Gift Ideas for Christmas Stockings

I know you wanted stocking stuffers, but I thought I would pass this along. Since you children are older, you can give them cold hard cash. I mean this by taking change and putting it in muffins tins. Fill the tins with water. Each child gets a small cooler, with cold hard cash. This is fun because they have to let it thaw, in order to count the change, and then they can cash the change in and spend it. You could maybe do $10 each. The change makes it "look" like more. Have a wonderful Holiday.

C., this may be terribly boring for kids of that age but we never had money growing up and I still have the fondest memories when it comes to stockings. My mom would put practical things in there and we just loved it. Fun bandages and tooth brushes, flavored chap sticks, bubble bath, colored pens, chewing gum, fun erasers, (if girls...fun pair of socks, nail polish, lotions, hair accessories, inexpensive jewelry). The hardest will probably be the oldest. You can put snacks in there like microwave popcorn, individually wrapped snack foods, etc. You can also make them homemade scarves out of fleece. Just take a sharp pair of scissors and go to town (no sewing or stitching required). Run the scissors down it fast (like you do with wrapping paper). Then,cut the ends to make fringe. Roll it up and shove it down in the bottom. Have fun with it. Stocking stuffers don't have to be junk; it can be practical and still fun for the kids. Have a wonderful time with it!

I'm putting yo-yos in Christmas stockings this year. They have "starter" & more expert yo-yos.

Also what about decks of cards and maybe little books on solitaire, card tricks, or card games?

ETA: what about sports watches, cool keychains, or LED flashlights

I always put toiletries in there, they use them! My son likes Axe body spray and deodarant, my daughter gets moisturizers and lip glosses!
Have fun!

Socks, underwear... :P

I give my boys iTunes cards, things that they collect, they almost always get an ornament. We travel now for Christmas so now we are giving coupons to an activity available where we are going.

You could give them a chore relief coupon or something like that...

growing up my mom always gave us toothbrushes,toothpaste,floss,deoderant,etc those kinds of things and now ido the same for my husband and daughter!

You can get discount movie passes (sometimes through the theatre site or through an entertainment coupon book) and then add a couple of pkgs of M & M's or their favorite candies to take with them. My kids loved that when they were tweens, teens and now in college!

I always put a little bit of their favorite candy (my oldest loves peeps & the other loves chocolate), an orange, my youngest is getting a yo-yo and old fashion jacks. The oldest is getting an i-tunes card (HEB has a $5 coupon is you buy 2 gift cards). If one is an artist you could get speciality pencils or a new baseball or batting glove. The thing I try to do is to make it very personal for each person.

I know what you mean by not wanting to clutter up the house with little junk and wasting $$$! We usually do candy and dental care items. In the past we have done lip glosses, lotions, chapsticks, hair clips, nail polish, nail files and costume jewelry. I don't know the gender of your kids, but I'll just list some ideas for either. Sports cards, itunes gift cards, handwritten certificate to "give" one of their regular chores to mom or dad for the day or week, collectible personalized ornament, gloves, scarves, cool/fancy pens or school supplies, and ds games. It really depends on what your kiddos are into to personalize things. For example, my step daughter is in band, so I would try to find some pencils with music notes on them or get her chapstick in her favorite soda flavor to make it special although it is something that she needs already. I also get the movie size boxes of everyone's favorite candy for their stocking.

Handmade/ computer printed certificates:

one dinner (breakfast) of your choice, a movie or an ice cream with dad, a game of bowling with a friend, .....

My daughter is getting an inexpensive MP3 player pre-loaded by Santa's helper with her fav songs! My younger son is getting his very own blue maglight - boys love gadgets!

Go to the Dollar Tree store, they have all kinds of neat stuff for only a buck! I would buy them some things that they will already use and you would have to buy later anyway, like deoderant, toothpaste, combs and brushes, dollar cologne, and shave cream , etc!

As a young girl, I always enjoyed getting fun socks and pretty panties in my stocking. I also liked getting lip balms and lotions. If you have girls, I think they might appreciate the same things.

Honestly, I don't know about boys!

Why don't you give a coupon book with hand made coupon's on actvites that they can do such as one on one paretn time, go to the movies, choose what they want for supper, camping ect

I haven't seen these listed yet so I'll add them:

handful of nuts still in their shells (e.g., walnuts/pecans/hazel/almonds/etc.) These require the younger children to learn good hand skills/strength when cracking open nuts plus they're high in protein and it gives you a little break as well while they're busy w/ that.

snack-size bags of peanuts or corn nuts (these fit nicely in stockings and are great for snacking on for the kids...you can usually find these in the check-out aisle at 3 for a $1).

personalized drinking cups and/or keychains, which can usually be found at dollar stores.

Fruit (e.g., oranges, apples, boxes of raisins, etc.)

Lifesaver books (these are small books that actually contain assorted rolls of lifesaver candies)

small address books

travel size necessities (e.g., kleenex packs, hand sanitizers, hand lotion, etc.)

That's about all I can think of for now...you've got lots of ideas from everyone else. -Jen

for my 11,14,and 18 year olds they are getting wool socks (we are going skiing) and iTunes gift cards. Always one ridiculous toy-last year was the pooping reindeer (plastic reindeer that you pushed down on and it pooped M&Ms) or Pez dispensers. (yes- they get thrown away but they enjoy them!)Lip glosses for the girls,sometimes cologne for the boy. Dvds can be stuck in the top. (Half price books if you are staying on the cheap side) or a book if you have readers. And food certificates...for the older ones to restaurants so he can take his girlfriend w/out having to ask us for money and for the younger ones to places at the mall so when they go with their friends they don't have to use their money to snack. (McDonalds, Taco Bell) While not necessarily cheap-these are things mom and dad would be financing anyway -so this at least puts some of the responsibility of staying in their budgets on them. Hair elastics and clips- my girls seem to eat those. And my son has always collected knights and soldiers so I still buy him one of those- they are nicer and more exclusive than they used to be but he has a nice collection and it is always nice to get a toy- no matter how old you are!!! Good luck. Have fun.

A flashdrive for the computer? they can work on stuff at school & bring it home, or vice versa.

You could stuff their stocking with a treasure hunt. A capsule of some kind with a hint inside tell each child where to go look for another surprise just for them, it could be a series of hints; also color code each childs different so there is no mix ups. The gift certificates and candy are still good filler. Mostly enjoy your special time together.

If any of them are girls...any kind of make up, colognes, ect are nice. Also if they have any kind of electronic devises...mp4's ect...the earbuds are nice. My daughter always needs extra sets of earbuds. In fact that was one of the things she asked for this year. You can get the earbuds at Dollar Tree. And get several sets. I also found some really nice ones at Dollar General for $4.00 and $6.00.
Get the sample size colognes...they can carry them in their pocket or purse. Lip glosses are nice for girls that age. You can get the earbuds for girls or boys.