when the kids are old enough to reciprocate by doing a stocking for you and your partner, but don't bother. Teens, usually.

PandasRock · 07/11/2015 10:14

You don't, imo

I do stockings for all of us (well, Dh is supposed to do mine, but I usually end up getting most of it) - Dh is 55, step children in ir 20s, plus our dx of 12, 9 and 4. Plus anyone who comes to stay at Christmas gets a stocking (I have guest stockings!), so have done them for PIL, uncles, various girl/boyfriends of step children etc.

You're never too old for a stocking.

AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads · 07/11/2015 10:15

I got a stocking until I moved out!

Asheth · 07/11/2015 10:23

My Dad is nearly 14 and I'm not stopping stockings any time soon. It's my favourite bit of Christmas shopping!

Asheth · 07/11/2015 10:24

Stupid auto correct! DS is nearly 14, not my dad!

torthecatlady · 07/11/2015 10:25

It's a tradition for our family. My mum loved doing them - she pick all my favourite things, wrap them all in tissue with ribbons.

I love a stocking first thing on christmas morning :)

However, she stopped doing them for my older brother when he wad a teen and used to wrap a selection of his favourite chocolate bars instead.

I do recall my dad complaining when I was 16 that I was too old for a stocking which caused a bit of a row and no stocking that year, however every christmas for the following 6 years I received one (sadly dm passed, so my dh does me one now and vice versa).

I will do them for my dc until they stop appreciating them, if ever :)

mayhew · 07/11/2015 10:27

When my daughter was 18, I suggested ending the stocking. She looked crushed. She's 22 now and still gets excited. As do I .

MorrisZapp · 07/11/2015 10:27

I got condoms in mine once.

Thanks Mum.

blibblibs · 07/11/2015 10:34

If you wake up in our house on Christmas morning you have a stocking
We have DM and DNeice (18) staying this year and they will both have them.

YakTriangle · 07/11/2015 10:36

I stopped when I realised I was spending a fortune filling them and the DC really didn't care what was in them. They were unpacked, glanced at, and set aside because of the excitement of opening the larger presents. The contents, like small toys and books (sweets being the exception) often ended up being sent to charity shops later. So I gave up with it.
They are nice children really, I've made them sound very ungrateful

fluffysox15 · 07/11/2015 10:41

I never stop! Me and my DH do one for eachother too :)

Original poster

didireallysaythat · 07/11/2015 10:43

Thank you for your replies - I was a little worried I'd cone across as a baa humbug. We didn't have fun Christmas's so I'd like my DS to have more fun. But I find myself turning to eBay to find party bag fodder to stuff in a stocking as there will be a gift under the tree from us. DH's family also do presents under the tree from Santa (kids only!) which is an alien concept to me - we got a stocking from Santa and everything else was from family. And so I end up with DS1 writing a big ticket list for Santa because 'Santa doesn't have to go shopping and pay for things' while will identify more modest gifts for family to give him... I hate the 'get get get' side of it all, so the stockings are light relief in some ways as they are

OP posts:

Donge13 · 07/11/2015 10:51

We also carry on the present from the Christmas tree which is opened Xmas eve and is always pjs,so we look nice on Xmas morning photos

ChristmasZombie · 07/11/2015 11:34

I had my last Christmas at my parents' house when I was 23, and I did have a stocking!
Now DH and I do stockings for each other. We're both 30.

EdithWeston · 07/11/2015 11:46

We haven't.

By which I mean my DM still gets bits and pieces for mine, and ai and my siblings still make one for her. The youngest of those participants is over 50.

So still doing them for teenage DC seems like early days. And I'll keep doing them every year I can get stuff to them.

Also, I think it spaces the day. Stocking presents first thing (hideously early, if you're unlucky) and then be occupied with them until tree presents later in the day (after Queen's speech for us).

Ragwort · 07/11/2015 11:53

I still do one for my DS (14) - most of the presents are things he would 'need' - socks, boxer shorts, lynx, school stationery etc etc plus a few chocolates etc. He gets a 'main' present from us under the tree later in the day, plus a few from relatives, as Edith says, it spaces out the day as personally I don't like a huge 'opening spree' first thing in the morning. .

GreenSand · 07/11/2015 12:00

My 86 year old Grandmother will be expecting one on the 25th.

WiIdfire · 07/11/2015 13:09

34 here and still get one. It always has a chocolate orange, satsuma, monkey nuts, sugar mouse and some individually wrapped chocolates (e.g. Quality street types). No need to stop doing them :-)

onlywhenyouleave · 07/11/2015 13:18

didi good question. I have been thinking about this myself. I can't say I particularly enjoy stocking gift shopping and find it a chore tbh plus my 2 never seem that bothered.

Ds1 is also 9 and am fairly sure he realizes about Santa but doesn't want to admit to me. DS2 is nearly 7 and definitely still believes (I can't ever imagine him not believing tbh as he lives in a fantasy land most of the time ) .

I do think that when they both stop believing, I am going to stop

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