Help me choose my stock.

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Please note i am not trying to sell to anyone here just looking for ideas and help with choosing my stock.

Any one want to help me pick my christmas stock for selling at fairs and my all new Stocking Filler Parties. Will be mostly under £1/2 but up to a fiver, do you have a favourite product already.
I know the things I like but want to here what kind of things other parents buy. Hawkins Bazaar has a lot of the stuff my main supplier has but ideas from other suppliers welcome.
Whats your budget for you kids stockings?

My kids stockings are usually about 15-20 quid but I like to have a couple of reasonable things in there and then at least 10 bits of "tat" as we call it... although this year am thinking of changing it to a lot less as most if it is small bits that gets lost or in the way!!

We always use Hawkins but am starting to get lots of good crafty stuff (glitter pens etc) from Tesco that I will take out of packaging this year and use...

Lots of girly stuff in Asds at the moment.

Thanks its great to get an idea how much other people spend. Last year I had a few different pens, pencils and notepads, the stationery certainly sells well and i think i will do more this year.

Had a think, plus quick look at Hawkins. Sorts of things we like:

• stationery items with a "plus" factor - eg sharpener that is also a toy car, rubber which is a puzzle, mini biro with ten different coloured inks, set of utterly tiny stationery accessories in a dinky bag;

• things which are half toy/half useful or educational - eg compass, fibre optic torch, magnets, crystals which spark when knocked together (got some of those from a museum shop);

• mesmerising things - eg LED spinning tops, kaleidoscopes, slinkies;

• mini versions of board games - a keyring Mousetrap has been played with for a couple of years now; and

• things whose appeal is pure prettiness - eg paper fans, iridescent toy jewels (Tridias do those in big bags - you could split up & fill miniature treasure chests), really nice stickers (NOT Barbie/Disney), sparkly bangles and hair things from Claire's Accessories.

This is from angle of scientific boy of 6, girly girl of 4.

Binkie says it all really although luckily dd is still at the Duplo mangling stage. Hawkins and a possibly related company Tobar are my first stop for all these little gadgets, but we often see cute stocking fillers in the back of the Tridias, Letterbox and Mulberry Bush catalogues.
Fridge magnets are a big thing with us right now...and pocket "pets" or "babies" for ds (when he is revealing his non-Slitheen/wrestler tender side). Oh, and mini-torches, really tiny Lego sets and mega wooden dice.
Stabilo do some fabulous chubby half-length watercolour pencils for 99p each. Beautiful product, one has gone in ds' stocking each year since he was 3, and everyone on playdates makes a beeline for them.
Their website is a mare though, so no link

Forgot to answer the budget question. It probably adds up to about £15 per stocking, which would be: shiny £2 coin, tangerine, miniature activity/sticker book + tiny pack of crayons [= attempt to get them to leave us alone in the early hours of Christmas Day], couple of child-specific things like in my list below, at about £2-£5 each, jelly lolly.

Forgot another item recently very popular - reproduction ancient coins - Roman etc. - also from museum shops. Treasure!

Another wild success was a v cheap sparkly fairy wand (Claire's Accessories again). Think that was the Christmas when dd was just 2, & was used daily for months. So, I recommend a range of budget fairy accessories.

Also, Hawkins don't seem to do them any more but we loved the £1.50 plywood build-it-yourself dinosaur kits - not the excavation kit they're doing now, these were slot-together wooden ones. Perfect for party bags for boys.

Someone tell me to stop, please.

Not sure how much I spend. Probably ends up adding up to quite a bit more than I realise.

Last year the hit for DS was a five pack of Spiderman pants all put in individually which I only bought on Christmas Eve because I realised we had gaps. DS got the pants, Thornton's white choc coins, a couple of cheap matchbox cars, Christmas stickers, a choc Santa lolly and I really can't remember what else. DD (was only 7 months) got the coins (but we ate them!), tights, set of boats for the bath, push and go aeroplane from Asda.

This year I am thinking of more crafty things for DS, Star Wars pants, maybe a knight and horse, small set of lego etc. For DD, hair slides, knickers (although she will be nowhere near potty trained they are good stuffers), and I'm not really sure what else yet.

What I like to do is to get something which relates to the big present IYSWIM. So DS's big present a castle, stocking filler knight and horse. DD's big present a kitchen, stokcing filler piece of play food.

Great info thanks everyone, I love all the mini stationery sets too. DH is goint to help me design a leaflet to advertise and explain the parties and a mini brochure with the prices and order numbers and of cours an order form.

The Mums I meet on Tue are expecting great things, I hope I don't disapoint them and one of them offers to host a party. Maybe they will all be fighting to host the party so they get the discount .

Any other ideas or things to consider? I am most grateful.

Baker Ross (of course)

Actually there may be a sort of, what's it called, synergy, there, since don't Baker Ross have a home-sellers sort of network - for school fund-raising, etc.?