Frugal “ stocking stuffers “/small gifts?

[MinouMinou]

I would welcome ideas…these can get spendy!

[newbie]

These are inexpensive, but also tradition from when I was a kid (my mom rarely bought processed food/treats during the year):
chapstick
packet of oatmeal
packet of hot chocolate
pack of gum
granola bar
small orange
candy canes
hershey kisses
small ornament (I get one for my kids each year.   After Christmas I write a note about their lives - activities they are involved in, gifts they received that year, things we did over the winter break , etc. and I put the ornament and the note into an envelope.  It is always fun reading the notes and seeing the ornaments when we bring out the decorations.  When they move out, they will get the ornaments for their own tree).

[GilesMM]

Small box of Crayons.

[PMG]

We hang stockings but don't really stuff them. They are still charming.  Usually something winds up in them, even if they aren't packed full. I was thinking of doing consumable treats this year, but it seems silly when we have so much food in the house. If the kid ever cares that's what I'll try to focus on.

For now the kid is still too young to care. I may fill her stocking with toys she already owns.  Perhaps I'll wrap them. Perhaps not.

Another idea is to stuff the stocking with the activity for the day.  Games, book, etc.  Or clues to a scavenger hunt to find the activity. 

Last year our stockings ended up being where we stashed Christmas cards and little bits and bobs we received over the season. Lovely to open and look at on Christmas Eve.

[LaineyAZ]

For those who like hot drinks, a small jar of real cinnamon sticks is a treat.  And those tiny candy canes can be melted into some hot chocolate.

[SomedayStache]

We usually do candy, some sort of flashlight, and then consumables like deodorant

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[Tasse]

My favorite ever stocking stuffer to receive was a pocket-size ear bud/cord organizer. Can't find a link to similar but there are a variety of options along those lines.

[Blue Skies]

My mom would always put in a juice box and an orange along with candy.  That way we had something besides candy for breakfast.

We do a chocolate orange, gelt, and a beverage of some sort along with other candies.  This year it will probably be iced coffee for the older one and an ICE drink for the younger one. 

Besides food, we have done hair ties, pens, paperback books, fidget toys.  Mostly it's candy.

[Sandi_k]

Stockings are My Thing, and I have more fun with stockings than I do with gifts - you don't have to wrap anything! It's become such a family thing that everyone holds off on buying various items until after Xmas. Things that have been hits in the past:

- Travel toothpaste & deodorant.

- Goop tubes for shampoo and conditioner: wide mouths for refills, great with TSA restrictions.

- Real Lindor truffles (I buy a bag at Costco, and each stockings gets 3-4).

- Mini champagne split

- Mini nail kits for travel.

- No-Tangle ponytail hair elastics for the women.

- $5-$10 Gift cards (Starbucks, Amazon, Target, CVS, Coldstone Creamery).

- Good pens and highlighters

- Medium Sharpies - everyone uses them and likes them!

- Cotton gloves in pretty shades

- Bath scrubbies

- Good lip balm: Burt's Bees, Bonne Belle Lipsmackers

- Travel cologne, given TSA restrictions.

- Milk frother ($10 or so, and good for coffee drinkers).

- Shea butter hand cream for winter skin.

- Socks for the boys

- Good luggage tags

- TSA compliant luggage lock

- AA batteries

- Packages of nuts, beef jerky, other savory treats.

I find most of my stocking stuffer material at office supply stores, Ulta/Sephora, and CVS.

[MinouMinou]

These are all so great!! Thank you! I am hoping to transition our family (self, husband, 2 adult kids, older mom) to just stocking stuffers with useful/consumable/treats, since we all have plenty of Stuff.

Though when I introduced the idea, my mother looked at me as though I’d grown two heads.

[midweststache]

Stocking stuffers for kids this year are:

- new writing pads (we have more than enough crayons/marker/etc. but short on blank paper to draw on) $.99 @ Target
- bath bombs (my kids love these) $4/each @ Target
- felt play masks for pretend/dress up play $10/each @ a local play store
- new toothbrushes (the fancy, expensive ones that light up and that Mom NEVER gets for us!) $3.5/each @ Target
- new reusable waterbottles (not inexpensive, but something we get the boys once every 1-2 years as they beat up their old ones) $18/each
- nice wool socks (we live in an area where quality socks are important) $15/each @ LLBean
- Chocolate / Candy (maybe $10 worth from Target?)

