What Strategist Parents Put in Their Kids’ Christmas Stockings
Everybody does stocking stuffers a little bit differently. Some people get started in the fall, curating an eclectic mix of toys, craft supplies, and paperback books. Others pick up candy and gift cards in November and December as they shop for bigger Christmas gifts. Many have very specific stocking-stuffer philosophies that cover everything from budget to whether stocking stuffers must be wrapped. So we asked a gaggle of Strategist and New York parents to recommend the best stocking stuffers for kids and to reveal what their own children, who range in age from 3 to 15, are likely to find in their stockings this year.
Do you have any sort of guiding philosophy for stocking stuffers? What’s the ideal mix?
Ailbhe Malone, senior editor: My daughter Aoife is 3 and a half. But my lens on stockings is that ideally, they are something to occupy you before your parents wake up or to give your parents 15 extra minutes in bed. So they should contain something to munch on (Terry’s chocolate orange or maybe a Tony’s grab bag), something to play with (I’m giving Aoife this Polly Pocket bracelet that is also a play set), something that is the exact same as your siblings (e.g., a magic pencil), and something tiny and delightful (I got Aoife some purple glitter nail varnish).
Liza Corsillo, senior writer: Will she open her stocking while you sleep this year, or not yet?
A.M.: As if I will ever sleep while she is awake — “MUMMY, LOOK!”
Krista Bennett DeMaio, beauty writer: I put things in there that they need, like a new toothbrush, and then I’ll always do some sort of candy and a few things that I typically would say “no” to in a store — like blind-box toys and other things in the front of the the store that they always want.
L.C.: I like the idea of something that’s a little bit practical and then some toys and candy. It’s nice to have variety.
Jen Trolio, senior editor: If you think of it holistically as an assortment of stuff that would look nice and be exciting if it were all arranged in a “What’s in Your Bag”–style flat-lay, maybe that’s a good way to start.
L.C.: Yeah, make it Instagram-friendly. Like when you see Julie from Rudy Jude showing what she’s going to put in her kids’ stockings, it’s usually that kind of thing. There’s some walnuts and a little nutcracker and a spinning top and a pocket knife and some chocolate.
JT: I’ve said this many times before, but I do try to get an unfamiliar fruit they haven’t had before. Some sort of interesting candy is usually good. My kids are 7 and 10 and they’re big crafters, so I usually reup them on Washi tape or small art supplies like that. Small toys or card games that they can take with them for the rest of Christmas Day are good if you’re going to a family member’s house. And then for me, the need-based stuff is often a new pack of markers or crayons or something to go back to school with after the holidays. For younger kids, fun Band-Aids, too.
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How much should a stocking stuffer cost?
L.C.: As far as parameters go, I think stocking stuffers should be about the size of an orange or smaller, and under $30-ish.
K.B.D.: My youngest is 8 years old, then my middle one is about to be 12, and my oldest is about to be 15. I used to keep it under $15 when they were little. But that gets harder with teens. So I’d say $30 and under is my ideal range now.
J.T.: I want to max out at $10 to $15 per item. That’s way easier said than done, so I end up going over for some things. But my head explodes if I click on a gift guide for stocking stuffers and there is a $75 item in there.
L.C.: Do you set an overall budget?
J.T.: I’m admittedly pretty scattershot when it comes to stocking stuffers. I tend to say, Oh, it’ll be cool and it’s not too expensive and it’ll fit. So a mistake I actually make every year is that I end up with too much stuff. And then physically, it doesn’t all fit and I have to put something sitting on the mantel. Or I just didn’t need that much stuff, and their brains can’t process it all. It’s good to remember that you don’t have to go overboard.
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K.B.D.: It’s more about the amount than budget. I already know that my 8-year-old’s stocking is less expensive than my 15-year-old’s, but she’s not really aware of that yet. She’s just like, Oh, we all got eight to ten things. Sometimes things don’t fit into the stockings, like a book or something that I want to give as a stocking stuffer because it fits the price range. If it doesn’t fit, I just stack it under the stocking.
J.T.: I also don’t worry too much about one kid versus the other as long as it feels like there’s a good mix of exciting things in there. I could spend $100 on one stocking and $35 on the other and if everything is well chosen, it’s fine.
Do stocking stuffers need to be wrapped?
A.M.: My family never wraps kids’ gifts. (No Santa wrapping nor stocking wrapping.) Santa is also not coming to our house this year. He is more of an abstract concept at this point. He is like Mickey Mouse — part of the cultural conversation, but doesn’t visit.
