Do You Dread Filling Christmas Stockings?

Do you dread filling Christmas Stockings every year?

Do you wish you could ditch the whole ritual? (Maybe you already have!)

Do you usually spend way too much money on what amounts to “junk”, just to get it done?

There was a time when I answered a resounding yes to every one of those questions.

Read time: Approximately 3 minutes

Filling Christmas stockings for four kids and a husband was as fun for me as going to the dentist.

Unfortunately, we had four kids who loved and looked forward to the tradition. And even though Brian is a master at Christmas, it never seemed fair to make him solely responsible for filling the Christmas stockings.

Also, Brian made sure that every year I had a nicely filled stocking. Not returning the favor seemed downright rude.

Fast forward to now, and all together we fill a total of (I’m counting on my fingers here) sixteen stockings.

Over the years, I have elevated filling Christmas stockings to an art form.

Filling Christmas stockings evolved from something I dread to one of the most enjoyable aspects of Christmas.

If you too dread all things stocking related, feel free to borrow from my experience to lessen the stress.

Ditch the actual physical Christmas stocking.

Much to Brian’s dismay, I quickly ditched using the actual physical stocking. Christmas stockings make beautiful decorations hanging on the mantle.

However, realistically filling stockings is an absolute horror. Nothing, absolutely nothing, fits well in a piece of fabric shaped like an oversized sock.

Replace the Christmas stockings with pretty gift bags, preferably purchased after Christmas the prior year. If it’s already too late, put Christmas gift bags on the end of season shopping list for next year.

If you want to keep things simple, purchase matching bags for groups of people. For instance, all kids, or all adults, get identical bags.

Matching bags is certainly optional. I just prefer to take the thought out of things as much as possible

If you are crafty, which I am most decidedly not, consider purchasing brown craft bags and let kids and crafty adults decorate their own bag.

A word of caution; if you don’t love do-it-yourself projects, making bags is probably not the best idea.

Full disclosure statement: Brian is a Christmas purist and I still receive a genuine Christmas stocking. He does not.

Begin shopping early.

It is never too early to start shopping for items with which to fill Christmas stockings. The earlier you start shopping, the less stress you will have as the holiday draws closer.

This is true of Christmas in general, not just the stockings.

Before you begin shopping for items with which to fill the stockings, intentionally make two important decisions:

Decide the maximum price point for what constitutes a stocking item.

With sixteen stockings / bags to fill, my price point has to be extremely reasonable. Otherwise, I will have a bazillion dollars wrapped up in stocking stuffers.

For an item to be classified as a stocking stuffer, for me, the cost has to be seven dollars or less.

Not every item will cost seven dollars. Seven dollars is just my limit for an item to be considered as a stocking stuffer.

Decide the number of items that you want to include in each stocking.

Know when a stocking is officially filled by making the decision ahead of time regarding how many items will be in each stocking.

A lot of the overwhelm for me came from the fact that there was never really a stopping point. I wanted to create awesome stockings, so I just continued buying. Designating a number of items to go in each bag automatically creates a finishing point.

A lot of stress comes from deciding what to include in each stocking.

I detest wasting money and in the beginning that’s what I felt like I was doing. Simply grabbing inexpensive stuff, just to fill a stocking.

Most of it quickly ended up in the garbage or donation pile.

Focus a lot on practical.

It is fun to receive practical gifts that you wouldn’t ordinarily buy for yourself. If your gifts fall more on the practical side, you will feel less like you are wasting money.

Specialty foods that are available only around the holidays makes great stocking stuffers.

Special sauces for the person who cooks. The list is endless. It will take time to train yourself to watch for items that might make a great stocking stuffer but there are many practical, fun solutions available.