please post ideas here for cheap xmas presents/stocking fillers for children...

[bubblepop]

what do you fill their stockings with? all sorts of ideas to lessen the cost of xmas or make it special please post here. c'mon ladies!

i go to the many pound shops and fill up with stationary,sweets,bubble bath,hair things ,flannel,hairbrush,playdough,i suppose it depends what age never had a problem when they were under five

well dd only 18mo so didnt bother with stocking last year this year she will have small ball, and a small soft toy and im not sure what else at the moment have looked asda and tesco for stocking fillers they got lots for older children

asda are selling girls and boys stamping sets for £1!
Bouncey balls
small xmas cuddly
stickers
glow sticks
cheap torch
mini puzzles

Have a browse through Hawkin's Bazaar

bubbles
stickers
socks
bubble bath
crayons
colouring book
selection box choccies (taken out of box, and wrapped individually!)
Chocolate santa poking out of the top
orange
apple
50p

i've been buying wee bits and bobs over the year.

a mug for DD1, who likes to drink 'tea' with us - milk, hair bobbles, lip gloss and cheap makeup for her dress up box, bubble bath, jar of sea glass

for DD2, crayons, lacing beads, small toys

i'm making truffles nad bon bons this year.

toothbrush and toothpaste
tights/socks/knickers
microwave popcorn
little packs of cereal
mittens/gloves

I get things that I know they need as well as treats!

I have 3 dses, the youngest will only be a few months old. We'll be doing a stocking for him, but mainly for the the benefit of the others. Having all boys, we already have everything we are likely to need for him, so we're stumped what to put in his stocking. Today dh had an idea of getting one present which comes in many parts and wrapping it up individually. Ideas we came up with are a trolley with bricks or an inflatable / pop-up ball pit with balls. Generally for the older ones I would include:
pants
socks
bubble bath
book about christmas
board game
bracelet - ds1 loves jewelry
chocolate santa / coins
something from the letter that went to santa
rubber / pencil sharpner / pens etc

Last year DS (nearly 3) got:

mini face painting set
steam train whistle
mini kaleidoscope
stickers
crayons and mini notepad
bath toys
'magic' flannel
Toy cars
mini board book about animals
Characters socks (Noddy, Thomas etc)
mini Dora/Boots/Swiper figures

...that's what I can remembeer. there was more stuff I don't recall now. The whole stocking came in at about £30. I got a lot of stuff from the local pound shops, also Woolies, Asda, Tesco, Argos and M&S's 'Xmas 3 for 2'.

oh, and bubbles! They always seem ton go down well.

In the wondow of my local poundstretcher they had a poster of babt annabel with idea stocking filler written across the bottom, made me feel really stingy as it's not a stocking filler in my eyes!

Baby Annabel a def main present I would have thought!

lots of nice things here

Our Tesco (and others) have a huge bin or knocked down colourly stationery items at the moment. I try to get a few every time I go in.

Definitely have a look round the pound shops, also if you have a QualitySave or B&M bargains they have great things.
What ages Bubblepop?

Glowsticks were the standout hit for us last year
Any little notebook seems to be popular too
As Wendy says, Hawkin's Bazaar are brilliant for this sort of thing, our otherwise fab Pound Shop is a bit utilitarian for kids' stuff

My DS (4) loves post it notes and stickers. When I was in PC World last week, they had them at the checkouts and I couldn't believe it when I saw a stack of them for 7pence. I picked one up for his stocking-wish I'd got more now!

Message withdrawn

Hits here have included:

Fart Putty (most successful stocking filler EVER!)
Magnets
Bowl, cup and plate set (when DS was 18m)
Bath toys
Bath crayons, bath confetti, bath tints
Sparkly purse
Plastic dinosaurs

Agree hawkins Bazaar yes, lots of good stuff!

LO's here always geta new rubber duck, we found ones with Santa hats on (at Hawkins!) last year

Bookmarks, and 'novelty' fruit for older kids (DS1 wants a dragon fruit )

hi girls. thanks for the tips, hope some more are posted today. my children are 11yrs,8yrs (both boys) and 3yrs,nearly 2 yrs (both girls)

it seems that its easier to find things for the younger ones, but as they get a little older im struggling for ideas to fill the boys stockings

My parents always gave us lots of essentials in our stockings. They probably spent a lot, but at least some of it was on things they would have had to buy us anyway, so we might have had a character toothbrush intsead of usual plain one, or some fancy shampoo or shower gel.

Also if there was anything we were likely to need for school over the next 6 months, we would get it from FC. Pens, paper, rubbers etc, also workbook type things or revision notes.

We got lots of nice things too, but adding this sort of thing in gave the impression we'd got a lot more than we actually had.

Hawkins Bazaar is great for stocking fillers. Try the code FP8906 for free delivery, that should save you £4.99.

I just clicked on here to say exactly what perpetualworrier just said. Given them practical things so that although you are spending money, it is not on things that they won't use. I have boys aged 11 and 9 (10 by Christmas) and 4, and a girl of 7. Last year, I gave them all socks (character ones) and shower gel/bubble bath.

The most successful thing DS's had in their stockings last year were PEZ sweets.

One had a polar bear dispenser, the other a penguin.

The only thing DS2 has asked for this year is more PEZ sweets to refill.

Matchbox toy cars were popular aswell, I think they were 2 for £1.50 in Morrisons

Am I the only one who puts a tangerine in the bottom of the stocking?