Stocking fillers - please help!

[tripletsohgod]

I am really, really bad at them. I don't know why but I get it wrong every year and my kids are (politely, quietly) disappointed! Age 5 DD and 10 DS, budget of around £75 each. I'd be so grateful for suggestions please!

DD is very 'girly' mermaids, unicorns, make up etc.

DS into gaming, football. TIA 🙏🏻

Is the stocking an extra to main Xmas presents or is it the main present? I ask as £75 each is a massive budget to me for stockings.

Why are they disappointed? I think finding that out is the key. What are they expecting? Are they disappointed with the number of packages/the type of stuff/are their expectations too high? What's the issue?

I agree £75 seems a lot for a stocking. How many parcels do you aim for i.e. what's your budget per item?

With my DS (7 and 9 this year), the stocking fillers we usually have are a small lego set, bath bomb / toiletries, selection box, book (was a different dogman book each so they could swop), a small tube of pringles, a jigsaw, maybe a a5 book or colouring pens if needed. Santa only wraps some of these. They have sacks (rookie error when getting named sacks when they were little), so we also buy a bulky thing to take up space - previously has been a dressing gown, cushion for their room, or fleece for their bed. They then also get the main thing they asked santa/father christmas for. This is normally a lego set. We then do ours and family presents to them separately.

We also don't have a massive family, so know they aren't getting masses of extra presents from others!

Book
Puzzle book
Magazine/comic
Sweets
Hair chalks
Scented pencils
Dress up things like jewellery
Eye sleep mask
Shower cap
Head torch
Silly string
Playing cards
Small game like pass the pigs
Nail polish
Bath bombs
Lego mini figure blindbag
Key ring
Pants
Socks
Woolly hat

£75 for stocking fillers genuinely shocked, but if you have the money then 🤷‍♀️

Mine get gold coins, smarties tubes, chocolate reindeer, jellies and a few little knick-knacks like bath bombs, hotwheels car, slime, anything small really.

75 quid would be considered as one of the main presents in our house.

@tripletsohgod

I am really, really bad at them. I don't know why but I get it wrong every year and my kids are (politely, quietly) disappointed! Age 5 DD and 10 DS, budget of around £75 each. I'd be so grateful for suggestions please!

DD is very 'girly' mermaids, unicorns, make up etc.

DS into gaming, football. TIA 🙏🏻

What do you put in them?

If it helps, my DD is also 5 and similar interests to your DD, and she's had the following over the last couple of years:

Bubble Bath, Bath bomb, hair brush, hair accessories, hair chalks, barbie clothes, magic Flannel, peel off nail polish, a box of tissues (still don't know exactly why she wanted these!!) knickers and socks, a comic, pink smarties, new toothbrush

They are similar to those I had as a child, and to be honest I loved that they were so familiar.

We had a big win last year with light up invisible ink pens from Amazon - the writing is invisible till you click the pen light on! They also loved light up rings. (I have boys). We also have sweets, books, magic flannels, Kirby grips for my doll-mad DS3, prank presents like snappy gum and whoopee cushions, and character pants or socks.

What have you put in stockings before?

I do think you could do a great stocking for less than £75…I usually spend about £40 on about 10-12 little gifts. Previous hits over the years have been…

DS (now 13 but also loves football and gaming)
Football socks
Shin pads
Goalie gloves
Touch screen gloves
Slipper socks
Novelty socks
Fidget toys
Metallic outline pens
Highlighters
Blank flip books
Fun mug
Keyrings
Grow your own Venus fly trap
Crystal growing tree
Mini torch
Novelty ice cube tray
Chocolate coins
Other sweets
Pop a cob
Joke book
Riddle book
Reading book
Card game
Rattle magnets
Toiletries
Hair gel
Bath bomb
Coloured hair gel
Pop figure
Snood
Wallet
Slime
Gaming controller covers
Thumb grips
Socks saying ‘do not disturb I’m gaming’
Hot chocolate stirrers

DD…Claire’s is your friend!
Jewellery
Nail polish
Little make-up sets
Purse
Hair accessories
Beanie boo
Cookie cutters
Bath bomb
Maileg mouse in a matchbox
Craft stuff
Colouring pens
Hair chalks
Fidget toys
Puzzle books
Small puzzle
Sliding tile puzzles
Bubbles
Mini Lego/playmobil/Sylvanian family set
Sweets/chocs
Book
Stickers/tattoos
Notebooks
Spy pen
Novelty rubbers
Marbles
Pencil case
Paints
Russian doll
Wind up toys
Hat/earmuffs
Bath toys

I thought I was a bit extravagant with stockings but I don't think I've ever spent more than £40 - £50 in total.

I only put maybe 5 things in them plus some chocolate or sweets, usually things like a new hair brush, water bottle, jewellery, unusual/nicer toiletries, stationery and one thing that's more of a novelty item but it's mainly useful or consumable. I look out for things like weird flavoured jelly beans or Japanese or American sweets.

