Stocking fillers for Mil who likes the best of things and has everything.

[April19]

We are going to her and fil's for Xmas dinner which will be a fancy affair. I had the idea of doing a stocking but what could I put in it?

I was thinking....
Fancy hot choc, which one?
A candle
Key ring with kids photo

I would be grateful for some ideas as she is a teeny tiny bit uppity 😅 and want nice bits and bobs in there that she would enjoy. Thanks.

Mini bottle of Prosecco

Lovely hand cream

Posh biscuits in a tin

My DM is also quite uppity. She might or might not cringe at the whole idea of a stocking but the type of thing she would quite like would be

a single posh chocolate truffle
Mini toiletries/ hand cream from Molton Brown or L'Occitane
A neutral-ish Opi nail polish
Tea from Fortnum's
Cashmere gloves or socks
Clarins minis

She would literally shudder with horror at a keychain with a picture of anything and would throw it away the second my back was turned

Bed socks from The white company? (they are not cheap though)
One of those holders to put rings on when you are doing stuff in the kitchen.
Not sure how old your children are but my MIL is getting a advent calendar from us (I have a thread about it here ) One of the presents is a card from each child with their favourite memory of grandma written on it.

Another is a IOU type voucher. In my case it will read " Put on some nice clothing we are coming to take you out for lunch today"

However it could be something set in the future.

Selfridges is good for this sort of stuff (you can order online) - and they have a store wide sale on this Friday - usually either 20% or 10% off. I'd go for dessert wine - small bottles and you can get good value compared to regular wine.

www.selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/foodhall/wines-spirits/wine/dessert-wine/?llc=sn

Their mini panettones also look very pretty and are nice

Definitely mini bits and bobs from The White Company, L'Occitane, Molton Brown etc.

Afternoon tea voucher? Diptyque candle? Posh chocs (Charbonnel et Walker or Prestat?)

All depends on what you want to spend, but you can buy most of these bits from John Lewis.

By the time you fill a stocking with mini luxuries you'll have spent a fortune. Might be better just getting a nice gift set from Molton Brown or L'Occitane or somewhere. I got a lovely set for £40 with 20% off (so £32) from molton brown with body lotion, bath and shower gel and hand cream. All full sizes and comes in a lovely gift wrapped box. Looks nice and substantial.

Your mil has a stocking?

I agree, nice gift is enough rather than spend a fortune on little things.

Is she the kind of person who would appreciate something like handmade tree decorations from the kids? If so you can get hollow baubles and things to fill them with from Hobbycraft - even uppity people sometimes appreciate handmade stuff from children

Crabtree & Evelyn usually do Christmas offers where you can get a couple of their lovely handcreams packaged in a Christmas cracker. And I've noticed M&S are doing Christmas spiced tea and coffee this year. Perhaps with a nice cup?

Florentines from Prestat?

Oh, and if you can't find a nice stocking anywhere I once took someone a wreath with some little pressies tied on in Christmassy gift bags, went down very well.

Some posh tea, coffee, biscuits or chocolates from Betty's tea rooms?
www.bettys.co.uk/

To be honest, she'd probably prefer one nice thing rather than several small cheap things. Why are you thinking of making up a stocking for her?

Thanks so much for all the great ideas. We are getting them a gift certificate for a 5 star hotel stay, 1bb1d as they only go places for one night. But we are going to their's for dinner and as it's hard to get her one thing, she has everything and is particular, I thought it would be a nice idea of little thoughtful but quality things to unwrap from a stocking with kids looking on. That's all.

What's the budget OP?

"Thoughtful" is only thoughtful if it's personal and meaningful to the recipient, though. So I would get my mother heavy duty gardener's hand cream because she spends a lot of time working on her garden, but my MiL hypoallergenic hand cream because she reacts really badly to most scented stuff

Does she have any particular interests or hobbies? Or is there some connection you can make to the place they are going to stay?

Gamer chick, she hasn't a stocking but I wanted to buy one and fill it with some small bits. They are v good to us all year around.

What's the budget? That dictates everything.

Do you know her usual brands? I'd get her a mini travel set to take on her hotel trip.

A lush bath bomb or bar of soap
Chocolates
A mug
Notepad

Space NK do nice stocking fillers.
You also could get one of the beauty advent calendars from one of the beauty box companies and select some bits from it to add to the stocking, and you can keep the rest. 😁

What is your budget?

Agree the photo keyring and hot choc are a bit naff.

Space NK and Oliver Bonas do nice small bits. But it will all mount up!!

Can you get to Fortnums?

I think they do drinking chocolate, and you might like to get their square chocolates - I'd go for Earl Grey or the mixed box. Or a tin of their Christmas biscuits.

Molton brown bauble, they have black friday deals on
Loccitance minis, from their site or debenhams
Hotel chocolat, the small packs
Whittards drinking choc or coffee set
Nice candle

Thanks all. 40 would be around my budget as we are getting them a hotel gift card as well but just want to bring something the kids will enjoy her opening. She is a big hot choc fan hence I wanted to source one she might like to try. Think I have plenty of ideas here now so thanks for all the input.

I bought a friend White Rabbit hot choc. It comes like a bar of chocolate and you break off a square (or two!) I'm not a hot choc drinker but she is and really enjoyed it.

I have tried many hot chocolates over the years and the only one I have now is Hotel Chocolat, it's excellent and I totally recommend it. It's about £10 a tin and the tin is full of chocolate flakes. It works best if you put them in cold milk and they melt as you hest it up. Adding them to hot milk doesn't work as well. Mmm hot chocolate

Rococo hot chocolate is my recommendation