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Stocking stuff traditional must haves?


Night Elf
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What is something you must put in stockings every year because it's become a tradition? I get candy for my kids but the one candy they all get in the toe of the stocking is a bag of chocolate coins. Not the best chocolate but they always look for them. I only buy them at Christmas time.

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Candy--a big, Cadbury-type chocolate bar (dd has to have dark choc now because nondairy)

My husband seems to think it traditional to give me Oil of Olay. I like it, but...

We give each other some sort of macadamia nuts, too--I like the chocolate covered ones. 

We used to put something "hilariously yucky" in each other's stockings--I have pictures of him on Christmas Morning in his bathrobe taking a bite of canned octopus...

 

My brothers used to get a Pepperidge Farms beefstick. 

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We always get the Brach's Peppermint Christmas Nougats.  I couldn't find them one year and you don't want to know what I paid on Amazon just to get ONE bag.  LOL  (These: https://www.target.com/p/brach-s-christmas-peppermint-nougats-12oz/-/A-52517404? )

 

Our tradition with stockings *before* Christmas is that I buy a bunch of cheap gift tags or blank note cards and the kids slip funny or sweet little messages into each other's stockings all month long.  They started it about 12 years ago or more (using some note cards they found without asking first! lol), I think.

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Our tradition with stockings *before* Christmas is that I buy a bunch of cheap gift tags or blank note cards and the kids slip funny or sweet little messages into each other's stockings all month long.  They started it about 12 years ago or more (using some note cards they found without asking first! lol), I think.

 

What a lovely tradition!  Even more so since it was started by your children.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Toothbrush (with either toothpaste or flossers), some type of candy, pencils (or pens or markers or crayons, depending on age), a little bagged Lego set, plus some other tiny trinkets. My husband will fill my stocking with sticky-notes, sticky-tabs, and pens/pencils each year, plus candy.

 

My father always gave us scratch tickets!

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Toy dinosaurs!

 

This started when my older kids were little because one of them was really into dinosaurs; I bought some of the nicer models as stocking stuffers.

 

Fast forward a few years and dinosaurs in the stockings have become a settled tradition that my children, even my teenage daughter, are horrified if I suggest moving away from. The dinosaurs often move into the branches of the Christmas tree at some point and I have to shake them out when we take down the tree.

Edited by maize
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I got a hot wheels car in my son's stocking starting when he was about 3 years old. When he was a teen, around 14 or 15, I asked him if I could stop. He was shocked I'd suggest such a thing. He didn't want that tradition to stop. Well, they're cheap so why not. But when he was about 19, he told me he didn't need them anymore. He was happy with just candy. This year I was going to choose a blind bag for a lego minifig. I was looking at the series trying to decide which one to try when he sat next to me and saw what I was looking at. So he wanted to look at all the series with me and we found a Gamer minifig and he wants that so he sat there as I placed the order. So much for the surprise!! The only thing that's going into his stocking he doesn't know about is a can of Pringles. He's my Aspie who doesn't like change so the odds are high that he won't like them because they aren't Honey BBQ Twists Fritos. I can't fit that bag into his stocking!

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Beef jerky for dh and ds so they don't have to share. :)

 

Everything else changes year to year. Some years ds gets earbuds, or a gift card to his favorite fast food restaurant or Starbucks. Dh often gets a Home Depot or Lowe's gift card. We don't do a lot of stocking stuffers for adults so there are only token items in the stockings.

 

And since I'm the only one who actually thinks about stocking stuffers my stocking is always empty.  :crying:

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And since I'm the only one who actually thinks about stocking stuffers my stocking is always empty.  :crying:

I totally buy myself stuff for my stocking!  The kind of candy and chocolate I like, plus odds and ends I have seen and felt I needed, lol.  And then it's funny to see my kids reactions when I pull stuff out of my stocking, and I'm exclaiming over how perfect it is, exactly what I wanted! 

 

I'm SO not a gift person, so I don't really care that no one else gets me things (well, if we're with my parents, sometime my mom will stick something in, and last year my brother put in a really nice braided lightning charging cord, which was a real surprise that I loved, lol).  I feel like it gives me an excuse to buy random little things for myself that I normally wouldn't, like good Ghirardelli chocolate bars, lots of Peppermint Patties, etc.  It's just fun for me!

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I have bought my own stocking stuffers. But one year I decided not to bother - I wanted to see what happened - and I caught my husband moving candy I'd put in his stocking into mine. My daughter saw it and ever since, she has been sure to remind him.

