As my hubby and I were wrapping the kids’ stockings this year, it occurred to me that children don’t require much to be happy.
One of the items that we put in the kids’ stockings this year are those individual hot chocolate packets. We bought them 90% off at the end of the Christmas Season last year and I tucked them away for this year’s stockings. I am frugal and if I can get a good deal on something, I will!
Unfortunately, I didn’t store them well and one of them got punctured. I found some bubble wrap to wrap them in and mentioned to my husband that:
a) We didn’t have to wrap them further than the bubble wrap because bubble wrap makes a fun wrapper for kids.
and
b) We could have just put the bubble wrap as an item in their stockings and they would have been just as happy as if it were a toy.
As a side note, we were at a work Holiday Party last weekend. The boss brought out relatively large cardboard boxes filled with gift baskets to give to everyone. Once the boxes were emptied, he jokingly offered them up to the children. Of course the children didn’t skip a beat and next thing you know, they were playing in the boxes. They were hiding, throwing them, building, you name it. All the kids needed were cardboard boxes to keep them happily entertained!
I’ve brainstormed some other items of items that young children would really like to receive in their stockings that are either practical, inexpensive or free.
- sponges or cloths for helping to clean the house
- dusters
- stamps
- toothbrush and toothpaste
- socks (my kids LOVE new socks!)
- lipbalm
- mini individual kleenex packages
- hair accessories
- underwear
- paper scraps cut into note sized pieces wrapped in a cute ribbon
- new pencils, crayons, eraser, glue stick etc. for school
- a bag of craft supplies (old buttons, ribbon scraps, gift paper scraps, beads, old Christmas card pictures etc.)
- an orange, an apple or a clementine
- coupons to spend time with your child doing special things like: read a book, play a game, go out together etc.
Gosh, I feel like after brainstorming this list, I need to go back and add some items to the stockings even though they are finished.
Please leave some comments to help others who are stuck with ideas for stocking stuffers for their children! What are your creative ideas? Please share!
Awesome ideas! We usually add a movie that the kids loved this year for each of the kids in the stockings. DS4 got Cars 2 and DD6 got Tangled.
We also put in mini cars and since Walmart had so many cheap gifts we got DD a ton of nail polish, lip balm and body lotion (since she loves mine).
our kids love hasbro cars, they are only just over a dollar a piece but the kids can never have enough of them! they are also getting lots of kinder eggs, surprise surprise and any treat we can buy in a three pack is awesome since we can split between the stockings and save
I have found stickers, pencils, erasers, and fun little puzzles etc to be good as well as hair accessories. My kids hate when they got underwear or even socks in their stockings lol
Now that most of mine are older, stuffing stockings is not so easy
Awesome list! 🙂
In the past I’ve included empty photo frames that are wide enough to allow decoration with stickers/ribbon/etc.
My brother’s xmas would not be made without a Hot Wheels car in has sack! XD Heh… just thinking on that now, I might have to go pick one up for nostalgic purposes, lol.
Stickers and paint are always a popular choice for our girls…anything craft related it a hit!
Love your ideas, and yes, our girls LOVE new socks too!
Smiles,
Jody
Mommy Moment
Great ideas, we do socks and hair bows and bathroom products just for them. They love getting bubble bath!
We went with non-food stocking stuffers too:
– scented stickers
– hot wheels cars
– fun toothbrushes
– bubble bath
– small colouring packs
– scented markers
– socks
– little airplane toys
These are definitely some interesting stocking stuffer ideas! You should make a few suggestions to this list of Creative Stocking Stuffers for Kids list.
Octoner 30-I know I am late in reading these Christmas ideas but your ‘Unique, Fun and Practical Stocking Stuffers for Kids really appealed to me. I would add pencils with ‘Santa Tops”, hair clasps for girls, dinky cars for little boys, small bags of their favourite sweets. Go to the Dollar store. They have lots of cute little items.-Elva Roberts
I think it’s great that your kids love getting socks in their Christmas stocking……I have to say your list is definitely practical.
Santa leaves the boys stockings on their beds so that when they wake up they come in our room and empty their stockings and we get a few minutes to watch, fully wake up and enjoy this time before they go open their Christmas gifts. I try to put things in their stocking that they will want to look at, use and occupy themselves with right away. Mini Legos, mini flashlight (for flashlight tag, etc.), small box of cereal to hold them over before breakfast, coupons for sure (“You pick the movie”, “You pick the dinner”, etc.), mini single player puzzle, holiday Pez dispenser, baseball or football cards, mini ipod speaker……some other ideas. I DO add the more practical items as well as “fillers” – toothbrush, floss, gloves, etc.
Great ideas! It’s funny that both kids and cats prefer the box to the toy that came in it!