Please explain what I do with Christmas stockings as I’d like to start the tradition

[Confusedstocking]

I often see chats about them but don’t understand. As a child I’d be given a shop bought netty stocking with chocolate bars held in place, as the backing was cardboard with a puzzle. Asking DH AND HE SAID they just got an orange or something in theirs. Showing our age!

I made stockings years ago but just hang them up. Not much room in them but what do people do? Buy little presents, wrap them up individually and stuff them in the stockings to be opened before the main presents or are they left on the ends of beds or door handles? Please explain to someone who really doesn’t know and in pictures only sees them hung at fireplaces but wants to build Christmassy family traditions. TIA

In our house all presents from parents are from Father Christmas. Presents from other family members are from them and go under the tree.

Stocking gets hung by the fireplace on Xmas eve.

It's a big one which my mum made for his first Christmas so most things fit in there apart from any large box presents which go round the bottom.

Stocking gets opened first on Christmas morning.

1. Presents in the actual Stocking
2. Breakfast break!
3. Presents round the bottom of the Stocking
4. Get turkey in the oven break
5. Presents under the tree get opened.

little things - teenage girls get make up, bathbombs etc , my little boy will probably get little cars, bouncy ball. just very inexpensive fun stuff. we have 3 identical ones with their names embroidered on

In my house, stockings are filled with chocolate, sweets and sometimes low value toys / colouring books etc. These are in addition to the sack of presents that Father Christmas leaves (all downstairs).

We asked DC if they'd like to leave a sack / stocking out in their bedrooms and they agreed to leave them downstairs. This of course means they get us up at the crack of dawn so we can watch them open their presents!

This is such a lovely thread. I grew up in a turbulent alcoholic household and Xmas was always fucking horrendous a bit rubbish as a child. However now I have my little one (1 at Christmas) we are deciding what we want to do.

1. Stocking will come from FC not main present
2. Stocking can be opened in morning, main present after dinner
3. The double stocking tip!
4. Stocking will have a satsuma in it and chocolate coins
5. Stocking in bedroom
6. No Elf on the Shelf!

I'm adding as I read!

I will add my MIL made my DH(38)'s stocking until we met then -unhappily- ceremoniously passed it to me. But still gives me things to put in his stocking! I suggested she still do him one but she insisted it was my job (but she wants to control it 🙄)

Some advice:

DON'T make the big / main presents from Father Christmas. If you are ever very short of money some year in the future (could happen to anyone), it will be very difficult to explain to the children why Father Christmas hasn't brought such good presents this year.
Instead, the main presents are always from the giver - it teaches them important life lessons about giving and receiving and saying thank you. If you can't afford much some years, you can be honest.
Instead - Father Christmas only ever brings some small treats.

DON'T have a big sack or pillow case to fill - it will be a pain to buy enough small bits and pieces to make it look full. Buy a special cloth 'stocking' of reasonable size, or use an actual sock from a large-footed person in the house.

DON'T have the sock on the end of the child's bed, you will have to sneak in and risk waking them up. Instead have it by the main fireplace, or if none then choose another place where Father Christmas might leave it.

He has a magic key for doors these days as lots of houses don't have chimneys.

One more thing (for when they are a bit older and starting to have doubts) - around this time of year there are lots and lots of 'fake' Father Christmases in shops and everywhere, that you pay to go and see. Obviously they can't all be real, but some grown-ups like to dress up and pretend as it is fun. But the REAL Father Christmas does actually like to go to some events and meet children, so you never know if the one you go to see could actually be the real one!

A nice little tradition in our house is that DP and I are responsible for each others stocking. So we get each other a main present then fill their stocking with smaller bits. I tend to include a bottle of beer, a car air freshener, chocolates, some skin care, new socks and pants, that sort of thing.

