Is anyone not going to do a stocking for their toddler?

[katkinn]

:oops: Am I the only tight cow around???? :oops:

I'm just not sure that Hettie will "get" it and I HATE HATE HATE wasting money (that we don't have :oops: ) I also hate little bits of stuff that just litter up toy boxes and never get used. :oops:

I'm going to go and look at Lois' thread for inspiration, but if it's just pencils, crayons, stickers, little cars, bubbles etc etc she has enough of those to start her own pigging shop and we REALLY don't need anymore cluttering up the house.

(although she does need a crayon sharpener......... :scratchchin: Do you think she can have a stocking with just one thing in it?? :teehee: )

She gets SOOOOOOOOOOOO many presents anyway as we have a pretty large family and we know lots of other people that we swap presents with.

I just think that a stocking at 2 and a bit could be overkill.

Ok so now HOW much of a scrooge am I?? :teehee:

Or does someone fancy starting a scrooge club??!

katkinn
xxx

[katkinn]

OR I've just had a thought - do you not give them any other presents bar their stocking? :scratchchin:

I've already got her some wooden cutting fruit with board and little box and 3 DVD's but we were going to give her those as main presents...... :puzzled: (problem is she's only just has her berluddy birthday :doh: plus who the hell knows what she's be "into" come December :rolleyes:)

[noo noo]

Our two get one "big" Santa pressie plus their stocking. For Iona it will be the crib off freecycle and anything else will go in the stocking.

[katkinn]

Our two get one "big" Santa pressie plus their stocking. For Iona it will be the crib off freecycle and anything else will go in the stocking.

aha!! Well in that case, I'll just put all of Hettie's things from us in a stocking as she's only getting little things this year. Her "big" present is hopefully going to be a new house :teehee:

(although I did want to get her a wendy house for the playroom......... :scratchchin: )

Maybe I'll get the family to club together........ :ellie:

[Minky]

I don't plan on doing a stocking.

As kids we used to have a pillowcase which held all of our presents. I just think Lulah's a bit too young to get it.

MOO!

Minky

[Amethyst]

Not yet but maybe next year when there a bit older, but they will have a sack each.

Amethyst x

[shining star]

Last year I bought a lovely stocking for Dylan in Harrods, so it would be a shame to waste it :teehee: But I do totally agree about all those little bitty toys cluttering the place up and not actually being played with all that much. A lot of things sold specifically as 'stocking fillers' are complete tat anyway.

We will probably get Dylan a big present and maybe some smaller books / little people stuff / toy animals (which he LOVES at the moment) to put in his stocking.

ss
xx

[Lois Lane]

it's not wasting money imho - it's part of the charm of christmas for children. she loved her stocking last year when she was just short of 2. we went to the fireplace and saw that 'father christmas' had drunk the drink and eaten the mincepie she'd left out for him. i can assure you that we dont have oodles of money - i just want to make christmas magical for her.

[katkinn]

it's not wasting money imho - it's part of the charm of christmas for children. she loved her stocking last year when she was just short of 2. we went to the fireplace and saw that 'father christmas' had drunk the drink and eaten the mincepie she'd left out for him. i can assure you that we dont have oodles of money - i just want to make christmas magical for her.

I wasn't commenting on the fact that someone had oodles of money and I certainly wasn't saying that another 2 year old wouldn't get it, just that I don't think that Hettie would!!

And everyone has different ideas of what makes Christmas magical :wink:

AND people have different thoughts on what they want to buy their children for Christmas. ie for me it WOULD be a waste of money to buy her small things for her stocking when imho she doesn't need them and I'd just be buying small things for the sake of putting them in the stocking iyswim.

I certainly wasn't implying that it would be a waste of money for everyone - just for me, and I wondered if anyone else thought the same?

[Chocolate Lips]

Isabel will be having a stocking at the grand old age of 11 months! To me its just a bit of fun and a tradition we will keep up, it won't be expensive, just a few small bits and whether she uses them or not, it doesn't bother me to be honest. It's not going to break the bank.

[Alycat]

We don't dp stockings here either, not tight or anything it is just not part of our personal christmas traditions.

Evie will be getting stacks of presents, and whilst some of them will be small enough to put in a stocking it is just not something we do in our house.

Doesn't make xmas any less magical for Evie as we have lots of xmas eve/xmas morning traditions that are personal to our family

[redhed]

I think it is mostly about the traditions in your family.

When I was a kid, I got presents from my parents (which I asked for, debated size, colour, quantity etc and knew pretty much what I was getting) and presents from Santa (I wrote a letter but realised there was a degree of chinese whispers inevitable and obviously he had to use up stock....) Santa left his presents in the stocking (a pillowcase in our house) and my parents left theirs under the tree.

In DH's house, all presents went in the stocking (including from parents - Santa was a sort of universal delivery man in their mythology) and they also had "tree presents" which were stocking-filler sorts of things under the tree which you had to open over Christmas lunch. The adults had them too, but they were - are - usually jokey.

