Christmas Stockings

[mjantz]

I'm doing stockings for 4 teenage boys this year. To keep the cost down a bit I'm doing lots of food items (individual bags of cheese crackers, fruit strips, etc). Also doing toothbrushes & I found 4 sudoku books on clearance so those are going in as well.

 

[pixiewings71]

I'm doing stockings for 4 teenage boys this year. To keep the cost down a bit I'm doing lots of food items (individual bags of cheese crackers, fruit strips, etc). Also doing toothbrushes & I found 4 sudoku books on clearance so those are going in as well.

This is a great idea, throw some jerky in there, most teenage boys love jerky!

 

[MrsDoubtfire]

Last year both kids (13 and 10 at that time) got those battery operated toothbrushes, a screaming monkey, nostalgic candy (nostalgic to me, not to them because they had no clue about it, HAHA), ITunes and McD's gift cards, gloves from LE, a Coca Cola in a glass bottle ...

DS got a whoopie cushion and boy did he love playing jokes on the rest of us with that one !

DH got a pocket knife from Craftsman, those starlight mints, a DD giftcard, and driving gloves.

I got absolutely nothing but after reading some comments here, will be getting some things this year, LOL (by my own volition)

Still working on this years bounty......but I know I'm getting DD14 some tubes of mud masks (she loves giving herself facials) and a package of Crest white-strips (her teeth are white and she likes to keep them that way ;-) . Each child will get a cover for their new ITouch (DS) and cell phone (DD), some lip balm, bag of rock candy crystals, etc.

 

[lucigo]

I'm doing stockings for 4 teenage boys this year. To keep the cost down a bit I'm doing lots of food items (individual bags of cheese crackers, fruit strips, etc). Also doing toothbrushes & I found 4 sudoku books on clearance so those are going in as well.

I like this idea. I think part of the reason we haven't done stockings is the cost issue. Christmas is already expensive when you have a big family (we have 6 kids between us).

 

[mjantz]

I'm doing stockings for 4 teenage boys this year. To keep the cost down a bit I'm doing lots of food items (individual bags of cheese crackers, fruit strips, etc). Also doing toothbrushes & I found 4 sudoku books on clearance so those are going in as well.

This is a great idea, throw some jerky in there, most teenage boys love jerky!

I like this idea. I think part of the reason we haven't done stockings is the cost issue. Christmas is already expensive when you have a big family (we have 6 kids between us).

I'm really cheap & rarely buy the individually packaged treats so my kids love it. So far I have cheese crackers, Bunny Graham's, granola bars, fruit strips & twists & some gummy body parts I found after Halloween. I'm still going to get some Cheetos, chocolate & a piece of fruit.

 

[sksjasams]

I like this idea. I think part of the reason we haven't done stockings is the cost issue. Christmas is already expensive when you have a big family (we have 6 kids between us).

It will be expensive, so you'll want to make sure you can commit to this "new tradition". If you want to do stockings, you could keep them small to help keep the cost down. Maybe just put a little candy in each one?

 

[pixiewings71]

We do small toys or big candy bars in ours to help them be full but not super pricey. At WM the other day DD12 saw a HUGE Hershey's bar, she about died and I think she truly drooled....LOL I'm going back to get it later this month. LOL I can't decide if I'll put it in her stocking or in her purse I'm giving her for her birthday, which is 10 days before Christmas.......

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Suggestion though. When I grew up, my mom wrapped every stocking stuffer gift.....so I did. With 5 kids, DH, and now SO's, they don't want me to stop that tradition. 12-18 little things in each stocking.....it takes me forever! Don't start that!

But unwrapping everything is half the fun!!!!

And it gives mom and dad more time to enjoy their morning coffee while the kids (big or little) open each tiny item.

I can't imagine not having everything wrapped in the stocking. I know its a pain to preapre, but its soooooo much fun to have each item disguised under pretty paper. Shop early and wrap in stages .