Stockings go on the present pile to identify that Child's gifts...they aren't put out on xmas eve here as I've never done santa. Stockings always have a choc orange in the toe (though poor old ds might need to get a real satsuma and some DF chocolates instead this year as he's got a dairy intolerance) and then have assorted bits and bobs like foam soap, spinning top (Babpiur sell an amazing one that spins and flips to spin on its handle!!!) racing cars eg hot wheels or wee lego figures depending on the age/stage of kids, mini alcohol for the adult kids, socks, treats...avoiding tat. Apart from paper flicker things, always got them and now they are a must.

Growing up we each put our stockings on the hearth on Christmas Eve and found them full the next morning. We weren't allowed to open them til after church, and big presents after lunch. I do it differently with my own family now but I do think my parents played quite a clever game - because we weren't allowed to open anything till after church there was no frantic 5/6am waking (in fact I'd go as far as to say no one wanted to go to church and tried to stay in bed as long as possible).

Anyway my mums rule was '10 things for £10' which you'd be hard pressed to achieve these days. Each item was wrapped and they all had to be in different paper. Grandparents got things like a toilet roll, wooden spoons, and imperial leather haha. We got chocolate coins, little wooden games, sachets of hot chocolate, those funny polystyrene glider planes, hair clips etc.

For my own family now, I ordered us all matching stockings last year and they decorated the fireplace all December. I filled them once DS was in bed. I can't get anywhere near10 things for £10 but I do like to do all different wrapping paper. We opened them after the dog walk, with Buck's Fizz and nibbles. DS is only 1 so that might change as he gets more aware.

I think it's lovely to start new family traditions and hope you enjoy doing stockings!

We always adopted the two stockings and swap them once the children are asleep. They were on the end of the bed. When it came to the grandchildren one of the younger ones flatly refused to have "that old man" coming into her bedroom in the middle of the night so switched to stockings by the fireplace

Our DC always hung them on their bedsteads. We would creep in when we went to bed, fill them and return them to the end of their beds.

We don’t wrap the gifts in the stockings.

We fill them with smaller (in size) gifts, including jewellery and trinkets, small toys, some kind of sweets or food treats, perhaps small clothing items, maybe some stickers or stationery items and other novelty items.

Our DC always brought them into our bed to open up, although they now admit they opened them first in their rooms when they were smaller.

We always make sure they have the same number of items, so one person isn’t going on for longer than everyone else.

They have the same stocking each year, and we still do it in their late teens/early 20s.

Stockings are from Santa, my dc leave them downstairs (started in the last house by the fireplace- saved stress and worry about waking them when they were little). Individually wrapped little bits socks pants, smelliest and hair clips, some sweets and chocolate and a little toy.

As dc have got older (teens) we make the stockings last the morning and then slowly undo presents under the tree in the afternoon.

Thank you all! I’m halfway through reading but wanted to say thanks and I’ll continue later on. Really helpful and good to know no need to wrap .

We do stockings from father christmas, they are about the size of a flattened adult welly. We hang them on the end of their beds when they go to sleep (which is closest to the door) and when we fill them they are laid across the foot of the bed.
I know its more sensible to put them downstairs but mine sleep like logs so never wake up while we fill them and my parents did the same thing for us as kids and I remember the massive excitement of waking up and feeling for it with my foot to see if it was full.
We fill it with little bits, currently things like a slinky, those magnet balls, a bag of chocolate coins, fart putty, keyring, fiddle toy, flavoured lip balm, nail varnish etc. Fun and silly little things that they bring into our bed and open with us in the morning.

For traditions we also read The night before Christmas before they go to bed and they really like checking the NORAD santa tracker

Just to say a tube of Pringles each, an idea I stole from mumsnet, was one of the biggest hits. Remember to put it first though.

everyone does it differently. There is no right or wrong way.