 

Thing is though, he gets food that no one likes, as a joke. Like a can of herring, or a jar of dried beef. So I'd actually rather he let me fill my own. :lol: I guess in his family they do food the person doesn't like. I dislike joke gifts in general though. But my girl takes care of me and gets chocolate that I like. :001_wub:

Edited by marbel
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Stockings are our favorite part of Christmas! Especially DD.

 

Every year the kids get a new page-a-day calendar and a Toblerone. DD and I get the HUGE Toblerone. My mom used to do that for my sister and me, and I still do it for myself. DH and the boys get the smaller Toblerone because they also get a Reece's Santa. Those are the only definite items each year.

 

I fill my stocking too. Gifts are not my love language though, so I can see how my feelings would be hurt by that if they were. Like Claire, I see it as permission to buy myself fun little things just like I do for my family. This year I'm getting a green depression glass water spritzer for my kitchen window plants, pink depression glass salt and pepper shakers, a new can opener (the one we have is the one DH had when we met 25 years ago, LOL), a small OXO spiralizer, a gift pack of nail polish, a back scratcher, and the Crash Bandicoot PS4 game. Not to mention the candy...the Toblerone and German lebkuchen. 

Edited by Alte Veste Academy
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And since I'm the only one who actually thinks about stocking stuffers my stocking is always empty. :crying:

After two years of empty stockings, I pointed out to my husband that it was empty (again) and told him that I expected him to take responsibility for filling my stocking. He just didn't realize that it was important to me. Now, he stuffs it full of candy and office supplies. ::thumbs up::

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Breakfast!

 

No one in our house wants to wait to open presents or stop enjoying opened gifts to eat breakfast. So I pack their stockings with a bunch of munchies (freeze-dried fruit, nuts, a bar of some kind, apple, jerky, mini cereal boxes, etc...) that they can eat as they wish. Things change based on what I find, but the theme stays the same :).

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Dh and dds always get a can of pringles.   I always get some of each person's favorite candy and my dh always gets a beef summer sausage.  Then, there are usually chapsticks, small hand lotions, ear buds, any little thing that I think my family would enjoy with hopefully a surprise or two.   Youngest dd always gets a chocolate orange and andes mints. 

 

Dh and the girls remember my stocking sometimes. I have put things in there for myself before but its disappointing. 

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I wish my DH was more creative with gifts. He puts candy in my stocking but I have to tell him exactly what to buy so I might as well buy it myself. I'd love to get a small surprise or two. Office supplies would be great! I can always use more post-it notes and index cards. He knows I like those things. DD and I made a big deal out of them every year getting ready for school. For this year, I told him to find me a small container of hand lotion to keep on my nightstand. I told him not one of the big containers with a pump. I have one of those. I want a small tube or something just for the nightstand. I'm nervous about what he'll buy. Goodness knows. I'll probably end up with foot cream or something odd. *sigh*

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DH always gets a chocolate orange in the toe.  The one year I couldn't find them there were gripes.  So I start looking in October.  

 

That's it.  Stockings are my favorite part of the giving and receiving because it's just little surprises and often things you don't think to ask for or remember to buy for yourself.  Luckily, I was pretty clear about how much I like them early in our relationship so DH does a great job.  Usually he goes overboard, but he doesn't seem to mind.  

 

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After I posted about sometimes putting earbuds in ds' stocking I noticed the other day that he was using an old pair. When I asked him about it he said only one side of his good pair is working. He's very particular about the type of earbuds he likes, so I ordered two pairs to put in his stocking. 

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At our house the requirements are Burt's Bees lip balms and scratch-off lottery tickets. DH also gets a small bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

 

Other than that, it's based on what we need. Usually there's some tech accessory (spare cords or portable chargers), some kind of sweet (DD15 usually gets peppermint bark, DD12 will get hot cocoa this year, DH gets white chocolate something or other), some kind of apparel (a graphic tee, socks, gloves), etc. The categories are usually the same, though the items differ!

 

Which reminds me, DD12 is needing gloves this year...

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Love reading everyone's traditions!  Every year there are Bath and Body Works products in the stockings and candy - I try to have each child's favorite candy in theirs.  The oldest usually eats almost all his chocolate truffles on Christmas Day lol.  My stocking is usually empty or DH will try to scramble a day or two before Christmas to find things to go in there.  He's just not a planner.

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