I don't feel bad spending a little money on the water bottles/socks, since outside of the stocking we do something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read for Christmas.

DH is getting:
- a gift card to a BBQ store and a child-free afternoon to just roam around and pick out something new for summer grilling ($25)
- fancy spices ($10)
- 2(!) pairs of quality wool socks ($40)
- stainless steel skewers for the grill ($15)
- chocolate/candy (maybe $10 worth from Target?)

His non-stocking gift is a new flannel shirt.

[Josiecat22222]

Love all these ideas!

We usually do:

candy (rarely bought outside of xmas, so favorites are Ferrero Roche and Lindt truffles
chapstick
gift cards
socks (esp silly socks)
deoderant
favorite soaps
stickers (we love stickers---even the adults--and adorn our jeep with momentos of our travels)
nuts

[Villanelle]

One year I did fun novelty bandaids for everyone, relating to their interests. (The coroner got some with a police tape pattern, the bacon lover's looked like strips of bacon, etc.)  Most were found at TJ Maxx and similar cheaper stores.  A useable item, but still fun.  I did a similar thing with lip balms, getting everyone a different flavor. 

[AMandM]

When we were kids, our stockings always contained a paperback book (usually secondhand) and some kind of activity (colouring book, small puzzle, brainteaser, MadLibs, etc.). At some point I realized that was to keep us occupied so we wouldn't wake up our parents too early.

Now my kids are young adults and I put in a few treats, useful consumables (mini pack of kleenex, lip balm, batteries), and strange-to-us food from the co-op or the international grocery. Sometimes one of them becomes a favourite, sometimes no-one wants to eat the whole thing.

[nick663]

I kind of hate stockings because so many of the gifts are cheap garbage that just seem wasteful.  That being said, here are 2 items I have received that I love and use often:
-Rechargable candle lighter.  I have this one:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFWCWNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
-A good rechargeable flashlight.  I got this one as a gift a couple years ago and love it:  http://www.oxyled.com/product/14

Beyond that, candy or some type of snack item works assuming you know what the person likes.

[Dicey]

This Christmas it's just DH and me. I think we're going to pass on exchanging gifts/stockings this year. We're at a stage in our lives where less is better. We have too much stuff as it is. We also do fun things throughout the year without worrying about what they cost.

I love looking at these lists, though. Some good ideas here.

Let me see if I can think of anything to add.

Post-it Notes in bright colors and cute designs*
Water Bottle stickers
Gel Pens/Sharpies/Highlighters in fun colors
Postage stamps
Fancy ketchup or hot sauce
Single serve packs of nuts or trail mix. Buy them in bulk at Costco, tuck a variety in each stocking and hide the rest in the pantry for future hikes.

*One year, I tracked down Post-its with each person's name. Much easier to do via the internet these days.

[Metalcat]

I kind of hate stockings because so many of the gifts are cheap garbage that just seem wasteful.  That being said, here are 2 items I have received that I love and use often:
-Rechargable candle lighter.  I have this one:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFWCWNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
-A good rechargeable flashlight.  I got this one as a gift a couple years ago and love it:  http://www.oxyled.com/product/14

Beyond that, candy or some type of snack item works assuming you know what the person likes.

Same. I hate stockings. They're either little things I absolutely do not need, or things that I do use, but certainly don't need someone else buying for me, like toothpaste.

However, I love buying these things for students in the family because I always appreciated them when I was a student. My mom would always full my stocking with brands of toiletries that I liked that were more premium than what I was willing to pay for myself. So nicer shampoo and more expensive toothpaste. Another family friend would give me two shoeboxes full of spices every year, which really encouraged me to cook more at home because spices were expensive and only last about a year.

So I like to pay it forward to the broke students/young folks who are thrilled by an influx of supplies that are hard for them to afford themselves.

Anyone else who can afford their own favourite toothpaste gets nothing from me, lol.

[Dicey]

I loved stockings as a kid for a completely different reason. As the first in a string of six kids, it was my job to wrap all of the Christmas presents, frequently even my own. Since stockings don't require wrapping, my mom did those herself. Also, we were allowed to "open" our stockings whenever we woke up. The element of surprise was a thrill.

I remember my sibs coming into my room and pouring the contents of their stockings onto my bed, enjoying  their "treasures" with hushed excitement.

