Christmas Stockings Guide 2019
In our house, the Christmas stocking is one of the most exciting bits of Christmas morning – the kids really do look forward to digging into the stockings that we have had in our family for over twenty years. I’ve always thought that it’s the little bits and pieces that we all love at Christmas; those thoughtful little trinkets that show that we really know the recipient and that somehow feel like the most personal choices.
Having said that, as a parent, filling those stockings isn’t always easy. Like most parents, I will find some little bargains from a pound shop as well as the staples of chocolate coins and socks, but I also like to pop a few little surprises in there as well! But of course, it’s not just about the kids – Christmas stockings are a lovely part of Christmas for all of us, regardless of our age so check out some of our ideas below for some stocking filler ideas for the whole family! Stockings are perfect for miniature presents, so we have been checking out tiny collectable toys, cosmetics and hair products along with little gifts for art fans, fitness fanatics and chocoholics!
We have ideas for the kids and those hard to buy for teens, as well as the grown-ups too. So check out our Christmas Stocking guide to get yourself some inspiration for those little touches for your nearest and dearest.
For the Kids
Surprise Bags and Blind Bags
Along with an awful lot of children these days, mine are more than a little bit obsessed with so-called ‘blind-bags’, and putting something like this in a stocking doubles the fun, and the kids will get a surprise within a surprise. TV advertising, along with videos on YouTube, have meant that CuteTitos are one of the most requested blind-bag toys in our house, and have been for a year or so. CuteTitos are fantastic fun, and contain a cute little plush toy, wrapped up in a burrito style plush tortilla wrap. The kids loved opening their CuteTitos and revealing the super cute little plush toy contained within the burrito along with a guide to all of the pals that you can collect. Each of the range has their own distinct personality traits and there are some super cool creatures to collect. At £7.99, these make a great addition to any child’s Christmas stocking, with no tiny bits to lose and my kids have absolutely loved them.
Continuing on the food theme (and lots of toys like this love this theme, as the hundreds of Shopkins that my kids have amassed will attest), we also loved Foodie-Roos. The Foodie-Roo range includes cookies, pretzels, gummies, popcorn, cereal, juice and more. Each Foodie-Roo pot doubles up as a home (Foodie-Room) for your new little friend, and contains a collectors sheet and stickers for decorating your room, as well as a quirky little plush. The Roos themselves both smell and feel like the food that they are supposed to represent, so our pretzel plush had a slightly ‘crispy’ feel to her, and our cereal one felt like she was full of rice-krispies. We loved that these came with their own little habitat for the kids to build and decorate and the kids loved the scent of their Foodies. Again, a lovely little stocking filler for under a tenner.
If you’re going to have food-themed blind bags, why not have ones that themed around one of your five-a-day? Bananas are peelable, scented and multi-coloured banana-shaped pouches containing a mystery surprise Crushie creature, along with two cute squeezable pets! A hanging vine nest and set of sticky gemstones to decorate your Crushie completes the set and adds to the fun. They’re great fun for decorating, collecting and trading, and at £3.99 each or £9.99 for a bunch of three Bananas, they are a great stocking filler price!
For kids who love babies and dolls, there is no better surprise toy than Baby Born Surprise! There are 12 different babies to collect, each with their own unique attributes. These little munchkins are hidden away in little eggs, and there are 10 different surprises contained in each one! After unwrapping them from their sleepy swaddling, you can wake them up to reveal their eye-colour, discover their hair colour, find out their favourite food by sitting them in water, and they will even drink and wet their nappies! These babies are a great size too, and we particularly loved that these surprise toys can also be used as part of larger playsets – check out our review of Baby Born Surprise’s Bottle House in our Main Christmas Gift Guide here. These are great fun and will appeal to any child with a parental instinct and are available for around £10.
