At what point????

[Laurel-in-CA]

do kids outgrow christmas stockings? There was a mass protest at our house at the merest thought of setting aside this tradition. My college/teens/tween all STILL want to sleep in our room on Christmas Eve and open their stockings when they wake up. The tradition started when we needed to get them all out of the way in our tiny house so that we could do the christmas stockings. But for older kids, stockings get EXPENSIVE!! So, what do you think? Keep it up until they leave home for good? Until they reach a certain age (????)? What?

[Laurel-in-CA]

Maybe we need to switch to *them* filling a stocking for mom & dad?????

[Mom22ns]

People outgrow stockings? Hmm... I had no idea. 

 

At some point when we were teens, my sister and I surprised my parents by filling stockings for them. We continued doing that for years to come. My mom never stopped filling stockings for us until the first grandchild showed up, then we switched to Christmas being about littles again :).

[Cosmos]

I'm 41 and still hang my stocking every year. :)

[nannyaunt]

Maybe you should do both :).  Seriously, though it sounds like you are messing with tradition.  Never a popular idea.

[Tsuga]

Everyone gets a stocking at our house. Always has, always will.

 

Everyone over 8 is fully aware that it's filled by yours truly.

 

This year I went to Michael's and stocked up on a metric ton of art supplies. TONS. I have enough to fill six stockings and it cost me about $85, and those were nice gifts, including supplies for a family craft (making New Years masks, lol). Plus if you get a stocking you're gonna get children's gifts. It's not like we fill these up with iTunes gift cards or anything. 43, 23, 13, or three, you're getting Silly Putty. So it wasn't that much.

 

Edit--I keep editing--when they were small and even now, half your stocking is slightly fancier versions of stuff you were getting anyway, like a new toothbrush.

[Plink]

Stockings switch when a child moves far away (and is no longer coming home for Christmas) or they get married and start their own traditions.  If someone wakes up in my house on Christmas morning, they get a stocking.  

[Miss Tick]

You could fill the stockings with cheaper things each year and wean then off. Although, I'm usually excited to see my post-it supply topped off...

[craftymama]

Stockings are my favorite part of gift giving and receiving.  The little surprises are the part I find most exciting.  I will do a stocking for my kids until they tell me not to and then I'll do it anyway.  

[fairfarmhand]

We don't fill stockings with expensive stuff, even for teens.

 

They get Beef Jerky, corn nuts, gum, girls get hair ties etc. pez dispensers are popular even for older kids.

 

So don't do the expensive stuff.

[ktgrok]

Um, who outgrows stockings???  I've never outgrown them, and my parents still get them, in their 60's. Mom does Dad's, Dad does Mom's, my husband does mine,I do his, and I do the kids. Some years, if we were going to be at my parents house, my mom did mine, my sister's, and our husbands, and I did my dad's, and my sister did my moms. But everyone gets one. 

[Sarah CB]

My mom still does a stocking for me.  Actually, my mom and my sister do a stocking for me, my sister and I do a stocking for my mom.  My husband also does a stocking for me so I get two.  I like stockings :)

 

 

[Michelle in MD]

We have kids of pretty much every age and they all still get one.

[PeterPan]

Yup, if you're here you get a stocking!  I was just realizing I don't have anything for my Dad's!  They're telling him he's going diabetic, so my earlier idea (homemade granola) is probably out, bummer.  

 

We ALL fill the stockings, so it's fun for everyone. Each person waits for the rest to go to bed so they can sneak out, hehe.  Ds6 is finally figuring out all this but he started early and already put his loot in.  :D

[EKS]

No one has outgrown Christmas stockings here and my father is 84.

 

 

[SKL]

I think our parents stopped when the youngest moved out?  Not really sure ....

 

After a certain point, though, they delegated all the wrapping and stocking stuffing to the older kids.

[candicane]

I didn't know you could outgrow them. When someone moves out, then move that one on.

 

Ours have never been filled with anything expensive. They're usually small things that were bought for less than 5 bucks, or a DVD on occasion. There was no need for expensive stuff in stockings around here lol

[alisoncooks]

My mom still does a stocking for me. Actually, my mom and my sister do a stocking for me, my sister and I do a stocking for my mom. My husband also does a stocking for me so I get two. I like stockings :)

Same here. My folks have stockings for all their grown kids (+ grandkids).

 

Stockings are cheap here: an apple and orange in the toe, some nuts, some candy, a few small items (hair/nail stuff, gift card, gag gifts).

