Stockings hung on the mantle beside the Christmas tree is a quintessential holiday image. Play the part of Saint Nick and fill your loved ones’ stockings with a little Christmas joy. If you need some inspiration for fun, unique stocking stuffer ideas, you’ve come to the right place.
Top stocking stuffers for 2021
Sure, you could grab some left-over candies after Christmas dinner and sneak them to everyone’s stockings. Or you could do one better and plan ahead with these cute, creative stocking stuffer gift ideas and watch their faces light up with surprise this year.
Stocking stuffers can be as fun and quirky as you like, but it’s not a bad idea to also include one or two useful items that your kids or other family members will actually use. So when you’re picking out small gifts to fill stockings, you might want to include a few different kinds of gifts, like:
Something tasty. Think chocolates or other Christmas candies.
Something fun. This could be a gag gift if the stocking is for an adult or grown-up kids, or a toy for younger kids.
Something useful. Maybe this is a pair of earbuds, a gift card, golf tees or socks.
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The average parent spends around $25 on each stocking, but this can range from $10 to over $100, depending on your budget and your family’s traditions.
The legend is that there was a widowed father of three girls who was having trouble making ends meet and was worried that no one would want to marry poor, although beautiful, girls. Saint Nicholas just happened to be walking through the town and heard of the man and his daughters. So he slid down their chimney and filled the girls’ stockings, which happened to be drying by the fire, with gold coins.
The legend goes that Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas and other cultural variations of this person leaves coal in the stockings of bad children. But in the 19th century, most of Europe used coal for heat, making it a valuable gift to a poor family.
Gabrielle Pastorek is a staff writer at Finder, helping readers to round up the best deals, coupons, retailers, products and services to make sound financial decisions. She's written more than 800 articles on the site and is a quoted expert in Best Company and DealNews. She earned an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, with essays and short stories published in The Collagist, Blue Monday Review, Blotterature and others. When she’s not writing, Gabrielle can be found out in the barn with her horse, Lucy.
Kick up your slippered feet — we’ve rounded up the best pine trees that don’t need any TLC. See our faves for budget, realistic, small spaces and more.
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