Thursday, December 07, 2006

Stockings

My Mom made us stocking when we were little, and I loved mine so much that I decided to keep the felt appliqued theme and make this kind for my family.

Here is mine:

Here are the ones I've made in the past few years:


This year I'm having a hard time with stocking stuffer ideas. We always make a donation to Samaritan's Purse in each of the girls names and put a card in their stocking noting that. But, I'd love to hear your ideas on other *cheap* and *fun* gifties!

My Mom read this poem in Victoria magazine years ago which we have adapted for our gift-giving. Maybe I'll adopt this for stockings instead.

Something to eat,
Something to read,
Something to play with,
Something you need.

11 comments:

Mary Ann said...

I'm not used to doing stockings for little ones, but my sister-in-law has 3 kids and in the past few years she has given things like a favorite snack(crackers, cookies), baby food and spoons for the baby just starting to eat solids, a new plastic cup, simple art supplies, washcloth puppets,new toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, comb, hairbows, etc. My sister last year for her baby put tiny board books, baby food, a new rattle and the like in his stocking. Take a trip to the dollar store and see what you can find there that Emily would like.

Your stockings are very retro looking! I made ours out of fleece and trimmed them with various items and finished them off with a blanket stitch. Very simple but easy to add to if needed!:-)

Anonymous said...

When I was growing up we had small gifts in our stockings, but in DH's family not only did they have gifts, but also small toiletry items. So I have incorporated that into ours. Small containers of baby shampoo, bubble bath etc. Now that Princess is a bit older (5) she gets lip gloss or chap stick (she has been fascinated with chapstick for years), some candy, hair stuff, plastic jewlery (like the kind you can buy at the dollar store). Theme pencils (at this point anything with a princess on it) little pads of paper, crayons, markers, etc.

Stickers are always a big hit too.

And don't forget the batteries for the gifts that require them (not exciting, but necessary and take up room)

Anonymous said...

I usually put the boy's favorite snacks, a new toothbrush and toothpaste, chapstick (for my older boy), a small handheld toy of somekind (the $1 section of Target is great for these) and a gift card to the movies.

I love the stockings you made. My great aunt made all the grandchildren in my granddad's family cross-stiched stockings. I will be posting a picture of these next week when Boo Mama hosts the Christmas Tour of homes.

Blessings
Lisa

Anonymous said...

You could easily sell those on ebay or something, they look awesome!

Jenn

Kathryn said...

Knox so far has a pack of the washable crayons, a tube of mini M & M's and a package of socks. I am thinking about giving him a little notebook to scribble in as well and maybe some stickers, (although he would be perfectly happy with old address labels or ones from Publishers Clearing House!)

Shawn has chapstick, cologne, and aftershave lotion and more socks, and maybe some Swiss Cake Rolls, although I will have to take them out of the package.

Monica Wilkinson said...

Thanks for all the great ideas, I'll add a trip to the Dollar Store to my list!

Jenn - thanks for your sweet comment, however - due to the time they take to make and the care and love put into them - no one could ever afford to purchase one of these stockings! I guess they'll just have to make one themselves! :)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful stockings!

One year we had notecards out and a pen. We wrote down special things about each other and tucked them in our stockings. On Christmas morning, we got to read them. It definitely put us in the holiday mood.

I always check Dollar Tree & the Target dollar bins for stocking stuffers too!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

We LOVE stockings!

One thing we always have in each stocking is a christmas tree decoration! Our parents did this for my husband and I, and our first Christmas together we only had to buy a tree topper and stringed beads for garland! We add to it each year, and started doing this with our daughter for her first Christmas last year (in addition to a special first Christmas decoration because I had NO will power.)

The stockings you made are gorgeous!

Merry Christmas!

(I love saying that!)

Kristy

Anonymous said...

Your stockings are great. Did you follow a pattern?

Michael's has a GREAT $1 section of little toys, games, puzzles and stickers. I went there the day after thanksgiving when everything was 25% off; so everything was 75 cents. They even have adults things.

Anonymous said...

My mom made these kind of stockings for our family when I was growing up, too, and now she has made them for my three children and my husband. Some of the things she used to put in our stockings were Bandaids (she says this was my favorite gift when I was two), toiletry items like toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, bubble bath. You could also put stickers, small books, crayons. These are all relatively inexpensive and useful items.

Anonymous said...

Hi Monica! Love your stockings ! I bought plain red "duck" material stockings (very sturdy) and ordered iron-on letters for their names. I stitched around each letter with little x's, and the bottom of the cuff is trimmed with little jingle bells and ribbon- different types/sizes/colors of bells for each child. I only bought 6 of those stockings yeras ago, and we're expecting our 7th child, though, so it'll be a little tricky to come up with another stocking that matches! For gifts for our six children, we're doing "something I want, something I need, something to wear and something to read". In their stockings, they'll get new things that are somewhat practical-socks, undies, headbands, tights, pretty pencils, mittens, etc. I blogged about our childrens' gifts at our website if you're interested!