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Original poster

Ds just turned 18 -no more stocking?

260 replies

JustaPatioWithAspirations · 12/12/2020 14:28

Aibu to no longer give ds1 a stocking now he’s turned 18?

I can’t think of a better time to stop.otherwise I’ll be doing it when he’s 30!

I feel a bit mean though!

Ds2 (15) will still get one.

OP posts:
Scottishskifun · 13/12/2020 10:10

My mum gave us stockings til my brother moved out at 29 I told her from 18 I didn't need one but my brother always made a huge fuss about it all (he's older as well!)

My MIL will still do stockings for everyone if we are there Christmas day but doesn't if we aren't.
I suggest nipping it in the bud now otherwise you might have 10 more years due to hissy fits!

DuesToTheDirt · 13/12/2020 10:30

I'm thinking of ditching the stockings this year, not primarily due to age though. I do most of the choosing for stockings for DD1 and DD2, plus one for DH. DD1 is impossible. She never wants anything, so I trail round looking for stuff she might possibly want or use, and it then sits untouched in her room for eternity. DD2 is fine, and a pleasure to buy for. DH is difficult, do its mostly beer and chocs, and if he asks for specific books I'll buy those. DH does one for me - I am easy to buy for, but I wouldn't miss not having a stocking.

I also usually buy odds and ends for my mum too, another difficult customer. Chocs -"I'll never get through all those, with just me." Smellies likewise. Biscuits -"They were awfully dry.".Scarves etc unsuitable in some random way. But I know she would be disappointed if I didn't bother.

Feeling a bit of a grinch, but I've had enough!

treeeeemendous · 13/12/2020 10:35

I will continue to do stockings for my kids as long as they sleep in my house on Christmas Eve! That will include coming home from uni etc. They are teenagers now but can't ever imagine stopping.

treeeeemendous · 13/12/2020 10:37

And yes all the pets get one too!

Skipsurvey · 13/12/2020 10:38

mine are all in their twenties,
i am veering on negative towards stockings this due, due to covid, dont want to do too much shopping,
and lack of spare money

beautifulmonument · 13/12/2020 10:39

YABVU
Wait until your youngest is an adult

Skipsurvey · 13/12/2020 10:40

reading t his thread for ideas now!
a mug,
good idea,
chocs and sweets, perhaps,
i need a miniature stocking i think

Skipsurvey · 13/12/2020 10:40

ah, miniature wine/beer/gin/rum?

Skipsurvey · 13/12/2020 10:42

i might have to do one for my dm and dh, in that case
but what about me?

viques · 13/12/2020 10:59

@Skipsurvey

reading t his thread for ideas now! a mug, good idea, chocs and sweets, perhaps, i need a miniature stocking i think
I find mooching around Superdrug is helpful for stocking fillers for my dd.

. One off sachets of face masks, I like the self heating ones and the weird paper ones.

Tiny Nail polish in outlandish colours

Emery boards

Makeup sponges

Nail polish remover

Cotton buds

Cotton wool pads

Etc

Hophop26 · 13/12/2020 11:00

I would only risk stopping it at this age if I had an open conversation about it, and earlier than now, October time etc. My dh was youngest so a lot of Christmas frills and effort was stopped at a much earlier age for him than his siblings, he was far more upset and affected by it (in a non spoilt way) than his mum had any idea of, it really wasn’t about the money or flashy gifts but the effort of making things special. I will never do that or force “being grown up” at Christmas as 20 years later there’s still quite an hangover from it

Glitterypants · 13/12/2020 11:01

Everyone gets stockings regardless of age in our families!

Chloemol · 13/12/2020 11:13

I still get a stocking from my mother, we all do and I am three times his age!

ILoveYoga · 13/12/2020 11:43

No age on stockings in our house either. One for each of us

However, our son moved out years ago (adult) and as he’s no longer coming to ours for Xmas, there’s no stocking for him. We exchange gifts when we get together with him to celebrate Xmas

UndomesticHousewife · 13/12/2020 12:02

Two of mine are older than 18 and they get stockings they will probably get stockings forever
And one of mine is at uni and she hadn't moved out and just visits for Christmas she lived at home and went away for short periods to study.
They have left home when they properly leave home with their own place and visit for the day on Christmas Day!

UndomesticHousewife · 13/12/2020 12:04

@Emeeno1

No. This is why we no longer have young adults in society but adult sized children.

'When I was a child, I talked like a child, felt like a child, reasoned like a child: when I became an adult, I put from me childish ways.'

What are you going on about Grin it's a stocking on Christmas Day. I'm sure the 18 year isn't expecting Santa to come down the chimney and deliver the stocking.
Glitterypants · 13/12/2020 12:14

No. This is why we no longer have young adults in society but adult sized children. "When I was a child, I talked like a child, felt like a child, reasoned like a child: when I became an adult, I put from me childish ways

LOL

This can't be right because me still get stocking from Santa Claus and me a big girl now

user686833 · 13/12/2020 12:23

I got my last stocking age 11 Sad.

fmlfmlfmlfm · 13/12/2020 12:29

I'm 33. I still get one (I'm a mother of 3) I would probably cry until the next Christmas if my mum didn't do one x it's not about the presents it's feeling loved x

Last year I got a mouldy banana in the bottom 😂

BearSoFair · 13/12/2020 16:11

DS1 is 18 this year, definitely still getting a stocking. I expect he'll get one whenever he's here for Christmas, even if he's 35 and only coming to stay for one night!

Trinacham · 13/12/2020 16:16

My mum still did one for me, until I left home, then it was hubby's job. It is a good way to give practical small things that they need.

eggandonion · 13/12/2020 16:20

I have explained to my children that Santa is having a difficult time this year, and stockings may include random items from the supermarket that Santa has access to.

They are 24, 27and 30. They all earn more than I do. But they will always get stockings.
Dh got a watch when he was 12, that was the end of Santa coming to him. He gets a stocking now.

mbosnz · 13/12/2020 17:25

My 82 year old mother still gets a stocking. Whoever is hosting her, does it. And I defy you to have the temerity to tell my extremely formidable, hard bitten, had a bloody hard life, four foot nothing mother that she is an adult sized child. Actually I dare you to. Double dare. . . She is a child sized adult, who had a bloody traumatic upbringing, and for all her failings and mistakes as a parent, she was damned determined that Christmas would be magic for her kids, and that magic would continue, for as long as it's needed, without an arbitrary, age based cut off. And her children have embraced that.

And God knows the magic is needed, particularly this year. . .

It's as expensive as we make it, or can afford, and some years that's been sweet fanny adams, and some years, far too much. . .

Skipsurvey · 13/12/2020 17:26

i was also about 11 when i got my last stocking Sad

eggandonion · 13/12/2020 17:37

@Skipsurvey, I am sending you Stocking based thoughts. It means a lot to me to be able to shove bags of Maltese, toothbrushes, socks and the like into stockings, I'm older than my mum was when she died, my kids are older than I was when I lost both parents. She did my stocking, up to her final Christmas.
I sound Dickensian! I wonder if people do stockings for grandchildren, or is that overstepping and a reason to go non contact!