No matter what kind of Christmas stocking you have to work with (I made the two in the photo, above), there are lots of small treats that you can put in them. In our house, we open our stockings first on Christmas morning. The gifts usually aren’t expensive, but welcome and fun. Popular ideas at our house:
- Lottery scratch-off tickets.
- Individually wrapped candies.
- Socks.
- Lip Balm
- Barrettes or hair ribbons for girls.
- Ear buds.
- Small toys, like matchbox cars.
- Pens/pencils.
- Removable tattoos.
- Stickers.
- Lipstick and nail polish (for big girls).
- An orange or apple.
- Nuts in the shell (small – not giant WeeWeed pecans).
- Small bottles of booze (for the big kids).
We also always have stocking for our pets, with small toys and treats just for them.
I made one for my cat that is green felt, shaped like a fish, with “yellow diamond” eye, and her name on a band in the middle. For my old dog, the stocking was shaped like a bone. Of course, the pets don’t care, so anything will do.
Stocking like the ones I made in the picture take hours and good eyesight, as they are embellished with decorative beads, seed beads and sequins, each sewn on individually. The patterns are both from the stocking I had as a baby, and from my imagination.
I also made one stocking from velvet, lined with silk, the cuff made from tie silk (tie obtained from the second hand shop). That was very attractive, but much easier and faster to make.
Your imagination, ability, and time are your only limitations. Ideas:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=christmas+stockings&FORM=HDRSC2
I like the cowboy boot!
Stella's Place 
LOVE your stockings Stella – especially the trains and rocking horse!
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I made another one – for my son-in-law. Seems boys never grow up!
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Such great memories those stockings hold. My girls have stockings with their names written in glitter on them 🙂 . It makes me smile to see them every year.
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When my boys were little my mother mad quilted stockings for them, with their names on each one. They were quite beautiful.
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Crazy quilt? That’s fun.
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You crafty types never cease to amaze me. I’m green with envy, but my skills do not lie in that direction.
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Some ideas for the men in your life. Just skip on down to #23.
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I made these stockings for the boys. Also there was an elf one, but I didn’t see a picture of it.
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Found it. Kind of hinky looking, but I was so proud when I made them!
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I think they’re cute, and I’ll bet your boys loved them!
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They were mostly indifferent to everything but gifts and Christmas cookies. Except for the Christmas breakfast.
Of course we went to Midnight Mass. Then we got home and opened presents. Then I cooked ham and eggs and biscuits and gravy at about 3 in the morning. We continued this tradition, as they insist on calling it, up through the first year Sadie was born. After that all the women in the family, led by me, rebelled. This actually caused the guys to really get upset. We felt like with kids in the family if they wanted to do the after mass breakfast thing it should be up to each family household. The men are actually still steamed and pouting that we don’t drag 8 little kids to mass and be up over half the night, when some of them have several other households to visit on Christmas.
Anyhow, to hear them tell it, that was the highlight of Christmas and it is ruined forever. 🙄
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