Last year, L.O.L Surprise! dolls were THE toy to have, but we did think it was a bit of a shame that all of the dolls were girls. Well, no more! How about L.O.L Surprise! Boys as an option this year? They complement the original range perfectly, with the Boy dolls pairing up with their girl counterparts perfectly. Have a Queen Bee from last year? There’s now a King Bee to match, or how about Teacher’s Pet’s brother, Smarty Pants? Just like the original range, there are lots of surprises in each ball and the outfits and accessories are interchangeable so you can create your own unique look. Some of the dolls are even colour-change or can be fed or bathed for added fun, and it’s always super exciting if you manage to find an ultra-rare or glittery character!
Little girls love jewellery, and we thought these Lucky Fortune toys would make a lovely stocking filler. Each fortune cookie contains its own fortune as well as a fortune teller and a gorgeous little charm bracelet. There are over 100 of these to collect and they look fantastic either worn on their own or as part of a set. At £4.99 each, they are good value and I’m sure they would delight most little girls on Christmas morning.
For slightly older kids, Blume Dolls are a different take on blind toys again – these ones are hidden in a plastic plant pot and you need to water them with the included watering can to see the dolls literally bloom out of their pots! With super cool squishable hair, changeable outfits and a customisable plant pot house, we think these are fabulous fun for older kids, and being able to swap and change everything from the outfits to accessories to even their hair means there are almost endless combinations. Another great stocking filler for around a tenner!
Finally on the surprise bag theme, something for younger children – Springlings Surprise, available for £7.50. Whilst most of the blindbag and surprise collectable toys contain small parts and are for kids aged at least 5+, Springlings Surprise from Little Tikes offers the same collectable experience for much younger kids. With no small parts, the Springlings are miniature plush pets, and each one will spring out of their own little collectable cottage as you open them! Working like a mini jack-in-a-box, these cute little pets can be stuffed back into their homes and sprung out again and again, and will certainly delight toddlers and younger children whilst their older siblings are busy making their toys poo slime.
Slime
For kids who appreciate toilet humour and like slime, Hangrees are well worth a look. These collectables are great fun, parody figures based on popular icons in kids’ culture. These revolting creatures will chomp away at their ‘food’ – give them a bit of a shake and leave them for a few minutes for them to digest and what are you are left with? POO! Each Hangree comes with the ingredients for its own colour and texture of slimy poo for you to mix up, then you can watch in wonder as they sit on their clear toilet whilst nature calls! These characters are great fun, and we think its nice to see a collectable that will appeal to boys. With characters to collect including Harry Plopper and Chew-Kaka, Hangrees are the toilet-themed gift that just keeps on giving – slime and a character toy for around a tenner isn’t bad going!
For fans of slime and cute little critters, you can’t go far wrong with Poopsie Cutie Tooties Surprise! These contain a snippable unicorn poo, from which you can squeeze your mystery slime! As well as the surprise of the texture, colour and scent of slime, there is also a cute little Tootie critter hidden in the gunge! Once you’ve freed your new friend , the slime can be re-sealed safely inside the unicorn poo pouch for next time—what more could a slime-loving child want for Christmas? Available from £7.50, these are a great fun stocking filler.
A great fun, and reasonably self-contained option for slime-mad kids, are Ooze Labs Slime Test Tubes from educational toy experts, Thames & Kosmos. Available in a number of different slimy options, Ooze Labs will allow you to create magnetic slime, glitter slime, day-glo slime and more, and to store it all securely in the test tubes too. At around £4 per tube, we thought these were a great value stocking filler, and we loved that everything you need is included—you don’t need to go searching the kitchen cupboards for extra ingredients!
Interactive Pets
For a stocking-filler priced interactive pet, you can’t go wrong with Lumies from Pomsies! These fluffy unicorn themed little critters will sit in the palm of your hand chattering away, but the best bit is the games she’ll play with you! Lumie has a colour sensor so can change her fur colour to match anything around the house you want to sit her on! She also associates every colour with a sound, so you can even play tunes by moving her across differently coloured surfaces. They’ll really get the kids moving about too, as they zoom from room to room looking for new colours to experiment with, and they even come with batteries included! Absolutely fabulous fun for any child with an interest in mythical creatures and really well priced at less than £20, and there are three different Lumies to collect.