[lamppost]

Stockings are fun for all ages, but we've never done expensive things. Growing up my mom usually did a large orange, some nuts, candy, a new toothbrush, and maybe a couple other things like a pack of playing cards, new pens, and some cute post-it notes.  You can also make coupons for things, like "mommy-daughter date" or "get out of chores free card".

[Orthodox6]

Never.

 

We hang stockings on the eve of St. Nicholas Day, instead on Christmas Eve.  As each child became a teen, the small gifts were omitted, to be replaced by a large Toblerone bar.  Our eldest now is twenty-eight (married with a child), and I am quite sure he would feel disappointed if that Toblerone bar were not to appear at his house from us!

[Sherry in OH]

Stockings for adults are mostly candy and treats.  Mix in a few toiletries or other necessities, such as a pair of socks or gloves or batteries.  Then add one or two small gifts, perhaps a low denomination gift card, a gadget, a book or a dvd.  Sometimes more expensive but small in size items make their way into the stocking to prevent their getting lost under the tree.

 

 

[Kiara.I]

I haven't outgrown stockings.  My husband tried to suggest I had (before we had kids.)  The conversation did not go well.   :lol:

 

However: I don't see why stockings for bigger kids would be much more expensive than for younger kids.  Perhaps a reassessment of what goes IN a stocking might be good.

[ByGrace3]

I have never heard of outgrowing them...even dh and I do stockings for each other every year...

[HS Mom in NC]

Every person in my immediate family gets a stocking full of their very favorite Christmas treats each year.  So do the teens'/young adults' significant others.

[Caclcoca]

My mom still does a stocking for me.  I have been married for 17 years, and I have four kids (she fills one for dh and our children too).  We "open" them when we get to her house Christmas evening or the day after Christmas.  I love filling and receiving stockings!

[strawberries]

My ILs still do stockings for all of their kids, who are all grown. It's inexpensive or silly stuff - favorite candy from the checkout aisle, lottery tickets, deodorant. Those who are married or parents themselves get similar little treats for their spouse and kids in their stocking too.  Here, DH and I fill each others' stockings. I always look forward to my Little Debbie cake! It doesn't need to be expensive, it's just fun. 

[JustEm]

My parents stopped doing stockings for each kid once they moved out and took their stocking with them. As a teen we were in charge of filling the stockings for everyone so it was just candy and beef jerky. By the time I did that I was married so dh started filling my stocking instead of my parents. So, I say you never outgrow the . who fills them changes though.

[athomeontheprairie]

Here, Christmas stockings are only for those present at the house christmas morning.

So, my parents no longer do stockings.

My in-laws fill them for the kids that are home when they wake up Christmas morning, that rest of us are sol. (Or that was the way it was going to be. We told mil we would NEVER be there for Christmas morning. That's fine. So no stockings. Then bil got married. my sil told mil they would NEVER be there for Christmas mornings (go sil!). That's fine. Everyone will now get stockings when we celebrate later. I wish she would have just dropped them. Seriously)

 

[SemiSweet]

Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas! They don't have to be expensive, but I would definitely do one for everyone in my house on Christmas morning.

[maize]

Everyone who is home for Christmas gets a stocking in both my parents' and in-laws homes, dh and I have stockings here at home; I don't see stockings as something one outgrows.

 

They don't have to be expensive though--some candy, something cute and fun or useful, some nuts and an orange.

[albeto.]

do kids outgrow christmas stockings? There was a mass protest at our house at the merest thought of setting aside this tradition. My college/teens/tween all STILL want to sleep in our room on Christmas Eve and open their stockings when they wake up. The tradition started when we needed to get them all out of the way in our tiny house so that we could do the christmas stockings. But for older kids, stockings get EXPENSIVE!! So, what do you think? Keep it up until they leave home for good? Until they reach a certain age (????)? What?

 

 

When I was a kid, Santa always filled the stockings with those little items me and my sisters would bicker over. This way, we'd each have our very own and not have to share ever. We each got things like our very own Sooper Special roll of masking tape, walnuts (to stop mooching from Dad), pencils with our names on them (no so much fun because they were for school - boo), chocolate candies Mom NEVER bought at the grocery store, and personal slinky No Sharing Evar! This became particularly fun when we got older. Nothing like getting masking tape at age 19 when home for the holidays.