Sounds a bit dull but my stockings always go down well. For younger DC a theme helps we've done Harry Potter, Nintendo, dinosaur etc.

Cartoony socks /pants
Pringles
Chocolate orange
Chocolate money
Top Trumps
Swimming goggles
Comic/magazine
Beanie annual
Rocks/minerals/fossils

I love doing the stockings:

For your daughter I would look at:

Barbie doll
Tube of favourite sweets
Barbie clothes
Plastic or wooden bracelet/ rings
Hair scrunchies or bands
Fluffy socks
Pretty nightie or pjs
Bubble bath
Top trumps or UNO
Play dough
Kinetic sand
Stationary

For you son
Action figure if he likes them
Dominos
Stationary
Tube of favourite sweets
Fluffy socks
Pjs
Bubble bath
Top trumps

Nutella, Marmite and Heinz often do personalised jars in the run up to Christmas

Hawkin’s Bazaar usually do profiled Xmas stockings which are pretty good value. Full of tat. My boys used to love the Star Wars ones.

I spend about £75 on all 3 together. They're teens now so mostly foodstuffs and toiletries, that way once used they aren't clutter. When they were smaller it was little toys etc, but I generally found they left them in the stockings after opening them and didn't really play with them.

This year we've got
Tub of pringes
Tube of smarties (big tube)
Can of Monster
Hot chocolate sachets
Pez dispenser and Pez sweets
Chocolate orange
Milkshake straws
Popcorn sachets for microwave

Mostly stuff I bought in B&M, will add socks, headphones and toiletries.

Can't advise on 10 year old as mine are all under 7.
But at 5, nail polish in favourite colour, magic flannel, lego polybag, chocolate coins, yoyo, stationary (mine is getting her very own pencil sharpener in hers this year!), plasticine or some other type of modelling dough - more fun than play doh at this age, socks, mini perfume. Snap cards if you don't already have them in abundance like us.

I love seeing what other people put in stockings as I think it's so family specific! My DH was shocked when I put a pack of vests, pants and socks in the stocking - this was totally normal to me but growing up his was just sweets.

This year I will do...

Underwear
Big tube of smarties or similar
Chocolate coins
Books
New electric toothbrush (to compensate for the sweets lol)
Colouring stuff - or something that can be opened and played with on christmas day morning without adult intervention/engineering degree to construct
Hair things - slides etc - basically a raid on Claires/H&M
Something to wear on Xmas day
Matchbox/Hot Wheels Cars
Small character toys
Bubbles - and if I can find Matey bubbles then that will be going in for nostalgia purposes

Ideas:
An annual in a favourite theme
Selection box/ Choc Santa
Christmas socks
Dressing up clothes
Colouring/craft set

My stockings are a mixture of a few £10-15 presents and the rest cheaper items. Usually about 10-12 gifts and it adds up to about the same as OP. Like others I find it interesting how different it is in different families.

I also made the 'mistake' of buying personalised sacks so I do look for bulky items. But I enjoy it and budget carefully so maybe it's not a mistake!

Brilliant thank you so much! I don't have much money, but we've always done I guess extravagant stockings, it's budgeted as a big part of what I spend on them at Xmas, so less on main present. I think I've tended to go for quantity and get lots of rubbish. I'll see if I can spend less on fewer, better items. Thanks so much.

One other thing DD loves is a Costa coffee date with me - so I've got her a £10 gift card. She likes "paying" so it might be an idea for you.

My DD has just turned 6 and so far I’ve bought:

Personalised purse
Personalised teaspoon
Koala bobbles
A chocolate medal from Santa
Chocolate coins
Fluffy socks
Cracker filled with bath bombs

I’m not sure I can be bothered with much else. Our stocking comes from Santa and her tree presents are friends and family.

My dds are 9 and so far I have these ideas for their stockings:

Lindor balls
Tub of Lindt hot chocolate
Body wash
Chocolate reindeer
Small Pringles tub
Costa gift card (fab idea from pp!)

Astronaut food
Japanese sweets
Small lego set
Can of fizz (I managed to get Pokemon cans last year they were a hit)
Squishes (those little cute squashy toys)
Funny face cloth
Small toy figures

I think the best things to give dd would be a TY sequinned mermaid, and chocolate. Can't go wrong with toys and sweets.

Have a look at Rex London for kids’ toys and novelties, especially retro things.

At that age DD had:

• the usual satsuma; selection of chocolates and sweets;
• kaleidoscope
• slap band bracelet with a swan cuddly on
• cute pencil and rubber, Sass & Belle
• notebook
• multi coloured biro pen
• bead necklace and bracelet
• neon pencils
• book
• silk daisy chain of individual daisies, National Trust shop
• gyroscope
• bath bomb
• Rockahula glittery hair slides and Alice band
• small cuddly toy: Rex London “mouse in a little house”