Another option if your child loves interactive pets are Pomsies Pets. These pom-pom type fluffballs wrap their tails around your wrist, your bag strap, your clothes and more. They love to be stroked, brushed and played with, and will reward your attention with purring that you can even feel. Their eyes will tell you how they are feeling or what they want, and they have around 50 different responses especially for you. They also have a super fun dance mode: pop them on your wrist and start boogying. The faster you dance, the faster they sing – a great way to get the kids moving and working off their Christmas dinner! And even better, these ones are just £9.99. The range includes kittens, puppies, a unicorn and a dragon, so there is something for everyone!
Kids’ Hair & Beauty
Whilst younger kids won’t be asking for makeup or beauty items in their stockings, most little girls do love to have pretty hair. Pop Pop Hair Surprise are fantastic fun little surprise sets that will delight any little wannabe hair stylist! Contained inside a super cool character hairbrush is your new Pop Pop – a long haired little creature who loves to be styled! You will need to use the incorporated water spritz bottle to spray your Pop Pop’s cocoon, and watch whilst they hatch out. Once you have revealed your Pop Pop, and brushed, braided and coiffured their hair, you can either wear it in your own hair style or use them as a topper on your pencils! There are 8 of these to collect and we think they’re great fun and a lovely stocking filler at £9.99
For cosmetics fun for kids, we love some of Mad Beauty’s Disney range for novel stocking fillers. Aladdin’s Colour Changing Bubble Bath is particularly good fun – it’s presented in a mystical golden lamp and promises a magical colour changing surprise when it’s poured into a warm bath. Or how about their Minnie Mouse’s Magical Lip Balm? Beautifully presented in an iconic Minnie-shaped container, complete with metallic pink bow, this lip balm would make a lovely stocking filler for any Disney-mad little girl! We also thought their Snow White’s Sneezy Tissues were great fun, and they just reminded me of the kinds of little treats that my mum used to pop into my Christmas stocking, because stockings really are about the little things! Mad Beauty have a massive range of Disney-themed toiletry treats, and there is something in there to suit all ages or tastes!
You can’t go wrong with Nivea products in a Christmas stocking, and they have some fabulous options this Christmas to suit all ages. The Soft Lips Heart Shaped Tin is a fantastic choice for a little girl’s Christmas stocking and we loved the pink and gold tin that is stuffed full of all of your favourite lip care treats. The set contains four different Nivea products – Original Care Lip Balm, Soft Rose Lip Balm, Strawberry Shine Lip Balm and Pearly Shine Lip Balm. The tin is gorgeous and make this super practical and ever popular product into a wonderful stocking filler idea for just £6.50.
I always used to get a new toothbrush in my Christmas stocking, and it’s a tradition that I’ve carried on when I’ve had my own children. Deeno-Saur Bamboo Toothbrushes make a lovely stocking filler and are available in purple, orange or aqua. These cute little toothbrushes are suitable for ages 3+ and are 100% biodegradable, recyclable and sustainable as well as being vegan friendly and BPA-free. A lovely toothbrush from an environmentally conscious company who aim to make brushing fun and help kids to keep their teeth and mouth healthy. Available for just £5.49 for a pack of three, you can even buy a set and split them between multiple stockings.
Kids’ Arts & Crafts
For kids who just love to doodle and fiddle, the Mini Scratch Art Notes from Melissa & Doug are a great choice stocking filler. The pack contains 125 rainbow colours notes along with a wooden stylus and a little holder to keep them in, and its compact size makes it perfect for a Christmas stocking. Just use the stylus to scratch away at the black surface to reveal the rainbow colours below – it will make either your doodles or even telephone messages look super cool! Great value at under a tenner and anyone from age 4 to adult won’t be able to resist having a go!
Little Brian Paint Stick products are always hugely popular in our house – they are as close to mess-free as you will ever get with painting and we love them. But how about something a little different, with Little Brian Face Paint Sticks? They are retractable plastic face paint sticks that come in a pack of 12, containing every colour you are likely to need, including 4 very cool fluorescent colours. There is also a brilliant and very simple How to Guide for 12 different face paint designs, each with a simple three-step guide. They apply very easily (the kids can even apply their own), wash off just as easily with soap and water and are pretty smudge-free. We loved these and they make a great stocking filler for any child with an interest in dressing up and pretend play!