We have always said that Father Christmas brings the presents. DC are bigger now and know that grown ups give presents to each other and sometimes grown ups will give them presents as well as Father Christmas, but he is definitely responsible for the stocking and main gifts.

stockings have more or less matching items for all DC. Chocolate, socks, books, a couple of small toys, maybe a bubble bath or bath bomb, sweets. They hang their stockings on their beds and bring them in with us in the morning and we open them before going downstairs. It’s my favourite part of Christmas Day.

I love sneaking in late on Christmas Eve and filling their stockings, having eaten their mince pie, drunk the sherry and bitten the carrot.
the three ages: I believe in Santa, I don’t believe in Santa, I AM Santa.

The stockings are a great way to distract small children before the “main event.” It gives the grownups a chance to have a shower, and maybe even slow people down for coffee and breakfast!

Our stockings were always hung on the mantle, the DC went to bed, and then we stuffed them and put them at the foot of their beds. When they were tiny, and woke before dawn, we wanted to encourage them to linger in bed.

I agree with other posters, that once you start, you can never stop! So keep it humble. I find a rolled up sticker book or a magazine for older people fills out a stocking well. I always threw in a new toothbrush and a pack of thank you notes too. Add some chocolate and an orange- and there will only be space for a few small toys, like a matchbox car, small can of playdough, nail polish, etc.

I made my DC and my husband very fancy stockings and embroidered on their names. I like to make things, so I enjoyed doing it. I am amazed how proud my children are of their stockings. (There are many things that I have thrown my all into for them, that have gone unappreciated, but the stockings “landed”). So, if you like that sort of thing, I think it’s worth making them something special with your own fair hand!

This is an example of the kind of thing I did. (I bought the felt, sequins, and embroidery thread at John Lewis.) I would prefer tasteful colours with rustic appeal, but I wanted to thrill 4 year olds, and I did! This style has a certain mid-century modern appeal.

This the missing image.

Lovely stocking @missinglalaland !

we do it slightly differently now the DC are late teens.

most of their gifts are quite small apart from hoodies etc, so I just cram all the small stuff into their stockings regardless of price. Perfume, jewellery, earphones, phone cases, would all go into the stocking as well as some cheap fun things & sweets. I wrap them up in tissue paper which tears off easily.

so the stockings may account for most of the budget and what’s under the tree will be a board game to share & some pyjamas.

We do stockings - dc have bought stockings but in my day we ea h hung up one of dad's socks! They are hung empty from the fireplace then when full are put on the hearth.
Stockings opened first then presents. We always have a coin in the toe, chocolate coins and a ton of sprouts - sprouts are a 'naughty joke' a sprout fir each time they've maybe almost fallen foul of the good list - dc love it as grandpa normally gets a stalk of them! Sprouts are then cooked for dinner. No child goes without a present for a sprout before someone faints at bad parenting! They now get chocolate sprouts on there too! All presents are small and wrapped.

It's something to have fun with IMO. You can hang them anywhere you want. I don't wrap anything that goes in. One year I filled my DD's full to brimming with chocolates- I got this from my childhood-my parents were really abusive and neglectful and Christmas was usually very depressing, but one year they actually tried, and my stocking was almost overflowing with Hershey's Kisses, it was so ridiculous and wonderful. But usually it's where I put smaller presents that are a bit impractical to wrap. I'll usually mix it up with less exciting things, candy, and a few more coveted items. It's fun because they keep reaching in and it's a surprise what it might be. Last year my DD was almost overwhelmed with hers, I had to keep telling her "There's more, keep going." This year I'm going to fill hers with cosmetics, facial things like masks, her favorite Japanese snacks like Pocky, a plushy, and a few accessories like necklaces from her favorite store.

You've had lots of lovely ideas here already, the only thing I would add is to colour theme for each child; in this house DS1 is blue ( he loved TinkyWinky as a small child) DS2 had red( for Po) and surprise baby DS3 had green .. this works for things like toothbrushes, small toys, pants/ socks..helps stop arguments over whose magic puzzle/ ball it is when they've all got the same .
It also helped for wrapping, if you've done it in advance and can't remember who had what.