J.T.: I am usually last-minute on wrapping the gifts that go under the tree, so by the time I get to stockings, I’m trying to avoid as much work as possible. At most, it would be loosely covered in unsecured tissue paper.
K.B.D.: I used to wrap stocking gifts, but finally let that one go.
All the stocking stuffers we’re buying for our own kids
L.C.: Is there anything you put in your kids’ stockings last year that was a big hit?
K.B.D.: I think my teen’s favorite thing last year was a Rhode product. My tween got a lot of Bubble and e.l.f. skin care. My youngest is still obsessed with slime, especially that PeachyBbies brand. This year, there are requests from all three for Sonny Angels. They collect them.
Winnie Yang, senior editor: Wow, that’s such a wide age span that one gift can satisfy. Sonny Angels for everyone!
K.B.: Also for teens, those silicone suction pads for iPhones that let you mount them and make videos are super popular.
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Stevie Remsberg, senior visuals director: I usually do stockings, but this year we are traveling, so the main thing we are doing for my two daughters, who are 13 and 15 years old, is an elaborate Advent calendar. I got a ton of good little things from Hot Topic, of all places. I put a lot of candy in it too, and then I bought a couple of 12-day skin-care Advent calendars from Trader Joe’s and took them apart to put the stuff in our big calendar.
W.Y.: It’s on the more expensive side, but I just came across this blind-box key-chain camera in Dominique’s doodads gift guide.
J.T.: Oh, that’s the one I wrote about about earlier this year! It would be a great stocking stuffer for older kids especially.
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KB: My 15-year-old wants claw clips. But she wants the Alo or the Emi Jay ones, which are like $30 or more for a claw clip. Also an AirPods case and a portable charger. My 11-year-old is now shaving her legs, and she loves Flamingo. I’ll buy the refill packages for stocking stuffers.
J.T.: Small-amount gift cards are good. It’s probably best to get ones mostly for food because, as a lot of people said when we played the Strategist Gifting Game, $25 doesn’t get you as far as it used to, and it is frustrating to go into a store with $20 and then everything there that you want is $40. But for a kid, $10 at Starbucks is good. They love to literally have their own currency.
K.B.: And it feels different to me, even though I still paid for it. When we go, I’m like, Use your gift card so I don’t have to pay. My kids also love Roblox gift cards.
J.T.: I have done $10 to Trader Joe’s, and then if I am out with them and they want stuff I would otherwise say no to that day, we’ll use the gift card so they can have the chocolate-covered whatever.
L.C.: Not gift cards, but I put some new Yoto cards (the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, The Sound of Music soundtrack, and David Bowie) in a gift guide recently that would make great stocking stuffers. But that’s specific to kids who have a Yoto player.
J.T.: I like the Touchland hand sanitizers in terms of, Oh, this is a thing you might want, but it feels functional, so go put it in your backpack.
KB: My 8-year-old has one of those on her list.
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K.B.: My kids got back into stickers recently. Because you know how some brands like Brandy Melville give them stickers in the package? They always send stickers in the box, and then my daughter started ordering stickers from Etsy and things like that.
W.Y.: Yeah, vinyl stickers for their water bottles.
L.C.: What’s your favorite candy to put in a stocking? My dad is the stocking stuffer in our house, and he will get everyone the same kind of candy bar, but a different flavor. Or everyone gets a different kind of Pocky. So then you can kind of trade.
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K.B.D.: I don’t do anything too extravagant. I like Tic Tacs. I used to always do PEZ.
J.T.: My 10-year-old loves Altoids, actually. And I like the brand Amos that makes gummy LEGOs and something called Peelerz. Novelty stuff.
L.C.: I recently got into Sockerbit sour candies, and that’s what I would put in a tween or teen’s stocking.
Julia Edelstein, features editor: I have an 8- and an 11-year-old and the younger one is suddenly very into BeyBlades — they would fit well into a stocking, I think.
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He also likes SqueezyMates. And then I have to suggest Who Would Win? paperbacks for boys ages 4 to 8. They pit two random animals against each other, give you all these facts about them, and then on the last page they do a fake battle and you find out which one dies or slinks away injured. Often, they are not animals that would ever come across one another in nature. It truly plays to so many of their interests.
L.C.: My son is about to turn 3 years old, and I’m trying not to just be lazy and put all toy cars or toy trains. So I think Play-Doh is going to be a main component of his stocking this year. Maybe also NBA or MLB trading cards.
JT: And, of course, Pokémon is still out there.
More From The Strategist
- Hark, the Advent Calendars Arrived (Very) Early This Year
- The Best Things Strategist Editors Have Bought This Year (So Far)
- 63 Things You Should Never Buy Full Price
- The Strategist Fall 100
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