For jigsaw-mad kids who are ready for a different kind of challenge, we can highly recommend Eugy from Brainstorm Toys! These 3D puzzles are made of thick card but slot together to make a very sturdy and detailed creature, fully self-standing and complete with beady eyes! The range is extensive, and contains mystical creatures like dragons and unicorns, as well as more down-to-earth choices like llamas, giraffes, sharks and wolves. These are fantastic fun, the perfect size to pop into a stocking and a real bargain for around £7.95.
If a new set of colouring pencils is on your child’s wish list, how about these Inspirational Colouring Pencils from Stib? Contained in their own eco-friendly storage tube, these fabulous little pencils are embossed with positive little messages that your kids will see every time they pick them up to colour. With phrases such as ‘world changer’, ‘problem solver’ and ‘joy finder’, we thought these were absolutely gorgeous and would make a lovely gift. They have an ergonomic triangular barrel shape and come complete with a pencil sharpener and sticker sheet for £7.95 for a pack of 10 mini pencils.
Miscellaneous
If you like something a little bit cheeky, check out Elves Behavin’ Badly for a slightly risqué alternative to sickly sweet elves this year! These naughty little chappies have been sent by Santa not just to report back on the kids’ behaviour, but also to inject a little bit of fun and humour into the festivities. As well as the elves themselves, why not treat the kids to the Elves Behavin’ Badly Fart Kit or even Fly in Ice Cube jokes? They have something for all ages, and with prices starting at just £1 and the elves themselves prices at £2.99, they make brilliant little stocking fillers!
One of the other big crazes, and a relatively inexpensive Christmas stocking request last year was slow-rising squishies. However, we found with ours that by the time the kids went back to school, the squishie foam had started to get damaged and they no longer looked anything like as cute as they had on Christmas morning. Squeezamals are a definite upgrade to last year’s squishies, and the kids just love them! Available in a range of gorgeous animals, and a total bargain at less than a fiver, Squeezamals are squishies but contained within a plush skin, so there is nothing to rip or tear. They are the perfect size for little hands, and the squeeze then slowly rise fabulously – they even have a slight fruity scent! We were sent a puppy called Bryce and my youngest’s current favourite creature, a narwhal, and because these ones aren’t blind bags, you can pick your child’s favourite animal to make it a more personal choice of stocking filler.
You simply have to have some sweeties in a Christmas Stocking, and why not have festively flavoured sweets? Jelly Belly’s American Holiday Favourites jelly beans are exactly that, and for £5, you get a 140g pack of tempting, festive treats. The pack includes Egg Nog, Candy Cane, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Sauce and Hot Chocolate beans and we think they’re gorgeous. They make a change from the chocolate coins or bars of chocolate that you might normally stuff into a stocking and they really are gorgeous – our personal favourite was the Hot Chocolate beans but they’re all delicious.
Not all kids can eat chocolate or traditional Christmas goodies, and food intolerances seem to be getting more and more common. But why should kids miss out just because they have allergies? They shouldn’t, and the folks at Larabar have three fabulous options. Available in 3 flavours: Banana Choc Chip, Apple & Cinnamon and Peanut Butter Choc Chip, all three options are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, vegan and have no added sugar or flavours. Each one is made of just five or six natural ingredients with nothing added – and they taste great! A lovely option for either kids with allergies, or for parents who are saying no to too much chocolate! Available from Sainsbury’s for £2.50 for a pack of three, they won’t break the bank either!
For the Teens
Arts & Crafts
Whilst older kids will no doubt love products like paint sticks, they are also often getting to the stage where they want to experiment a little bit with some slightly more challenging media, to get some more realistic and grown-up results. Watercolour paints are notoriously difficult to master, but Derwent Watercolour Pencils make a fantastic first foray into watercolour. At £39.99, they’re possibly at the top-end of ‘stocking filler’, but they truly do make a great choice. The set of 24 contains every colour you might ever need (you mix these in the same way you would with ordinary watercolour), and they come presented in a lovely, solid tin that will keep them safe with unbroken cores for years to come. Derwent have always made top quality artist’s supplies, and these are no exception. They are super-soft, very bendable and can be used in a variety of different ways to create some stunning and very impressive effects. For older children and adults who want to try out a new hobby, these are a fantastic option!
