Our 2020 Stocking Stuffers & My Stocking Checklist

Stockings are such a fun way to start Christmas morning! This is how I decide what to put in our stockings, and what my kids’ stocking stuffers will be this year! 

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Picking out stocking stuffers is always one of my favorite parts of holiday shopping! It’s so much fun to pick out items that are going to be exciting for the kids to dig into first thing on Christmas morning. Plus, it’s a bit of a puzzle finding new things that will also be useful and (mostly) purposeful.

We tend to take our Christmas mornings slowly. The stockings are set out overnight, along with a couple of newer large toys. (This year a new large dollhouse and an air fort will be set up next to the stockings!). As the kids trickle in, (they still usually sleep in on Christmas morning, thankfully!), they get right to dumping the stockings.

Our Christmas morning breakfast is more like a brunch once the grandparents arrive, and we always wait to open presents until after brunch, so I always want to make sure that I check a few boxes with the kids’ stockings. I want to make sure they include: 

  • Something to Do: A new toy or two that will be exciting enough to take the edge off waiting to open presents!
  • Something to Eat: I always include a fun snack and often some form of fruit for the kids that they can eat before digging into their candy.
  • Something to Eat: It’s Christmas morning, so of course the kids get to eat candy first thing!
  • Something to Read: The kids will get more books under the tree, but I like to give activity/coloring books or magazines that are more for skimming and flipping.
  • Something to Need: Stockings are also a great place to give necessary items that can still be fun. Cozy socks, new gloves, hairbands and bows, chapstick, etc.

Need/want new stockings? I have a simple tutorial to make your own. 

Our 2020 Stocking Stuffers

This list isn’t an exhaustive list of stocking ideas. Rather, this is what will be in my kids’ stockings this year. (My kids are currently 10, 8, 6, 4, and 3). I’m also including my husband’s stocking stuffers and a list of stocking stuffers I’ve given in past years. I hope that it gives you some fresh ideas! If you have unique or fun stocking stuffers that you have given, please share them in the comments.

*Disclaimer: these pictures aren’t the best because in 2020 our kids are always home with us and I had to take stocking pictures at night locked in my bedroom. Also, I work on these posts in the dining room, so I was trying to be quick and stealthy on the computer! 

Older Boys 

THIS YEAR:

Preschool Boy 

THIS YEAR:

Little Girls

THIS YEAR:

PAST KIDS’ STOCKING STUFFERS:

Husband

THIS YEAR:

BONUS TIP/IDEA:

This could be a “duh” kind of tip, but every year once I lay out all the stocking stuffers to check to make sure I have everything, I then pack everything up in separate bags (one bag per stocking). That way, on Christmas Eve when it’s time to fill the stockings, I do not need to do any sorting. Everything is already sorted and I can just hand a bag to my husband to help.

It’s really the little things when it comes to the night before Christmas and there are toys to be assembled!

Want to see more gift ideas for Christmas?

OUR FAMILY GIFTS THIS YEAR:

Here is our annual holiday gift guide for the whole family-- what we have loved and enjoyed this year AND what will be under our tree! Get fresh inspiration for "what to wear, what to read, what to want, and what to need" for all your last minute shopping!

SEE ALL MY GIFT GUIDES ON ONE PAGE:

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Stockings are such a fun way to start Christmas morning! This is how I decide what to put in our stockings, and what my kids' stockings stuffers will be this year! 

2 Comments

  1. I love the air fort! I have I never heard about that before! I would love to see a review after you have used it for a while (is it durable with actual kids playing in it?)
    Unfortunately my kids do not sleep in….ever. It is currently 5:30 am and I am up because on of my boys decided 5am would be a good time to start reading. We didnt catch him until 5:30, but we have to enfore the 6am rule or they just get up earlier and earlier. I know its reading. But he ends up melting down by dinner and is crabby all day when he does this. So I started book baskets for Christmas morning. I gather books all year (all thrift store finds) and place them in some gift baskets I have (cloth like easter baskets) and I leave them in the hall outaide their rooms. They each grt between 10 and 20 books, a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Then they have new books and we can make it to their wake up aka grt out of their room time at 7:30.

    Reply

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