Christmas Stocking Stuffer Ideas
Christmas isn’t just about what goes under the tree, you know – you have to remember to fill those all-important stockings as well. To help you decide what to put in them, we’ve come up with a couple of ideas to get you started, from cat ornaments to the more traditional oranges.
A lump of coal
Your kids might not be particularly pleased if they open their stockings up to find a bit of coal (we’d advise wrapping it up in some paper so it doesn’t get everything all sooty), but this used to be something of a tradition in Victorian times and was supposed to bring the recipient luck.
Cat figurines
Small items are perfect for stockings (especially if you plan to hang them from the mantelpiece as you don’t want them to be too heavy), so cat-like ornaments and figurines would be perfect to wrap up and include. You can find some lovely ones out there, whether you’d like one made from glass, wood or other material – just have a look around.
An orange
These days, there’s nothing that special about an orange but rewind time a little and these were once a huge delicacy because they were so hard to come by. They’ve been included in the toes of stockings for generations, a tradition that apparently began when St Nicholas would hand out gold coins to people.
Not every family has Christmas stockings but it’s such a lovely tradition that it seems a bit of a shame not to do it. What fun to have the whole family sat around the kitchen table on Christmas morning all opening their stockings at the same time!
Knitters are very often ethically minded people who want to make sure that the products they use, from the yarn down to their knitting needles, are produced with a conscience and aren’t hurting either animals or people in developing countries.