Started your Christmas shopping yet? Wondering what to put in their Christmas stockings this year?

Then read on!

stocking fillers

When it comes to Christmas the first presents I buy tend to be stocking fillers, partly because I buy things when I see them so I don’t forget about them, and partly to help spread the cost.

This got me thinking that there are certain golden rules when it comes to stocking fillers, things no self-respecting Christmas stocking should be without.

5 stocking fillers no self-respecting stocking should be without

1. An orange. Or satsuma, depending on what you’ve got in the fruit bowl. Why stockings should have oranges at the bottom of them varies depending on who you ask, all I know is that I always had one, and so do the kids. It’s the very first thing I put in so it’s the very last thing they take out.

stocking fillers

2. Chocolate. Whether it’s a chocolate Santa, a chocolate reindeer or chocolate coins, a Christmas stocking just isn’t a Christmas stocking without chocolate stocking fillers in some form or another. Am I right or am I right?!

stocking fillers

3. Presents! It might sound obvious, but in addition to the aforementioned orange and chocolate, stockings should actually contain presents. I was horrified when Misery Guts revealed the gifts in his childhood stockings were never wrapped. Wrapping might be a job you could do without as a parent, but surely the unwrapping is half the fun!

stocking fillers

4. Toothbrushes and pants. Or things that you’re going to have to buy them anyway. Christmas stockings are a great opportunity to pass off the more mundane items that they actually need.

stocking fillers

5. A good book. I always put a book in the kids’ stockings, something a bit special that I know they’ll love. Like a new story from an author they already know, or the next in a series we already have.

stocking fillers

Do you have any Christmas stocking traditions in your house? Are there any golden rules you always stick to when filling stockings? I’d love to know what they are!

This is a collaborative post.

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