Stocking fillers for boys aged 3 - 5

[codswallop]

THought we could share inspiration.

So far I have :
Top trump cards
fart cushion (yes I know)
Light up marbles
Action man tatoos(ditto)
Balloon helicopter
Spinning top thing

M&S have got some nice woolly ones, just drooled over their christmas catalog, nice stuf to put in them as well.

jodee, if you have money to burn (as I apparently feel I have ) then Accessorize do lovely velvet ones. They are not too huge but are quite wide, which I find quite useful.

I found as the children got older that I had done all the standard stocking presents to death, their bedroom was knee-deep in whoopee cushions and the like. Last year I decided to take a different tack and buy fewer more expensive stocking presents, so my ds will get a CD-Rom and a lego mini-figures, for example. Having wider stockings makes it so much easier! I still find it easy to get stocking fillers for dd (aged 5), because you can always fill up with little boxes of beads and hair ornaments, but older boys are much harder IMHO!

I favour walking socks myself as they come in pairs: the child can leave one by the bed or outside the bedroom door, and when they are asleep or not quite asleep you can be filling the other one of the pair, so all you have to do when they finally drop off for the night is switch them over. This is particularly useful with 7, 8 9 year olds who get super excited and find it hard to fall asleep. My Mum made each of mine a lovely patchwork one with bells and decorations on but last year we 'lost' them and used the woolly walking socks, mean maybe but 10 yr old ds was still awake at 11 and we wanted to go to bed before 12. He didnt beleive any more but I didnt want to be brazen and rustling about outside his door! Lots of good present ideas here: mine always get a new toothbrush, socks, satsuma, choc coins, a carton of juice and a crunchy breakfast bar to keep them going while unwrapping so that we dont have to be wokern up at 5 or 6 to provide breakfast. Thats the theory anyway.

Soyabean - juice and breakfast bar - love it - great idea.

Sorry I probably sound like a real killjoy but I find it easier to cope with Christmas Day if Ive had a few hours sleep! The level of excitement as the kids get older is quite a force to be reckoned with...

My mum would ceremoniously cut the legs off a pair of American Tan 10 deniers on Christmas Eve and me and bruv would hang them up. Very, very stretchy for many. many (individually wrapped) pressies.

Mty Dad was ont he forces and we had one of his knee length jungle uniform socks

Wow Jenie, your presents are pretty much an exact replica of dd1's (except hers are not just stocking presents they are Xmas and Birthday too!)

4 year old girls eh?

LOL Bobsmum! My Mum used to wear American Tan, but we never thought of that, the mental picture is fab!

Have to say my dad STILL does me and my brothers (and now all his grandchildren and daughter/son-in-laws) christmas stockings - and if we are there he is up at 5 o'clock waiting for us to get up and open them! The adult ones are full of miniture drinks, soap, jam, silly toys, chocs etc. Great fun! Can't wait to see if he does ds one this year (he'll only be 7 months so a bit young really...)

Hubby and I do socks for each other ( I made him one years ago, my little presents just get dumped in a Tesco's bag!) Mum still does a sock for me too, you're never too old!!
hana

One of his key tips (and one I'll try to do when ds is older...) is he buys small things throughout the year and stashes them away. So our stockings are like a mini tour of all the places he and my mum have been that year...

Really like some of your inventive stocking ideas - thank you!

bubble mixture
soyabean - the thing about the two stockings is brilliant!

i once unwrapped my stocking in the middle of the night then shoved it all back in again. my mum was a bit upset that i didn't seem very surprised in the morning so i had to confess to her. is now a family joke.

so looking forward to ds waking up and discovering new exciting things in his cot. might put a bottle of milk at the top as i think that would excite him the most!

AHEM.. This is for boys you guys!!

Sorry coddy. I did mention boys in my post, honest! Have you tried those things that look like cans of food but actually contain a pop-up snake and squeak loudly when you open them? They were such a success with my ds that he had them in every stocking between the ages of 2 and 4 (slightly different types, obviously )

sound good - from where?

Little party pots of Playdo
Crayons and colouring books
little story books
farm and zoo animals (or dinosaurs) - have lots in ELC

Damn, I knew you were going to ask, and after much googling with ludicrous search terms I may have to give up. I got them from Tridias, but they seem to have stopped doing them, and Hawkin don't seem to any more either. I'll keep my eyes peeled though

this post shows up on the homepage as just 'stocking fillers - pool your ideas here', so maybe that's where people are clicking onto, no realizing that it was originally stocking stuffers for boys, 3 - 5. Blame the website designer, and I'm off to start a thread for girls!!
hana

I hate playdoh(only as far as cleaning is concerned)

Doo doodloo doo! (meant to be a fanfare). here are the very things!