Is it too early to ask about stockings?

[Monr0e]

Who am I kidding, this is in Christmas.

Every year we have the same staples. Chocolate Orange, underwear, socks, magazine, toiletries. This year I want to avoid bulking them out with cheap plastic tat that gets forgotten about before we've even had breakfast so I'm looking for ideas. DS is 11 and DD is 7, thank you

It's never too early on the Christmas topic...

I'm starting to pull bits and bobs together for our stockings. I have 2 adult daughters and theirs is usually:

Bra/pants set
Socks
Makeup (foundation and mascara)
Sweets (I've found a shop that does small jars of retro sweets so probably rhubarb and custards)
Something smelly (Lush stuff)
A book
A novelty - DD2 has a Wizard of Oz key ring - last year DD1 got a Dr. Who one.
I used to put an iTunes voucher in but they use Spotify now.

DS is 10. He'll have
Pants - character ones in the past but now he likes Jasper Conran ones
Socks
A chocolate Santa
Something smelly - last year's set of shower and hair gel went down very well
A book
A portable game. He's had Top Trumps in the past but this year I've bought the Cluedo card game (£7.99 or so in WHS)
A novelty. The Whoopie cushion of a couple of years ago was a hit
I'm looking for the Slytherin pencil case at Primark
I may put in an Amazon voucher as he's getting a kindle.

Have started to get stuff in the sales for DD's (10) stocking.
So far from,
Dotcomgiftshop.com:
Sewing tin (bargain was £15 reduced to £4.)
2 notebooks one with the periodic table on the cover & the other one with the colour wheel on the cover.
A Guatemalan worry doll.
Flamingo mini nail files.
Badger Straws.
A box of Flamingo Cocktail Umbrellas (she's always liked cocktail umbrellas since she was a toddler & puts them in her & decorates her room with them & also got used as Barbie umbrellas/parasols.)
From H&M sale:
3 pairs of animal design socks.
Mini Chanel lookalike black quilted coin purse.
From Avon Sale:
A mini manicure set.

I'll also put some books, chocolate, can of Pringles, nail polish, shower foam in a can, face wipes, maybe some tiny make up bits & mini Impulses like last year.
She also got Chemistry Top Trumps & a puzzle book for clever kids, which I'll do again this year (obviously different Top Trumps.)

This year I might put one of those pump action toothpastes in as she's always badgering me for those.

There are some really good ideas on here.

Plus I'm the master of packing things.

Stockings in our house contain:

Chocolate coins
2x sweets - this changes depending on the child, dd gets American sweets, ds1 is getting some Japanese Pokemon candy, ds2&3 are getting pez
Pants/underwear
Socks
Magazine/comic
2 blind bags e.g. Lego, imaginext, playmobil, Pokemon cards etc or equivalent for dd (makeup, jewellery etc)
Cuddly toy

My kids (9, 8, 6) get the following:

Tangerine
A large tube of something (jelly tots, fruit pastels, buttons etc)
A Playmobil or Lego figure (the ones that come in a single packet)
Chocolate coins
Hair bobbles/clips for girls
A nail varnish (for all of them!)
Xmas themed hair band (elf ears, antlers for example)
Lip balm
Pritt stick
Blue Tac
Keyring

Bath bomb
Play soap
Bubblebath
Cristmas smelling shower gel
Sweets
Mechano sets
Phone or tablet cover

Fantastic ideas, thanks everyone

Last year they got a personalised jar of nuttella each as well

Genius! Where did you get them from?

DS (9) had a hot wheels car (he collects the film ones and keeps them in the packets) beef jerky, pack of top trumps, star wars chocolate lollypops, a small puzzle (one of those things where you have to figure out how to undo two metal things, annual and a small bottle of strawberry Rubens

DH had whisky miniatures, hand cream, penknife, beef jerky and a puzzle (another metal thingy you have to try and undo!

Brittbugs you can order the name labels from ebay and add them to a regular jar of nuttella. The elves bring the stockings in our house so they usually have plenty of sweet treats.

I'm slowly working my way through buying these

That list is perfect! Thank you. There are loads of items on there that both dc's would love and the giant playing cards will be perfect for my gambling loving very poorly sighted gran

SimplyNigella where do you buy Japanese sweets from??

Brittbugs you can order the name labels from ebay and add them to a regular jar of nuttella. The elves bring the stockings in our house so they usually have plenty of sweet treats

Thank you. Going to order a couple. Got some Nutella fans in the family.

@TelephoneTree I got some Japanese sweets from blippo here I got Pokémon ones for my Pokémon obsessed ds but I'm sure they'll other types

Hang fire on the Nutella, I've heard rumours of little Christmas jars in the shops this year.

Hang fire on the Nutella, I've heard rumours of little Christmas jars in the shops this year

That would be amazing! I'm so excited about Christmas this year!!

Yes! Will start picking up the little metal puzzles on sight. I'm over Top Trumps thanks to one particular train journey (London to Edinburgh, we all have our limits) but seeing as we can't fit many more board games into the house I'm adding card/travel games to my private Amazon wishlist in preparation. These can go in stockings (sussed, Jaipur, Hive pocket).

Also recently clocked a stall in a mall selling novelty American candy.

Plus, maybe some arty crafty bits from The Works (my spiritual home) and the whole thing is pretty much sewn up.

Oh and a "spork" spoon/fork camping thing. I think it's pointless, it's not as if we don't have room to pack a spoon and a fork but he was very taken with them when we saw them in a shop. I love sneaking back to get something I put my foot down about at the time. Possibly even more so as I think this will be the first year that he knows Santa is really Mum and Dad.

Ali Express is delivering some training chopsticks, drinking straw glasses and self inking stamps for DS. I need to stop buying stocking fillers!

Well so far I'll be getting 3yo dd1 a pocket kite, magic snow and a harmonica. I'll add that to the chocolate coins and orange she always gets.

Oh, I like the idea of something camping related. We have only been 3 times me rather reluctantly and the dc's love it so might keep my eyes open for something along those lines.

I always like to include something to occupy them like a small Lego set but DS has outgrown these now. A small puzzle would be good though

@simplynigella can you buy small quantities of things from Ali express?

Thank you @christmasunicorn!

Yes, absolutely. Everything I bought was singles, although it is great for multiple party bag fillers too.