 

My kids get the little stuff I won't buy for them otherwise. Lindt's chocolate truffles, nutella, fluff, ipod gift card, subway gift card, hmm, lots of food in our stockings. :huh:

 

We also just so happen to have stockings that don't fit a lot in there. Go figure.

 

We keep it on the cheap this way.

[OneStepAtATime]

FWIW, my brother still gets a stocking and he's in his 40's.  :)

 

I once found a sale right after Christmas on Christmas stockings, 50 cents a piece.  I bought a ton.   There was also a sale on Christmas ornaments where you could put a little picture inside.  25 cents a piece.  I bought a bunch of those, too.  Every year that was what we gave as gifts and I tied the ornament to the stocking.  I included a little picture from the previous Christmas.  We stuffed them with citrus and nuts and candies and little gifts I gathered all year long for the kids and their cousins and any adults that still wanted a stocking.  I budgeted a little bit from each grocery bill and kept an eye out for sales on the non-perishables, then got the perishable items closer to Christmas.  You don't really have to stuff a stocking with as many items when it has a big orange in the toe and individually wrapped things like a slinky.  Worked out great and everyone loved them, even adults.  We don't really do that anymore and I kind of wish I had kept up the tradition.

[Grover]

My parents stopped ours when we were 13.  Well, I was 13 and my sister was 16.  I remember protesting that she'd had 3 more years than me :lol:

 

I don't intend to stop for my kiddos.  If they wake up here on Christmas morning, there will be a stocking.  As mentioned above though, they're silly things and things you'd get anyway... santa always brings toothbrush. underwear, socks and usually a new towel or similar. 

[IsabelC]

It would be silly to abandon a family tradition that is still fun and fulfilling to do, no matter how old your 'kids' are. But it also isn't a good idea to carry a financial burden that you can't afford. So I would continue with the stockings but use inexpensive (but still nice to get) gifts to fill them. Alternatively you could consider taking turns between yourself and those of your children who have paid work, so you'd be buying more expensive presents but you'd only have to do it once every few years.

[Coco_Clark]

I'm a little surprised at all the adult stockings. I guess I had never considered it.

 

My parents stopped mine when I turned 18 and moved out. Same for my siblings. It seemed natural because we didn't live there anymore, so we weren't waking up there on Christmas morning; or if we were (like after I moved to another state) it was as a house guest.

 

My in-laws did continue a stocking w/ candy, nuts, and an orange for my husband while he was in college. But now that I think about it her college kids now (she still has a few) don't get one. We often stay there for Christmas and only the "baby" (16) gets one. So maybe they only kept him up because he was the oldest and would be the only one left out?

 

If it's that important to them, I say keep the tradition up but lower the value of the stuffers ;)

[rocassie]

We do stocking for everyone, even adults.  It's one of those fun traditions, but we only spend $20 per stocking.  It's Christmas candy, food items that we don't normally have, and small inexpensive items (some of which are homemade).  The items will be things like bookmarks, fun socks, stickers, markers, small craft item, sticky notes, key chain, underwear, toothbrushes, candle, and other small items.  My one caveat is that it has to fit in the stocking as nothing that goes in is wrapped.

 

If it's getting to be to much for you, maybe the tradition can change to drawing names and playing Secret Santa.  Each person is responsible for filling someone else's stocking for $X.  That way everyone still gets to do it, but it isn't so much a burden on you anymore.

[Dory]

Stockings are for candy, silly putty, maybe ear buds, socks, and perhaps a t-shirt, and candy, and candy, and a little more candy.

[EndOfOrdinary]

For a few years growing up, we only did stockings. It allowed the ability to enjoy them, but have serious money issues with the expense of Christmas. Then, when my son was born, my parents switched over to a thirty dollar limit on the contents of the stocking. That kept them fun, and filled with useful things, but not unaffordable.

 

If your borderline adult children still want to sleep in your room and open stockings when they get up, consider that serious familytime victory! At some point they will have spouses and kids, and you will find yourself wishing you were tripping over sleepy bodies to get to the bathroom Christmas morning.

[horsellian]

We only do stockings for the kids - I have enough trouble finding a main present for DH, let alone finding stocking fillers for him.  Our stockings are pretty small, so they have a toothbrush (our family tradition - DD even wrote asking for one in her letter to Father Christmas!), chocolate, pens/pencils, stickers, etc. and one small toy to keep them going, as we don't open family presents until the afternoon.  I'd guess the cost for us is about £12 per kid, so not exorbitant.  

