Do you wrap stocking fillers before you put them in?

[OComeOliveFaithfOil]

Or do they just get shoved in?

Also, is the empty stocking left on the end of the bed and a big thing made of it 'oooooh will it be full in the morning? etc' or do you just sneak in quietly in the night and leave the full one there?

bbbbbb, I've put things like hair clips, cookie cutters, toothbrush and paste, stickers, arts and crafty stuff, books, brush, socks, undies (But Santa doesn't leave clothes mummy only TOYS!!!! when I asked her if Santa might bring her some new tights.....) . NO junk that I'd throw away, it's all useful stuff. The choc coins of course and an orange or two. I'm sure I have other stuff squirreled away under the bed.....!

Lots of good ideas, thanks!

agree, wrap 'em to spin out the process...
will both contain (DD 4 DS nearly 2);

wooden dolls house furniture
pencils with sparkly bits
choccy coins
flicker books
bicycle bells
torch

plus Barbie clothes for DD and something equivalent for DS

wrap it BUt ours are downstairs near the tree so I don't have to do a quick stuff - can take my time with it.

dd1 is gettingpjs, some sweets and some stamps

dd2 is getting a little sand pit set and some new pjs.

dh has chocs, socks and boxers - standard every christmas stocking fillers

my mum used to wrap them really well with lots of sticky tape so they took us much longer to open ...and therefore she got more of a lie-in. there used to be a rule in my house whereby the stockings were in the bedroom and the main presents were downstairs under the tree. if you awoke early morning you were allowed to open your stocking in your own room but not to go downstairs until the sun came up and it was daylight, and then we could wake up mum and go down! i used to wake up at some crazy hour like 3a.m and open mine, although if she heard me that early she would come in and tell me to go back to sleep and wait until a bit later so i had to be ever so quiet and try not to make any rustling noises which meant doing everything ever so slowly under the covers and continually pausing and listening out to see if i'd disturbed her. great memory!

hey jingly bits that's my rule too! no attacking the tree presents til I'm up (so I know who bought what for thank you notes etc). Also like to enjoy Xmas Eve (hic). recommend Hawkin's bazaar for bits and bobs that are cheap to put in stocking.

Never thought to wrap stocking stuff! Santa never wrapped anything when I was a child - but did in DH's house so we wrap big presents - well he does!

We didn't even do stockings when I was a child - remember one year deciding on Xmas Eve that we would and coming downstairs with 3 of Dad's socks to hang up for my sisters and me - parents nearly died! Def not prepared for that! Can't remember what we got - money and oranges I think!

DS (4) is getting

bell for his bicycle
Playmobile policeman on horse
Little magnetic snakes and ladders game
little car
little bath toy
thing that goes on handle of bicycle and makes it sound like a motorbike (may regret that one!)
choc reindeer
choc santa
2 satsumas - he loves them!

Like the tissue paper idea though - will see what my sisters say as they will be here too.

We will have 5 children under 7 on Xmas morning!!

5 children. perhaps i wouldn't wrap. too time consuming. think of the environment as well... all that paper going in the recycling bin....

Some of you don't have that much to fill a stocking with IMO and ours are small ones (if I find them that is). I remember last year realising that I didn't have enough stuff to fill the stockings and going shopping on Christmas Eve with both kids and buying extras without them realising - telling DS we were looking for a birthday present for his friend! At that point I got tights, boats for the bath and buggy books for DD and spiderman pants and toy cars for DS. The spiderman pants (he was used to cheapo Asda ones) were his absolute favourite thing.

This year DS (4.10) has:
a toy car with a roof box on
a tractor
a nasty spider thing
a playmobil person with skateboard (2nd hand from ebay)
farm animals (each year I find a few from DH's extensive collection in the loft!)
Darth Vader bookmark
A name stamp
Star Wars pants
White choc coins
Choc santa lolly
Might get him a small (£3) set of lego

DD (1.7) has:
Disney princesses knickers (she's not potty trained but will be in next few months and they are good fillers)
Tights (yet to buy)
Name stamp (to avoid arguments)
Hair slides
Little Miss Christmas book
HappyLand village accessory set
Little pot to keep hair slides in (when I find one)
Tiny princess and mermaid dolls
A new handbag
White choc coins
Choc snowman lolly
And I might get her a ball because she really loves balls

i wrap almost everything too, for the same reason as lots of the others - they open them in their bedroom, while I lie half asleep in my room, not having to get up. It takes lots longer, and last year they even stopped half way through to play with things before finishing off the openng. Big presents are downstairs, to be opened later.

DDs1 & 2 (5 &6) both get variations on:
choc coins
sticker book
colouring book
pencils
story book
sewing / cross stitch kit ( really easy, from £1 shop)
doll clothes
socks
knickers
mug
small teddy
hair brush
hair clips.

Clothes are pretty ones in comparison to usual tesco plain white, so do go down well. I may well buy more, as stockings are big, but I don't spend masses on main presents, as neither of them actually wants anything particular, and extended family tend to go overboard with bigger things.

Hawkins bazaar is great, and also the £4.99 and under section of the usual catalogues (letterbox, tridias, brightminds). I squirrel stuff away all year and then order some extra things when I do my main Christmas present shop (in September, [halo emoticon]). Little gadgety things are great (ds got a dynamo torch last year). A good filler is a big bottle of Matey bubblebath or similar.

And yes, I wrap it all, to prolong the fun. Very roughly, though. But it is essential to use different paper from the main presents, as even a 5yo will work out there's something fishy going on if Father Christmas's presents are wrapped in the same paper as Mummy and Daddy's.

but all our presents are from Father Christmas.

frogs - re the wrapping paper, my line is that we leave some out for santa in case he runs out of paper

Message withdrawn

Wrapping paper became a big issue here when DD1 (a nosy child) noticed at 5 or 6 that Santa used the same paper as Mummy, fancy that! (I kept a special roll hidden after that...)

Always wrapped everything except satsuma and mini choc bars; used to do the wrapping with a bottle of sherry about 11pm on C Eve and by the time I was halfway through I was so tiddly I had to wrap 3 or 4 things together so I could finish before I passed out (Past tense because baby is now 12)

i wrap everything...absolutely everything. with ribbons and tags too. the stockings are hung on the fireplace.

with care in hope that st nik a lass soon would be there

sorry night owl couldnt resist

always buy an extra roll or two for wrapped presents from santa, dd1 twigged onto that last year and she was only 3 at the time!!

We never had them wrapped but I think I might. Never occurred to me, but I like the idea of lingering over the stocking rather than just tipping it out in 2 mins!

My eldest dd hates satsumas - on previous years, Father Christmas has helpfully left a potato (her favourite!) and, once, a rather large melon. And they weren't wrapped.

almostanangel!! i wish...oh how i wish....

We wrap everything, except the satsuma, and the choclate santa, the latter of which we have peeking out the top of the stocking. We also have 2 stockings per child , identical of course. Empty one gets laid on bed, other one taken downstairs,filled and we swop them over when we go to bed. Less chance of child waking up to go to loo and finding stocking missing because it's been taken away to get filled

what do you wish ? night owl