Stocking stuffers

[gentlebutterfly]

I usually just hit up the dollar store and get small items and some candy for the stockings. This year my kids are each getting a small bag of M&M's, bubbles, a toy ball, a small puzzle, crayons, candy corn (my son specifically asked Santa for this), a small stuffed toy, and some other small pieces of candy.

[Thipu1]

When I was a child, there was a ritual way to load the stocking. 

There would be nuts or small hard candies in the toe.  The heel would be kept in shape with an orange.  Sometimes, the orange would be wrapped. 

The body of the stocking held either a inexpensive but long toy like a box of pick-up-stick or a rolled coloring book with a small box of crayons. 

There was always a new toothbrush.

A candy cane always had to hang over the top of the stocking and usually there was something like a little, stuffed toy to peek out over the edge.

As I got older, childish toys would be replaced by a deck of cards, a new hairbrush and/or age-appropriate cosmetics such as lip gloss or nail polish.

The idea of the stocking was to remind my generation that, when my parents were children, sometimes, the stocking was the only gift the family could afford.

It makes me cringe to see items costing 50USD touted as 'the perfect stocking stuffer'.

[pearls n purls]

If you can, it's nice to have a stuffed animal sticking out of the top. 

Nice chocolates, small toys depending on his interests (match box toys or mini Lego kits might be good), "special" boy bubble bath or shampoo (such as batman), small art supplies, a book or comic book, etc.

[Arrynne]

Growing up, there was always an apple, orange, tangerine, a handful of nuts and a candy cane in the stocking.  Most years we had a mini box of raisins too.  Then mom and grandma would add in a coloring book,  a couple of small toys, or something random like ChapStick or a mini hand lotion.  My almost 2 year old is getting a mini "rain stick" toy, bubbles, a comb, and some bath squirters in his stocking. 

For a nine-year-old boy, I would probably do a couple matchbox cars, or one of those mini RC cars that recharges on the base.  HexBugs are a lot of fun.  A CD, some candy, maybe a lip balm, hat or gloves.  A bottle of cologne, body spray, or nice deodorant (Bonus! You get to pick a scent that doesn't make you cringe).  We always liked those silly mini-puzzles. Either the metal links you have to un-hook or the kind where you have to sink little ball bearings into holes. 

Someone else mentioned decks of cards.  I remember my cousins getting some small magic tricks or pranks a couple of times.  Whoopee cushions at Christmas can be fun or mortifying depending on the family.     A card game like UNO or Fluxx would be nice.

When my cousins and I got to be teenagers, my mom and uncle would tease us about putting condoms in the stockings (they never did, thank goodness!).

[Vall]

When I was a kid my parents wrapped up a chocolate Snack Pack pudding and put it in my stocking.  What made it so special was that Christmas was the only time that I got to eat chocolate pudding for breakfast.  Oh, what joy!  It was the first thing that I unwrapped and then I'd run to the kitchen for a spoon.

It's been forty years since then and now my DH carefully wraps a pudding for me every Christmas.  Yes, I still get excited and run for a spoon even though I know that I can eat whatever, whenever.  It's tradition.

[yokozbornak]

My girls get candy (some chocolate and those LifeSavers storybooks that I remember from my childhood), a little stuffed animal, little purses, lip gloss, and then a few individual items like a pin for oldest DD's pin collection.

[Arrynne]

My parents always added a magazine and/or book.  Mainly because the stockings were the only thing we were allowed to open before the other kid got up so it gave us something to do while waiting.

We did this too!  We were allowed to open our stocking, but we couldn't touch anything under the tree.  Not even the stuff from Santa that wasn't wrapped.  Santa didn't bother wrapping at our house.

[katcheya]

My family is weird: we got socks and underwear in our stockings!  My twin and I started protesting the underwear bit when we hit our teens, but I'm 32 now and still expect some nifty socks in there!

@ Outdoor Girl: I remember those Lifesaver storybooks!  Those were fun!