Crystal Crafts and Diamond Painting are massive at the moment—we love them because they are so relaxing and the end result really is something you can be proud of. Crystal Card Kits and Crystal Motif Kits from Craft Buddy are a fantastic introduction to this great new media. They allow you to dip your toes into the water for a minimal cost, and the quality of the products is great. They have a lovely range of Christmas themed images on the website at the moment, as well as non-festive designs. These would make a super stocking filler for under a fiver for any arts & crafts minded teenager. These kits really are addictive and un-put-downable!
Hair & Beauty
Teenage girls seem to love nothing more than hair and beauty products, and lotions and potions are a great size and price point for popping in stockings as a little treat! For teenagers with curly locks, The Curl Friend by Cake Beauty is a curl-defining, frizz-fighting curl cream to tame the locks of any curly girlie! We loved the super-trendy packaging, and the fact that they are cruelty-free and vegan is also great to see. You don’t need to use a huge amount, so at £8.99 a tube it makes a great value and useful stocking filler.
Nivea also have a fantastic option for teenagers with their Girls Night In Gift Set. This large, rose gold tin contains everything that a teenage girl needs to either spend the evening pampering herself, or pampering each other with a group of friends. The set contains Nivea MicellAIR Skin Breathe Micellar Water 3-in- 1 Make-up Remover, Nivea Daily Essentials Moisturising Night Cream 24H Moisture Boost + Soothe, NIVEA Pearly Shine Caring Lip Balm, Nivea Bye Bye Dry Skin Nourishing Mask – plenty to get some serious pamper-time in! Priced at £15, this is another great value set from Nivea that any teenager will be delighted to find in their Christmas stocking.
Hair Mask Sachets are a great option for a real treat for your teen’s hair, and can add a real feel of pampering to their routine. Additional Lengths have some fantastic options for popping in their stockings, but we particularly liked MALIBU C Scalp Therapy and MALIBU C Miracle Repair. The Scalp Therapy mask is a flake fighter that naturally soothes and satisfies, whilst instantly delivering vital nutrients to your scalp. We also love that it helps relieve symptoms associated with common scalp conditions, because no teen (or anyone else for that matter) wants visible flakes in their hair. The Miracle Repair is an intensive and deep conditioning mask, 100% vegan and is ideal for feeding nutrient-starved hair. It is packed with plant proteins and enriched with Pro-Vitamin B5 for mega-moisturizing, leaving your hair soft, silky and shiny. At £3.99 and £2.99 respectively, they’re an inexpensive and luxurious treat for your teen!
If you’re not yet ready for your teen or pre-teen to be locking themselves in the bathroom with bottles of cosmetics, how about a 3-pack of silk scrunchies from Only Curls? Being made from 100% silk, they won’t tangle or break your hair like some bobbles and scrunchies can, and the feel very luxurious. Being narrow, they are a lot more subtle than some scrunchies too and are fantastic for either sleeping in or wearing out and about. These are a lovely item for around £10, and a great choice for when they have started wanting something a bit more grown up in their hair.
Tech & Gadgets
If your teen loves gadgets and gizmos but your budget isn’t huge, how about a PopSocket PopGrip so they can accessorise and personalise their phone? As well as allowing them to express their individuality (so important when they’re that age), PopGrips also provide a more secure way for them to hold their phone, give them a steadier hand for those all important selfies and are also a built-in stand for when they’re using their phone as a media device. We particularly loved the Celebrate 2020 version as well as the Scandi Poppies, but with literally thousands of combinations on the website and with prices starting from £11.99, we’re sure you’ll find something to suit your teen!
