Stocking Stuffers 2022 - since we’re already talking holiday gifts

My stocking is typically empty but that’s OK. The joy for me is in the giving!

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Okay now everyone from CC is wishing they could send @momofboiler1 stuff so her stocking will be full on Christmas morning!

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Same! I like playing elf! And DH is always wondering what the heck I got him! :partying_face:

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My husband has always liked putting stuff in the stockings. I sometimes have bought a couple things and asked him to put them in, but it has always been primarily his thing. And he puts stuff he likes in his own stocking as well, because why would Santa leave him out!

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TBH, both my husbands stocking and mine are usually empty. I used to fill his but he didn’t seem to really care about a stocking - he has a short attention span on Christmas….

My kids sometimes put stuff in mine. But most times mine is empty. I’m ok with not having stuff BUT I can’t imagine being the person to ignore the fact that someone wasn’t getting stuff in their stocking!

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Santa does not wrap gifts or stocking stuffers at our house. For years, “Santa” always brought the one big or most desirable/biggest surprise gift for each of our kids and left unwrapped under the tree. The rest of the gifts are wrapped from dh and me, as well as gifts from our kids to each other. Santa always also brings each kid their own box of their favorite junk cereal since mean Mom that I am, I never bought it any other time of year. I actually sent oldest D, her first Christmas away from home, a box of Reeses Puffs along with her gifts this year (which I did wrap this time, as a joke, so she could open and explain to her future in-laws :joy:).

I made the mistake of buying those huge PBK stockings that were popular 20 years ago. It takes a lot to fill them! I mostly buy practical things rather than silly, gag gifts. H always adds a scratch off lottery ticket.

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I stopped doing stockings when the youngest turned 21. It was just too stressful to me to come up with things for all 4. DH and I never did it for each other. To me it was always a kid thing.

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I put mostly very silly little gifts in the fams stockings this year. The boyfriends got the same stuff too. Not sure what they’re going to think of me after they open them to be honest. I put tiny rubber (plastic) chickens in them for Pete’s sake. And little tiny people I found on Etsy (I think they are maybe for model trains - there was no explanation on the website funnily enough). I did add some Lindors truffles and socks in there, so they got a few useful items. I also put the really small stuff in little silk brocade bags I got on eBay. So that’s kind of fun.

I thought I was done with shopping, but today I bought this for my daughter. She likes chickens. What can I say?

The kids got apple watches and the spouse got a big TV and a trip to Costa Rica for his Christmas/retirement gift (41 years). So I don’t think they’ll be too upset with the crazy stockings.

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Stockings are the one thing that I will never give up. They were the highlight of my childhood - we were able to grab our stockings and take them back to bed. Tree and presents were for later, usually after church.
My husband and I happen to have the same stockings, both purchased by moms at the late, much lamented department store in town. Of course, I made matching ones for the D’s, and now for the SIL and BF.

The most practical item is usually a pair of socks, maybe makeup. Otherwise, it’s all fun treats. Little games, books, an ornament, kitchen extras, jokey things from Archie McPhee, etc. I think I might spend too much on them, but it’s tradition. At most, a few things will be wrapped in tissue. The stockings are usually full and there’s overflow on the hearth.

Yeah. I have a problem :joy:

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Here are the mini people. People who left comments on Etsy found them as cute as I did and also bought them with no idea what to do with them! :rofl:

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Tonight I went to a party with a gift exchange. I always get terrible (awful) stuff at these things. The one from a few weeks ago I got a very weird coffee cup with a fake jewel for a handle, and when I got home read that it wasn’t dishwasher safe. Sure, I’m going to hand wash a coffee cup!

But tonight it was a game where you opened the gifts in order and I was #4 of about 25, and people could ‘steal’ your gift. #4 gift was okay and I held on to it until #7. #7 was stolen by I think #11. Then the replacement was stolen by like #15. Well, then I stole someone’s that had already been stolen once so I got to keep it. It was Trader Joe’s spices and a chocolate orange, so now I can use those for a stocking. (the point of this long story)

And the crappy coffee cup will go to Good Will.

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For life here. When our 3rd was born, supposedly our last, I got them pottery barn stockings and a matching tree skirt because that was it. When I got pregnant a year later with twins, I was able to buy coordinating stockings from pottery barn, purchased a few months before their birth, I was afraid I’d miss the window and have to start from scratch.

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They look like human infused pills!!!

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My gripe is when things like coffee mugs aren’t microwave or dishwasher safe.

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Diverging a bit from the stocking discussion, are there people who have tried Mike’s Hot Honey, Savannah Bee Hot Honey, and/or Beez Bounty Hot Honey? If you’ve tried more than one, what are your preferences/thoughts about them? I bought the Savannah Bee from Costco, but since the recipient also has a gift membership, picked up the Beez Bounty at Tuesday Morning. Then I saw the Mike’s Hot Honey on sale at Whole Foods and picked that up, too. The recipient, however, does not need three bottles of hot honey!

As I am Santa’s Chief Elf for my house, I refuse to wrap his presents, particularly to myself! I’ll usually buy a couple of things for my own stocking, but my mom started feeling badly that I had to buy my own stocking presents, so she now brings a couple over on Christmas morning. And we generally always have the same stockings, year after year, though they were store-bought. If someone made us a stocking though, it would certainly take precedence over the ones we’ve had for years.

With a few exceptions (like my Cricut Maker which we bought from the store in a big shipping box or packages from relatives sent via Amazon) presents going under the tree are wrapped. In wrapping presents, each recipient has their own paper, so name tags aren’t essential (though usually included.

I would prefer to only do stockings. I like buying a variety of smaller things (which can include gift cards and lottery tickets). The non-stocking Christmas presents are where I always falter and get stressed. No wrapping and has to fit inside stocking are my guidelines. Somewhere in the late-preteen or early teen years I let my boys pick stockings to buy at the store and all 3 picked fairly large ones. My H and I use ones I cross stitched in early marriage years.

Did you end up getting those luggage tags? I love them! Some of our suitcases have ribbon tied to them from when the whole family went on a cruise. It makes them easy to spot but it’s ugly! Now my kids are traveling on their own and it would be helpful, I think.

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I went to Chinatown today to get a few stocking stuffers. Since most of us rarely venture there, I think the odds and ends I got there will be enjoyed as novelties.

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I’ve bought these stocking stuffers for my kids’ luggage. They’re easy to spot, come in many color combinations, snap around the handle and have stayed on through many trips.

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Our stockings have always been whatever the holder’s favorite candy bar is and any cash gifts. That’s pretty much it. All else is under the tree.

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