It’s really good that you’re asking questions and thinking about this before getting started.

In our house stockings are a bit pointless. Growing home we left a sock by the fireplace - literally a sock - and it was draped over whatever gift Santa brought to indicate whose gift it was.

I loved the idea of stockings filled with little things, and originally intended that Santa would just fill those and nothing else. But my expectations clashed with dh‘s, and the first Christmas that it mattered, I was stupid with sleep deprivation, hormonally emotional and Santa brought lots more.

I liked the idea of bedroom stockings to keep them busy in the morning but my eldest was not prepared to allow any strange man tiptoe round his bedroom at night, no matter how jolly everyone insisted he was, so the stockings stayed downstairs. And once it happened that way once, it became a set-in-stone Tradition with a capital T.

So Santa brought a main present (often something awful they’ve seen on tv and set their heart on. Or worse, something they’ve seen in nursery or on a play date that isn’t made anymore. Or worse again something cooked up in their little imaginations), a couple of surprises (things they’ll actually play with or need) and a stocking!

And stockings can be a challenge because you have to find the right number of small enough gifts. My formula was an orange in the toe, a few chocolate coins, a Lego polybag, handful of interesting or useful Lego pieces, a puzzle, something a bit bulky like a rolled up sticker book (later I’d stuff a chapter book in) and then one of two other things the right size.

And for all that effort, I was still getting dragged from my sleep at silly o’clock!

It's totally ok to do your own thing. No two households do it exactly the same.

We use actual M&S stockings (without any sexy lace, just plain stretchy 40 dernier black stockings) so the volume if gifts is approximately similar to an average adult human leg. We own twice as many stockings as there are people so that each person can place an empty stocking at the foot of their bed when they go to sleep and it is magically replaced by a full stocking while the receipient is asleep (you don't want to be actually stuffing a stocking during a 2am "I've woken up cos I need a wee, so might as well do the stockings while I am up" - they are packed and stowed during the preceding few days.

Always a £2 coin, a satsuma and an unboxed Terry's Chocolate Orange in the toe. Then the rest of the volume will be around 20ish items evenly divided between the broad categories of "something you want, something you need, something to eat, something to read" plus "something silly" which doesn't fit into this rhyme. Each will be wrapped but wrapped in a slapdash manner with cheap paper, not presented nicely like the under-tree presents

Want - at least one small cheap item from the recipient's wishlist (other items from the wishlist may be bought by relatives and be under the tree not "from santa"). Often might be a DVD of a film etc, or a small lego set.

Need - anything that would be just bought from the household budget if needed any other time of year is fair game. Typically socks, pants, pyjamas, school stationery.

Eat - chocolate bars, perhaps a toblerone, nuts, candied fruit, turkish delight

Read - at least one magazine, rolled up. At least one book. More likely 2 or 3. May be from wishlist or may not be.

Silly - a few things that are in the general category of " Stocking Fillers" - maybe a game or toy but unlikely to be more than £8 ish per item, no more than 2 or 3 things in this category.

Adults get a stocking too for we have also been good.

The point of a stocking is to be opened and enjoyed as soon as the recipient wakes up in the morning. Tree gifts from each other and from relatives get opened much later in the day in the runup to lunch so stocking gifts are to get the ball rolling on feeling Christmassy in the gap between waking up and pre-lunch champagne.

Other families may use pillow cases, or large sock-shaped sacks which aren't human-leg sized, and will have different traditions for what goes in. There's no general rules.

I absolutely adored stockings as a kid! These were the only presents that “Santa” bought me - proper presents on Xmas day were from parents and relatives. Parents would sneak stocking (which was actually just a Xmas themed sack) on to end of my bed when I was sleeping. I never woke up so it was truly magical to wiggle my feet and feel the weight of the stocking there, and I was allowed to open it right there on my bed so could do something straight away. Always just little bits and bobs and a Clementine/orange too.