Kids these days always seem to be on their phones, and as they get older, a lot of that time is spent listening to music. The quality of the speakers on even high-end mobiles leaves a lot to be desired, but listening too often with earphones isn’t great either. That’s where a portable Bluetooth speaker can be a great idea. The MP200 from Edifier is a small, cube shaped speaker, available in a range of colours and with a super-trendy, rubberised finish. The quality of the sound these produce is great, especially for the size and they sound an awful lot better than their £28.99 price tag would suggest.
Kids love gadgets, and for younger teens who might be starting to get themselves home from school independently or using public transport, it’s always reassuring to be able to keep in touch with them. Expensive phones can be targets for thieves and pickpockets, and lots of kids aren’t the most careful when it comes to looking after their possessions, so we think the Alcatel 1 phone from Alcatel makes a great choice as a first phone, so you can always keep in touch. It doesn’t have all of the features of the latest iPhone, but it has everything you could possibly need: a decent camera (with selfie cam!), the ability to connect to the internet, use WhatsApp and social media, and has a bright, 5” colour touchscreen. At £59.99 SIM-free, and including 8GB of onboard storage (expandable up to 128GB via SD), there is ample space to store plenty of selfies and music!
Keeping their phones powered on the go is vital, so a power bank from Juice might also be a very popular stocking filler for them too! Their 12345 range offers a power bank to suit all budgets and they have options ranging from £14.99 all the way up to £39.99, depending on your power needs. #1 is small and portable, and holds up to one full charge, and #2 is slightly bigger and will power your phone twice. The three larger powerbanks also feature a digital percentage battery indicator and hold enough charge for 3, 4 and 5 full charges, depending on the model you pick. They are available in a range of colours, come complete with a pouch and a small charging cable, and they are able to charge a phone from 0-50% in under an hour—super fast! We also loved the rubberised finish, great for teenagers who might not be so careful with their stuff! This will be a useful and very popular stocking filler choice!
Other Ideas
If your teen has just started high school, the chances are they will have been handed the keys to their very own locker! School lockers aren’t the most personal of spaces, and that’s where Locker Days comes in! Locker Days offer a super cool range of locker accessories, from wallpapers to carpets to mirrors and pen pots. They’re great fun, and as everything attaches magnetically, won’t leave any residue either. With prices starting at just a few pounds, they’re an ideal stocking filler.
We are a bit Harry Potter mad here at the moment and are loving some of the very cool Potter products that are currently available. But one of our favourite Harry Potter gift is the LED Harry Potter Light Up Notebook from Yes I Want It. This gorgeous A5 spiral bound notebook features everyone’s favourite trio aboard their broomsticks, flying through the night sky. A press of the button on the front of the pad causes the stars to start twinkling for a few seconds, and we also love the character page dividers too. This is a gorgeous little notebook and it’d make a fabulous Christmas gift for any Potter fan, young or old. It’s even on offer at just £5.99 at the moment, so it’s a real bargain to boot.
For the Grown-ups
Outdoors
As well as little treats and delights, stockings have traditionally (in my house at least!) been home to some incredibly useful items that we might just not think to purchase for ourselves. So, for the keen runner or cyclist in your life, how about a Reflective Ankle Band from Ultimate Performance? This fully padded and highly reflective band fastens with Velcro, is adjustable to fit nearly anyone (adult-sized), and is incredibly comfortable. It features three reflective strips in white and yellow, and is visible up to a quarter of a mile away. The quality is fantastic, it’s a bargain at £8.99 and there’s nothing better than knowing that your loved ones are that bit safer when they’re out and about.
It should be no great surprise that hats and scarves are standby Christmas presents, given the weather in December. But woollies don’t have to be a boring standby present, and the Nitya woolly hat from ethical clothing manufacturer Sherpa proves that point! A truly ethical company, Sherpa invest massively into the Nepalese communities where they make a number of their clothes, and use natural materials wherever possible to manufacture their products. The Nitya is made from 100% lambswool, looks fantastic and you can rest assured your purchase will be doing more than lining the pockets of multi-national corporations. A lovely stocking filler for £25.
