Did you buy a second stocking for potential second child so it would match?

[horchatatresleches]

I’ve just bought a stocking for my baby’s presents and I’m not wondering if I should have ordered the matching one in case we have another baby. I know that’s extra but I had a matching stocking with my siblings and really like it, and it’s not too difficult to store. Has anyone else done this?

But I have a stocking from the same range but different patterns to my siblings and I liked that we all matched and if we’re all home at Christmas now the stockings still come out!

That's so lovely, how wonderful that you still have them! I have a bit of a hang up about Christmas stockings because when we were kids, my mum just used some of my brother's football socks - and they were regularly worn, so they were slightly bobbly and thinner at the heels 😩and had our names on a torn scrap of paper, pinned on with sewing pins. Did the job but gosh, it was miserable compared to the nice Christmassy stockings you saw other kids had. I vowed any children I had would have proper stockings that couldn't be worn for sporting activities and looked like Christmas things...

TBH I found it a bit upsetting and like I’d jinxed myself when I went on to have 6 miscarriages after my first born….i did then go on to have twins 😂 you can buy red stockings with names on from plenty of websites/ Etsy as you add to your family. I wouldn’t do it now for a sibling you’ve not even started to try and conceive yet

My mum used her old 'baked beanie' stockings for us- normal stockings that she used to wear in the 50s and 60s. Not at all 'Chirstmassy', but the excitement of seeing a long, knobbly stocking draped over the end of the bed was more than enough to give a Christmas feel.

I made both my boys' stockings. Unique and individual, just like they are.

I bought one for DS is first year, which by the time DD came along I’d decided was too small, so got 2 new ones that are similar style but not matching design for them and now we use those. I love them, they were handmade and are great quality.

Growing my siblings and I also had similar but not matching ones, same style different pattern, and they’re now used for my niece and nephew, so I think of them as things to last.

We are stockings downstairs people too, not on the bed.

Nope. Just i didnt buy a second advent calender (we have reusable fabric ones).

DD2 has the same but different. As it should be because they're not clones.

We buy new stockings every year depending on the theme the kids choose for Christmas (e.g the grinch.)

the old stocking from the previous year get filled and given to the homeless community where we live (we do a lot of work with them).

Consumerism at it's finest.

It isn't really is it, it is a way to give something to others. I think it is rather lovely actually.

I got a baby’s first stocking for both my babies on their first Christmas they were slightly different but same company. When they were 2 and 4 (so out of baby stage I got matching musical stockings with their names on that they loved.

I have matching named stockings for my dc, ordered when each was born with a span of 8 years between oldest and youngest.
If you go traditional, youll always be able to find matching.

There's no need to buy a stocking for a baby, they won't know/remember. Wait a couple of years and buy your stockings then when you either have your second or know more definitely you want one.

In my long life having been a child and having had children, I would say, you never quite know what they are going to kick off about, and Christmas stockings (or the fairness thereof) can be a particular flash-point.

IMHO the ONLY way to ensure peace on earth and a Merry Christmas to you and your kin is to have the exact same stockings, differentiated only by an initial.

SO in answer to your Christmas conundrum, yes to matching stockings, as long as you know the future name (or are handy at appliqué).

Do babies need stockings. I thought you would start when they are old enough to understand what it is for.

No, but DC also doesn’t need the Christmas jumper, or the nutcracker I crocheted either. A lot of the m first Christmas things are for me, and for the baby are pretty neutral but I’m so excited to share Christmas that I want to do it.

I bought stockings as a broody single before I had even met anyone I would have considered marrying. I think I was probably buying what I’d have liked for myself and my sibling (I was the big sister making the magic, when money was tight and my dps weren’t into Christmas).

Only having two stockings may have factored into the decision not to have a third dc 🤣

I didn’t buy one at the time and then had to madly scramble around the internet to find a matching one two years later. Would def suggest buying one and stashing it as it’s nice to have matching.

Alternatively, buy three more. Because it’s WAY easier to swap an empty stocking for a filled stocking on one go, than to take empty stocking, spend time filling it up nicely (ok not that long but I’m knackered by midnight on Xmas Eve!), then take it back into the room and risk a second wakening. If you double up with stockings, you can do the switch in seconds.

Can’t you pick the bits off the E with a cotton unpicked thing (sorry don’t know what there called) leaving an I from the original E

Do you know actually I think that’s a pretty good idea. Once DH and I had children we went our out way to make christmases more magical which yes included matching stockings. Once our second came along I couldn’t find the same ones, had to get one slightly different and it does bug me!

Ours were long football socks too 😊 but I'm 56 & don't recall anyone else's stockings at all. Ours weren't 'hung up' anywhere just appeared in our beds (with just basics -nuts, chocolate coins, orange, a few small bits. And one of our presents (in hope they'd keep us quiet amused between 4am & 6 am.

DC's were hand made, similar in size & design, but not matching as such.

I wouldn't buy them to match for future children myself. I'd prefer to pick out a new one when pregnant, or just had a baby. I'd choose a very similar size, but that's as 'match y' as I'd need them. But each to their own x

Are you my sister or was this a “thing” that people used to do??

this is what i do as they have gotten older - just get new matching ones when you have a second child x

your usual cheerful self 😊

it's a charity donation like any other. If all things to bitch about 🙄🙄

I thought about it. Glad I didn't - second baby never came due to medical reasons.

Honestly though, me and my siblings/cousins had matching stockings (made by a family member) as children, and it is nice. I can 100% see a 4-5 year old me getting grumpy if my family had had bigger stockings than me. So I don't think it is a bad idea, OTT? Sure, but that is Christmas for you.. Buy a couple, throw them in a cupboard, and hope it all works out.

I ended up scouring the shops for a matching stocking for DC5. It had been really easy to add a stocking for each baby between DC1 and DC4, but it looked as if the style was discontinued by the time DC5 came along. I found one in the end. I'd say you should get some.

Our whole extended family have matching knit stockings with our names knit into them. As of right now there are 26 of them. I just spoke a woman who knits and asked her if she could knit a few (without names) as backups!