We'll probably end up doing both :rolleyes: but I'm not going to start till the girls are old enough to understand it.

I totally sympathise with your worries about tat, katkinn, our house is full of it and the in-laws are arch tatmeisters so our house will get fuller and fuller every Christmas. The only consolation is that tat gets broken fairly quickly so you could try a cast-iron "broken toys get thrown away" rule which should weed out most of this year's crop before next Christmas.

The alternative is to keep your stocking presents totally disposable - satsumas and nuts are maybe not so popular now and they'll get enough sweets - but I'm sure you could find some special iced cookies or something, or maybe a colouring pad to use up all those crayons?

I don't think you're under any obligation to have a stocking at all because you have to set your own family traditions and I'm sure you'll have lots of other fun stuff. But it doesn't have to be heedlessly expensive and fill your house with tat for evermore.

[Lois Lane]

i should have said earlier that our 'tradition' is to ONLY have stocking presents until early evening when we open our main presents. as kid this prolonged the day and excitement for us.

[DillyDally]

I totally agree with the "tat" thing - my boys are big now, but still want stockings :rolleyes: so tend to get books, CDs and things in their stocking, and a big main present under the tree. They don't believe in Father Christmas anymore :lol:

[Samba]

cali was given a stocking from a relative near his first christmas ... a tradition that she had with her kids, it has his name on it and a jolly santa. so because I had it, as much as anything, I filled it - an apple and a tangerine (obligatory in our house!) and then a few bits - last year I recall Little Me bubble bath, a pair of slippers, a balloon - you get the picture, nothing much but stuff I wanted him to have mainly!
It is a tradition in our family, I used to love all the wee bits in my stocking (big knitted sock) and then we got just one present on top of that as well. So the stocking was v important!

[Mad Madam Mim]

I'll be doing one - I'm the anti-scrooge Katkinn :tongue:

I loved them as a child, he got one last year when he wouldn't have had a clue and there will be one this year. It was always my favourite thing about Christmas.

Now there are selfish reasons for doing one - I compeletely LOVE making one up :grin:

So Bah Humbug to you lot :tongue: :wink:

[Pancake01]

I'm going to do one for Maisie. When I was a child, the stocking presents were the things that kept you going until you were allowed to open your main presents when everyone got up. Your stocking presents were secret and yours. I used to have things like bubble blowers, chocolate, puzzles etc. When I got older (12ish), I still had a stocking but it had things like tapes and earrings in it.

[Azana]

I actually don't really like Christmas -well the bits that involve HAVING to go to inlaws etc really but this year am v.excited as we WILL be at home.

E LOVED her stocking last year and I loved making it and seeing her little face light up as she got everything out.. I have a classic piccie of her with her noddy umbrella and books. Oh and the obligatory satsuma and choc coins.

She will probably just have a stocking this year with books and a few small bits in it - especially if we are strapped for cash - though I am on the hunt for a second hand bike :)

[Chocolate Lips]

Now there are selfish reasons for doing one - I compeletely LOVE making one up :grin:


Same as :teehee:

I loved my stocking. It used to be in my bedroom empty and when I woke up it was there full of presents! My other presents would be downstairs but it meant I could tear into my stocking at 5am in the morning when my parents were still in bed. I plan to do the same for Isabel.

[*Fallen Angel*]

Jess didn't get one last year and probably won't get one this year but this is purely down to traditions. Neither DH nor I had stockings as children so it's never crossed our mind to do one for our daughter.

[WiCkEd_WeNcH]

Mine have sacks, but the pressies from everyone go into the sacks.

As I have already said they aren't getting a lot from OH and I this year as we are putting the main pressie money to one side for a climbing frame for both in the spring.

Mark loved his sack last year, george at 6 months didn't really understand.

[Littlejojo]

i dont think I will be doing it to be honest, probablly next year

[flipflop]

Oh, I love Christmas stockings (comes from having a Christmas birthday and having a million things to open on just one day a year).
I'm with you on not wasting money on things they already have though, and so far have filled stockings with practical stuff like pyjamas, toothbrushes, socks, small books etc. Anything they need around December time becomes a present!

[Calamity]

We never had them as children and never mind a 2yrd old "not getting it"......... I don't get it??? :puzzled:

Lorna's getting a rocking horse from us for christmas now that she finally has her own room to put it in but she's not getting anything much else.

[sersha]

I'm doing a stocking but not filling it with tat - we used to get practical stuff like a new toothbrush, facecloth, socks, and I've (I mean Santa) got Leah some things already which I know she would have got anyway - gardening gloves!, a new sports bottle, a new swimsuit - that kind of thing - as well as a few sweeties of course. I think Leah will actually "get it" this year as she has loads of books about christmas - I didn't do anything last year, but I wouldn't want her to miss out this year.