Stocking Stuffers, Presents, Christmas 2014 is coming

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Brown cooper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
. . . . .

Yup, you probably know what is coming next, "These are a few of my favorite things!"

It is getting to be that time of year, the time to plan ahead for Christmas.  So here's some of my favorite things that will work for just about anyone:

• Autumn Hill Candles - we know the owners, Mike and Paula Kamorski.  Great friends and they make an awesome product.  I can not burn candles from anywhere else because of my allergies.  Theirs are soy wax and cotton wicks; totally natural and burn clean.  Scents the whole house wonderfully.  Check them out, great people, great product, great company!!
• Duct Tape - need I say more.  Great for crafting, filling a stocking, and good for repairs too.
• Water bottles - still trying to figure out which is the best bang for the buck, but makes for a great stocking "hog".
• Good Chocolate - this year it will be Dove or Cadbury most likely.
• Gift Cards - favorite stores and restaurantnts are always appreciated
• Cash - a universal gift
•  Pajamas - a family tradition for Christmas Eve (may even find some for myself this year)
• Legos - we are still buying them and probably will for many years to come!
• Minifigures
• Art Supplies
• Music Supplies - capos, tuners, strings, picks, etc.
• Chapstick
• school (or team) spirit sweatshirt
• home made anything (tweaking many things as gifts ~ knit, bread, vanilla extract)
• buy local from small business; see Autumn Hill Candles, or honey (can hook you up there too), check out Etsy (know a few folks over there too!)
• replacement things that are stocking stuffer size ~ I am gathering my list for my own family
• favorite movies that you'd love to have in your line up.  I'm thinking of "Elf", "White Christmas",  "It's A Wonderful Life" as a pre-season gift; the weekend of Thanksgiving to  get the season going.
• Look through the ABC Family Movie Line up to set up the DVR (okay, not a gift, more of a tradition)
• Some not so fun, but practical: new spinny tooth brush and hair brush for their stocking
• have had a request for a small jar of peanut butter and a chocolate bar
• favorite box of cereal that might be normally forbidden (if it isn't to unhealthy!)
• good quality kitchen gadgets

There you have it, a few of my favorite things.  What are yours for receiving or giving?

Stocking Stuffers {Part 2}

More random ideas for stuffing those stockings ~ and not the little stockings either!!  Made the mistake of buying big stockings, but don't plan to buy new, smaller ones.

When buying, think of the person you are buying for, what do they like.  Below is a take on stocking, from A ~ Z.

• A:  Angry birds anything, art supplies
• B:  Band-aids, book mark, baseball hat, bottle opener, baseball cards, back scratcher, batteries
• C:  chips, chocolate, cell phone cover, cereal (small box), candy cane, coins, candles, calendar
• D: duct tape, deck of cards (plain or themed), dice
• E:  earrings, ear plugs, ear muffs
• F:  finger lights, folding fan, flattening iron or cover, flashlight
• G:  gadgets for favorite activity, glow in the dark stickers, guitar accessories, glow sticks
• H:  hair gel, hair brush, hot chocolate mix or pouches, hat
• I:  I-tune gift card, Ipod or IPhone accessories
• J:  juice box, jewelry
• K:  kool-aid mix (small pouch), key chain, kitchen gadgets
• L: lotion, Lime Juice (Kevin's favorite), lip gloss, Lego's, lava lamp (any size), lottery ticket
• M: marbles, magnets, mad libs, movies, maps, match box cars
• N: nectarine, night light, nail polish, neck pillow, notebook
• O:  Orange Chocolate, oatmeal bars
• P:  Pandora Gift Card, popcorn, puzzles, pencils
• Q:  quarters, queen finger puppet (& her friends??),
• R:  restaurant gift card
• S:  slinky, snacks not usually bought, socks (matched or mismatched), sports accessories, seeds for fruits/veggies/flowers,
• T:  tissue (individual package in cute wrap), trial sizes of stuff, tooth brush, tea
• U:  umbrella, USB flash drive (all sorts of cute designs)
• V:  vanilla (beans or liquid), video games
• W:  water bottle, windshield scrapper
• X:  xbox games
• Y:  yarn, yo-yo
• Z:  Zhu Zhu pets (if stocking is big enough)

 

Christmas Stockings & Stuffers

Growing up, did your family have stuffed Christmas Stockings?  Were they small and slightly filled so they didn't rip?  Is this something you've been doing because your spouse had them as a child?

Growing up, Kevin's family didn't!  Mine did and the number over the hearth has grown from 7 (for my parents, siblings, and myself) to over 20 with in-laws, nieces, and nephews.  Ours have always been the same ones and small, but not mini!

Looking back, not a whole lot sticks out in my memory as the most favorite thing in it.  Only a few things jog my memory:

• a folding pair of scissors from many years ago that I still have
• a glitter wand key chain from the early 1990s that I STILL use
• decorative pencils ~ nope don't have those anymore

Sometime, around now, I start mulling over this year and what to use as stuffers.  In the past, the following have been a great space hog for our big stockings or just a great idea:

• new water bottle
• box of character band-aids (not so much into "Dora" and the like anymore")
• pencils (themed, with name, whatever!  Now we have WAY to many pencils)
• crayons ~ again, even throwing out the broken ones, we have way to many

Things I might consider now; some old favorites some new:

• duct tape
• roll of quarters (depending upon how much we've spent elsewhere)
• Chocolate Orange if we can find it inexpensive.  Last year it was about $6.00 per Orange.  That's to much for this person to pay
• small Lego set or Mini figure
• what might also work and hopefully be a hit, put change & a bit of confetti into a balloon and blow it up, just enough to fit stocking snug!
• done this in past Easter baskets and possibly stockings was to put a healthier juice box in too
• new tooth brush ~ maybe
• fuzzy socks ~ maybe
• candy
• batteries
• head phones

 Under the category title of "NOT Going into the Stocking" falls socks and underwear ~ those are necessities, not fun or would like to have category!

As we're trying to purge and pear down what we have within our house, Christmas will be better thought out this year.  From the items we would like to have to the dollar value as well.

What are you filling your stockings with?