AIBU to not do stocking ps this year?

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Dd's are almost 12 and 14, in the past we have done stockings mainly to keep the dd's busy for an hour so I don't have to rush out of bed but this year it's just me and them and they are old enough to wait for me to get up. I never had a stocking when I was a child, we had a pillow case which Father Christmas put all our presents (including from relatives) into. As I got older we just had gifts under the tree and we didn't open them until after breakfast. I want to do the same with my dd's and skip the stocking full of bits of tat that they don't even look at after Christmas Day. Am I being mean?

Also how can you eat breakfast first? Far too restrained for my house.

To me stockings are what Christmas is all about( except for the baby Jesus obvs).
But I go OTT to make then really special, with things I know the kids will love, which gets stupidly expensive as they get older.

To me stockings are what Christmas is all about( except for the baby Jesus obvs).
But I go OTT to make then really special, with things I know the kids will love, which gets stupidly expensive as they get older.

My teens would be gutted to not get stocking and you said your dd1 seemed disappointed. That alone would make me determined not to stop them.
Lots of good points above, don’t fill with tat but with things you know they will like. DS for example loves getting a Greggs voucher and dd loves Primark face wipes, micellar cleansing water, cotton wool wipes, toothbrushes, pen sets, toiletries, silly things, sweets, pants etc- mostly things they like/need! DS also wants silly string and is insisting I can trust him now he’s an adult.... hmmmm....
You could maybe put in components for the nice breakfast into stockings - depending on what you want to have of course!! Wee Kellogg cereal boxes would be five but smoked salmon and raw eggs might be messy!!!
We do stockings downstairs when everyone gets up.
Do what works for you but you can tailor it to suit your own dc’s needs.

Stockings are mandatory in this house, DH and I do one for each other as well as the kids. I fill DDs with things I'm always saying no to throughout the year such as blind bags, character socks, hair bows, pretty stationery. She gets ridiculously excited opening it all and its my favourite part of xmas morning.

How about bulking the stockings with something like a tube of pringles/ bags of popcorn/ comic or magazine?
That might take the pressure off a little bit.
Like a pp I just pack smaller presents into stockings rather than buying stuff specially. Mine are just wide enough to fit a DVD or a paperback book.

I'm curious about your reasons for eating breakfast first. One of my favourite parts of Christmas is the rush to open gifts in the morning. DH's family wait until after lunch so we compromise with santa opened in the morning and other gifts after lunch. It works well enough when there's family to entertain, small kids to amuse all day, and elderly relatives who aren't early risers. But if it was just me and the dc, I think we'd just plough straight into the presents and then have breakfast afterwards.

All that said, I absolutely think you should do whatever feels right for your family

My DS will be 18yo, his presents now are usually money, gift cards, downloaded games.
So a stocking in his room that he can open without having to join us and attempt to be sociable would suit him

DD presents are make-up, earrings, gift card type ( tiny and ££)which will be wrapped in the stocking , then any bigger things like clothes , in gift bags.
I bought them light up tapestry stockings last year.

Christmas Eve Box was relocated to 1st Dec last year which they liked better .

I guess the breakfast thing is just me trying to make the day last longer, previous years it's been dd2 waking up at silly o clock and presents being opened before 7am, big rush to go to relatives house for dinner and it just feels rushed and not much fun. This year we are staying at home so I want it to be more relaxed.

I can't really put food into dd2s stocking as she will eat it at 4am and make a right mess. Dd wasn't that disappointed when I said 'no stockings this year' she agreed that she doesn't really look at the stuff after Christmas Day and she would be happy with small presents under the tree with he main present, the breakfast thing might not happen as dd2 probably won't wait to open presents.

We didn't have/do stockings growing up but i do one for 6yo DS. He gets the smallest presents in his stocking, not actual 'stocking gifts' per se. For example he is getting new swimming trunks - they'll fit in his stocking. A Where's Wally book - under the tree. Sticker book - stocking. Wooden train whistle - stocking. Map of the world- tree. Playmobil figure - stocking. Etc.

I'd rather separate them that way than go to Tiger and spunk €10 on stuff.

On the day we do:
Stocking
Breakfast
Walk the dog
Shower and get dressed
Tree presents
Simple lunch (soup and sandwiches plus any present chocolates!)
Dinner at 5/6pm which is the big meal

So the day is a little more relaxed, a little more stretched out. We play boardgames, we play with ds and his new toys. The only thing we watch on tv is a dvd if we or ds have been given one.

Take the lead from your daughters and have a lovely Christmas.

I love stockings! YABU my parents made me one until I left home and DH and I do one for each other now as well as the kids ones.

We do stockings downstairs. Lots of reasons historically, but now it saves waiting till the children are asleep! The first one up wakes everyone else and we troop down to see if Santa has been. Two 48 yr olds and 2 young adults. Me and DH have trouble packing each other's stocking without being seen!

We've never done stockings. Just all presents under the tree, labelled from who got them, and one main "Santa" gift - normally unwrapped and 'ready to go.' Not usually the biggest or most expensive, just something she may have asked for or we'd heard her mention, something she would have coveted. This was always seen and played with first.