 

[ceemys]

Still trying to wrap my brain around never having stockings because there was no fireplace. My mother cross stiched beautiful stockings for every member of our family. We cherish them and still as above 50yo kids, fill our stockings at our family Christmas celebration.
Stocking stuffers can be simple or expensive, your choice.
I always put a tangerine in the toe. There is always gelt.
Boys get batteries, flashlights, mini tools, candy, fun toys(yoyo,puzzles,decks of cards) All would be great girl object too. Girls get lipsticks, nail polish, eye shadow, nail files, little tissue packs, CD's, gum and more. If you look at every checkout counter starting now, you will find myriad of things appropriate for stockings. I always get something long that will stick out of DS's stocking. My sister always gets us those 4 piece boxes of Godiva. My husband buys things like those multicolored balls of rubber bands, colored paperclips, scotch tape. We all come with a few things for the stockings so there's not pressure on just one person to stuff them all. Lol, My sister always buys herself some expensive jewelry and puts it in her own stocking-last year, I moved it to mine, you should have seen the look on her face, tee hee.

That is something my sister and I would do to each other. Hiliarious!

 

[diznee25]

So nice to see others who wrap every stocking stuffer too! My parents did that when I was young. We were on the poor side, so they couldn't get us a lot of "main gifts", so they wrapped our stocking stuffers so we had more to open! We loved it!

I continued the tradition as an adult. My husband thought it was weird at first, but now he's into it. I even wrap up the dog's toys for their stockings. They can't really open gifts, but they sure do try!


diznee25

 

[mogranny]

You can always find fun silly stuff at store like Dollar tree. We also wrap all
the stocking gifts. Adults and grandchildren.

 

[MomToOne]

This year DD12s stocking will have:

$5 Shirley Temple movie DVD from Target's bargain section
The book "Little Princess" (one of her favorite movies - we have 2 different versions of it - and my favorite book as a young girl)
Couple pairs of fun socks
About 20 packs of gum (she craves the stuff)
Wristlet (I actually got this as a free gift with purchase last year - not my style but she'll love it)
Few pieces of costume jewelry I picked up on clearance over the year
Fun pair of suspenders
"Blingy" case for her iTouch
1 or 2 Vinylmation (I may save 1 for her Easter basket)
And of course, lots of chocolate

Santa leaves all the large gifts at our house the weekend before we travel to Nana's for the actual Christmas thing, so the only thing DD gets from Santa Christmas morning is her stocking. I try to sneak one major gift in there each year to give her something exciting to talk about when we meet up with my nephews later in the day and hear all about what Santa left them. This year I'm not completely sure just yet what that "big" gift will be - right now I'm thinking it will be either a gift certificate for a pair of Converse build-your-own shoes (something she'll love) or Taylor Swift concert tickets (something she'll love even more, but I'm not completely sure I want to go there yet).

As far as wrapping goes, I'm an in-betweener I wrap a few, but leave some unwrapped too.

 

[Debbie]

But unwrapping everything is half the fun!!!!

And it gives mom and dad more time to enjoy their morning coffee while the kids (big or little) open each tiny item.

I can't imagine not having everything wrapped in the stocking. I know its a pain to prepare, but its soooooo much fun to have each item disguised under pretty paper. Shop early and wrap in stages .

Oh, I agree, Gina! The problem with wrapping them too far in advance is that I wrap each person's in their own special (Santa) paper, so I like to do all of number 1's at the same time, all of number 2's etc. And I always just get done, and my mom gives me more stuff. I've always tried to 'kind of' keep the numbers similar.

I picked up a few things for my girls at The Body Shop yesterday, and the weekend that Shopper's has there 20x points, I go in and get the toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, eye drops, chocolate oranges etc. So waiting for that special. I'll hit Dollarama for the boys, and, yes, I will continue to wrap, 'cause I them!

 

[mom2cookies]

be forewarned! If you hang them over the fireplace with a fire going.... heat travels up lol... chocolate melts.... >.< lol

Oh and those stocking holder figurines... They don't hold much weight.

 

[lucigo]

be forewarned! If you hang them over the fireplace with a fire going.... heat travels up lol... chocolate melts.... >.< lol

Oh and those stocking holder figurines... They don't hold much weight.

Good to know!