 

When I was younger, my mum decided that you'd get a stocking until you were 21 or married ... she decided this the year I turned 22, and got married!

 

[Laura Corin]

We all have stockings, but we have never done enormous ones.  Each child gets a book, a toy (or equivalent) an orange and some chocolate.

 

L

[8filltheheart]

Stockings have always been for little things at our house. When they are younger, stockings are what they get up at 4 in the morning and open without us. When they are older, it is more like a Starbucks gift card or a specialized t-shirt from Cafe Press (Ds has some physics geek shirts that he loves.)

 

We aren't huge Santa people, so the stockings have always been "from Santa." They always have a stocking until they have their own home.

[happypamama]

Uh, apparently never! I figured you'd stop getting a stocking when you got married, but maybe not. When DH and I had been dating for a few years, MIL started putting a stocking together for me. Now, DH and I have been together since we were 16 and 14, and his only sibling is his sister, who is four years younger than I. There are a good many times when something was an event with the five of us, and we were together for seven Christmases before the one where we were first married, and at some point, I started getting gifts and a stocking from my ILs. I thought it was sweet that they were counting me as one of the kids. ;) So then that continued when we were married, because we lived far enough away those first couple of years that we came to visit for Christmas because that's when we had time off (DH was in school; I worked as a nanny), and I suppose they weren't going to leave us out of the stockings. And then when I was pregnant with DD, I'm sure MIL was so super excited to be able to pick out a baby stocking, so the baby got a stocking, and then DD's first Christmas, MIL filled that stocking for her granddaughter, and then when the first little brother arrived a few years later, she picked out a boyish sticking for him, and that was also the year that DH's sister got married, so her DH got a stocking, and so on and so on. I don't even do stockings for my kids, because they each have specially chosen ones from my ILs, although I do sometimes add things to the stockings. (This year, my 6yo is insistent that he needs his own nail clippers. Why, I have no idea, but he's mentioned it more than once. So I got a pair of nail clippers for the three big boys, and something else for DD.)

 

So I vote: whatever you want to do!

[Kiara.I]

My parents stopped making a stocking for me when I married.  Then it was my husband's job to find a couple of stocking stuffers. (I told him that, they didn't, just to clarify.  It's not that I have "precious" parents who tell him how to treat their daughter or anything.)  And whoever's doing the grocery shopping does most of the rest of it, and we both fill them.

 

HOWEVER, if we were staying overnight at my parents' house, on Christmas, that might be different.  I don't know how stocking filling would go then, I'm sure we'd work something out.  But I could see how the parents might do a good deal of the grocery part of it at that point, especially if there were travel involved.  The non-travel people would be the ones buying oranges, nuts, apples and chocolate for the stocking...

[Lizzie in Ma]

Never, my vote is never.  It has always been one of our favorite traditions.

[kwickimom]

I'm 36 and my mom still gives me a stocking. Its always going to be a tradition

[Hedgehogs4]

our kids get stockings. always will. My husband and I quit doing stockings because we kept forgetting to buy stocking stuffers for each other, and one year I got dental floss. I wasn't thrilled. I really was not thrilled. After that I "outgrew" the stocking. But my kids will get them as long as we have Christmas with them.

[73349]

DS and I fill DH's stocking; DH and DS fill mine; then DS has to go to bed so DH and I can fill his. I agree that they don't have to be expensive--usually we do an orange, a toothbrush, some candy that person will like, and one other thing (like a CD).

[barnwife]

Ummm, my mom still gives me a stocking. She now does them for her, my dad, my sister, my other sister and her husband, DH, all the grandkids (6 of them), and myself.

So yes, I get two stockings. One in my house (I fill all of them, including mine) and one when we celebrate with my parents.

I am flabbergasted at the idea of growing out of stockings. I'd be fine if my mom wanted to stop, but she loves doing it. But I'd still get a stocking in my house! I almost like stockings more than other gifts!

[Dramorellis]

If you are here on Christmas morning, then you get a stocking. My mom spent the holidays with us last year and she got a stocking. Socks, candy, clementines, toothbrushes and stickers. Nothing expensive. For the grownups, I have done a nice box of tea or dark chocolate before. It doesn't have to break the bank.

[lispy]

My brother and I continued to get stockings after moving out.  When we got married, our spouses also received stockings (I'm pretty sure they started getting them before we actually got married).   When we started having babies, stockings became just for the kids.