Dd is 15 now and we keep the same thing going, though her "Santa" gift is no longer a toy. We still try to make it something she doesn't know she's getting though, and it still isn't the biggest/dearest. We did suggest a year or two back that maybe the Santa aspect didn't need to happen but she was having none of it! She still likes to go through the routine if leaving out a drink and mince pie, and coming downstairs with her dad in the morning after I've gone down to turn on the tree lights and the Christmas music and "check that he's been."

So if your teens are used to having stockings and like the tradition of it, I'd keep them going.

Oh and Dd still likes the "Christmas fairy" to come on Christmas Eve. Was started by my mum as we always visit on Christmas Eve for an hour or two. The Christmas Fairy leaves a small gift bag containing new PJs and normally some chocolate or hot chocolate type thing, and when younger a Christmas related book. She'd be disappointed if we stopped all those kind of little fun buts just because she's older.

Our actual day has changed over time but it's still presents before anything else. I can't see that changing.

We've always had Christmas Day at home and done family the day before and after, and that has stayed the same. The last 3 or 4 years though we've added visiting friends for lunchtime nibbles and drinks to the day. And this year we've scrapped the whole Christmas dinner itself - and we are all going out for an Indian in the evening instead.

It sounds like no one is that fussed about stockings in your house, so no point carrying them on if you don’t want to. But I don’t understand why you were filling them with what you see as “tat” - you have control over what goes in them, so why are you buying things you don’t want in your house?! When I was little we tended to get the stuff that people now put in “Christmas Eve boxes” in our stockings, plus a book, a satsuma, chocolate coins etc

Isn’t the rushing part of the fun? Our presents aren’t done until after a very late Christmas lunch.
All over 18 now but everyone still gets stockings and would be devastated if they didn’t. If you’re staying here you get a stocking. My SIL often brings some bits to go in the stocking fillings pile too.
We do a mixture of a couple of silly and mainly useful things we’d buy anyway (but maybe a more upmarket version).
For adult children, it’s underwear, tights/socks, earrings or cuff links, scent, books, pens, career or study related items such as films in Spanish or stationary. Our children always have a new pair of boots or shoes. Nice toiletries, hair wax, makeup. Cinema/theatre or meal vouchers or a Costa card. A scratch card. Money or foreign currency and travel guide if they’ve a holiday, work trip or deployment in the New Year.
As teenagers it was similar but no alcohol, more hobby related stuff like new ballet slippers, violin strings or a bow, swimming goggles, iTunes vouchers, sailing gloves or a sailing knife, shooting targets or ear defenders.

Then we pop in a silly Christmas hat or hairband with boppers, a satsuma, some chocolate coins, a magic trick or small puzzle, a novelty pen or wind up penguin type thing.
And a selection box.

I’m going against the gran and will say YANBU.

Your dc don’t care about them so why bother? You do a lovely Xmas eve box, which they love so just do what suits your family and ignore everyone else

After saying that my dds are 26 and 23 and they still want stockings! I also have to do their partners now. And whilst I absolutely Xmas I really don’t like doing stockings. I never had them as a child and it’s just another thing to do. I have my birthday both dds, my Mum, sister and two nieces birthdays ALL in Dec. I have enough blooming presents and cards to organise and could do without now having to do 4 stockings!

Not gran! Don’t go against the Gran

Thank you ladies, I see most of the things listed as tat as my dd's won't use them/eat them other than a tooth brush, the satsuma never gets eaten, often the chocolate coins don't even get eaten as they get fed up with chocolate, stationary that don't need (dd1 makes a pen last forever), they don't wear makeup and are not bothered about hair bobbles of body sprays, fidget toys just get broken as dd2 breaks everything. Because dd is so destructive I have to buy larger more expensive things or just not bother. Dd1 is only ever interested in the things she has asked for (main gift).

Haha the satsuma often just goes straight back in the fruit bowl IME, but there would be serious complaints if it weren’t there!

You can’t really describe food as tat, but you can say that there is no point as it won’t get eaten.

Like I say, you have just changed what would have been in my stocking as a child to a Christmas Eve box - and that’s fine if that’s what works for you, in many parts of the world children receive presents on Christmas Eve

Crumbs1 i'd class most of them as gifts, not stocking fillers. Earrings, cufflinks, vouchers, ballet slippers!

I am curious as to why on Christmas morning you stated in the past that you gave stockings to your children to enable you to have an extra hour in bed? Surely the joy of Christmas is getting up with them early and watching their faces as they open all their gifts?

Crimson it’s actually traditionally to put the stockings at the end of the child’s bed and to let the child opens it as soon as they wake up.

H’s family all watch each other opening stockings so everyone got up earlier with children, in my family you open your own in bed (when we were children we would go into each other’s bedrooms and do it together, but parents stayed in bed). Presents under the tree done together. Both ways have their merits/drawbacks!

Aw stockings are so lovely though. Why not get less stuff, and more useful stuff? Edible stuff? Chocolate coins, satsuma, socks, pjs and a book?

I still stocking my DS20. The stockings are definitely an after thought and not very exciting.