[merula]

Are these stocking stuffers for your own immediate family members, or for some wider exchange? I tend to fill my kids' stockings with stuff I would buy them anyway (socks, underwear, soaps, bath bombs, their favorite shampoo, gloves/mittens) and snacks (which, to be fair, I would also buy them anyway, but I get versions of things that are a little bit special, like cocoa bombs instead of plain cocoa powder).

My mom would fill our stockings with stuff she got by couponing or those "free with purchase" things, so it was always random brands of deodorants, lotions, etc.

If its something for a wider exchange, I would look at a thrift store. My family does a white elephant exchange where the only rule is that you can't have bought the item new for the purpose of the exchange. It tends to be a mix of regifts and family heirlooms, but people from out of town have gone to used book stores or given cute knickknacks from thrift stores.

[Flora]

We only do food in stockings -- fancy chocolates, little "shooter" bottles of alcohol, mini jam jars, that sort of thing. In the US, Cost Plus World Market has a whole section of mini-food items and treats from around the world, but I've had luck at small Asian groceries and European markets as well.

[getsorted]

This is only frugal depending on how many children's stockings you want to stuff, but:

There are a lot of off-brand Lego Advent calendars. At Christmas time, they get pricy, but after Christmas, they go on sale, sometimes as low as $20. If you buy in advance and empty them out, you have 24 teeny-tiny "Lego" packets that make a fun addition to a stocking.

[LifeHappens]

We only do food in stockings -- fancy chocolates, little "shooter" bottles of alcohol, mini jam jars, that sort of thing. In the US, Cost Plus World Market has a whole section of mini-food items and treats from around the world, but I've had luck at small Asian groceries and European markets as well.

This is my DH and I as well. I just saw a display of tiny bottles of hot sauce at a grocery store. Looked like the perfect stocking stuffer to me.

[Metalcat]

We only do food in stockings -- fancy chocolates, little "shooter" bottles of alcohol, mini jam jars, that sort of thing. In the US, Cost Plus World Market has a whole section of mini-food items and treats from around the world, but I've had luck at small Asian groceries and European markets as well.

This is my DH and I as well. I just saw a display of tiny bottles of hot sauce at a grocery store. Looked like the perfect stocking stuffer to me.

I personally like non-perishable consumables like that because they can be so easily regifted.

It's impossible to come up with small, cheap gifts that everyone will want, but choosing ones that are easier to pass forward is a great way to go. I wouldn't have any interest in a tiny hot sauce bottle, but I can absolutely think of someone to give it to were I to receive one at Christmas.

[merula]

I saw tiny jars of Nutella at Target and very nearly bought them for my children's stockings before I realized that the per unit cost was way out of whack and they'd be even happier with a full size jar in their stockings. (Nutella isn't an all-the-time staple in our house.)

But the little ones are adorable if anyone else is looking for tiny foodstuffs.

[PoutineLover]

We used to always get a clementine, some chocolate/candy, a magazine or activity book, and some small toys or puzzles in our stockings when I was a kid. I love the tradition and will carry forward some of those ideas for my kids, especially the consumable stuff, but limit disposable plastic junk. I prefer to get presents that we would have bought anyway, or useful stuff that won't be thrown out immediately or create clutter.

[draco44]

The still present-exchanging wing of my family has mostly achieved an equilibrium of us all buying chocolates or other food gifts of relatively similar value and exchanging them with each other. I am very much at peace with this because we all acknowledge each other's existence and the seasonal tradition but don't get a bunch of clutter that hangs around and, hey, food sampler!

To add to the lists people have provided, I love tea and despite the extra packaging admittedly love individually wrapped tea bags as tiny gifts because they are a mini-experience unto themselves and also you can make up sampler packs super easily. Once I had a friend give me a birthday gift of a little box containing two or so bags each of maybe 12 different types of tea from her pantry. I loved it.

[LongtimeLurker]

I would welcome ideas…these can get spendy!

E-book in whatever genre your receiver prefers. Buy on Amazon or wherever and send as a gift. They can be as low as $2.99.

[partgypsy]

We mostly do snacks, both favorite candy/chocolate, also savory snacks. Chap stick. Small gifts. Handmade gifts (one year it was homemade hot chocolate, other years bath/foot soaks, another year drawer sachets). My daughter had a kick of making little figures from that hardening clay so we each got to pick out our favorite or a customized one(oldest wanted a tiny dragon coming out of an egg) and got that. Also some years we have done coupons to be redeemed for future chores. One year my girls gave a coupon to clean my car which was awesome.