For the avid gardener in your life, how about Seed balls?, Made from clay, peat-free compost, seeds and chilli powder, seed balls have their own mini ecosystem, protecting seeds from birds, ants and slugs and giving them the nutrition they need to get a head start and germinate easily. Simply throw them onto soil or compost in a garden bed or planter, water well and watch them grow in just a few weeks. At just £6 per tin these are a great price and are even available in a special edition Wonderland tin – perfect for the festive season!
Foodie Gifts
All of the delicious goodies that we wouldn’t normally treat ourselves to the rest of the year are without a doubt one of the best things about Christmas. And we seem to be so much more adventurous when it comes to flavours when we’re buying gifts for others! Popcorn Shed have some fantastic options for those of us who love a bit of popcorn; some standard flavours and some that are really out there. Their Sheds, priced at £3.50 for an 80g box of posh popcorn make a great stocking filler choice. Forget deciding if you want sweet or salt flavour, these are available in far more interesting varieties which includes Salted Caramel, Pecan Pie, Say Cheese, Berry-licious, and my own festively themed favourite – Sweet Cheesus. All of their popcorns are also gluten-free, which is great to see as so many Christmas treats aren’t.
For a gift in the more chocolatey-minded person’s stocking, how about something from Seed and Bean? Seed and Bean offer 100% organic and ethical chocolate and chocolate gifts in some fabulously inventive flavours. From Mandarin & Ginger to Coconut & Raspberry and Caffe Mocha to Lemon & Poppyseed, there really is something for everyone. There are mini bars (£1.20) and larger bars (£2.69), as well as a gorgeous range of filled Christmas Crackers and gift boxes for under £12.
The humble pork scratching doesn’t exactly get the best press in the world, and I reckon it’s about time that was changed! The Snaffling Pig Company makes some quite fabulous porky-themed treats that would go down a storm in any (non-vegetarian’s) Christmas stocking! We absolutely love the flavour range on offer (honestly, it’s massive!), and as well as giftsets that come complete with beers, sauces and chutneys, they also sell bags and jars that would fit perfectly into a stocking. With bags from just 75p, variety packs from £6 and jars from £8.50, there’s something for all tastes and budgets.
Christmas can be difficult for those of us who have to adhere to a limited diet. Whether you’re gluten free or dairy free because of allergies, or are vegan or vegetarian through choice, there’s no denying that your choices are much smaller. Keep it Raw chocolate from Ombar makes a great stocking filler for those with a limited diet, and there are some great flavours to boot. The whole range is suitable for vegans, so is totally dairy and egg free as well as being Fair Trade and organic. There are even some gluten free options in the range too, so there is something for everyone. At £2.99 for a 70g bar, they’re an ideal price for a stocking filler and perfect for those of us who don’t have as much choice as everyone else.
Just Because
For fun around the Christmas dinner table and beyond, we think the Complete the Headline game from Yes I Want It, priced at just £7.99 makes a great stocking filler. Definitely not one for the kids, this hilarious card game contains 35 headlines and 115 answers for some quite simply baffling combinations – and this really is one of those occasions where reality is stranger than fiction, you just couldn’t make some of these up! A brilliant little stocking filler for that family member who loves quirky little games or a super secret Santa idea, and why should the kids have all the fun?
Color Addict is a fast-paced and addictive card game that really challenges your ability to think at speed. On each card, a colour is printed, for example, BLUE. But this might be printed in red ink. The aim is to get rid of all your cards as quickly as possible by playing the right colour, or the right word, or both. Color Addict is perfect for playing around the table after Christmas dinner, and works for 2-6 players aged 7+. The pack contains 110 cards and gameplay lasts around 10 minutes per round, so we’re sure there will be lots of ‘best of three’ challenges going on over Christmas! Its compact box and £9.99 RRP make it a great choice for a Christmas stocking, and we’re sure it’ll be played plenty over Christmas and beyond!
Candles are becoming more popular, but how about one that has a hidden meaning? Secret Message candles from 54 Celsius has just that! The perfect size to pop into a Christmas stocking, this gorgeous little candle is available with eight different message options, so there really should be something to suit every recipient or occasion. They have a burn time of 1-2 hours, so your hidden message will appear reasonably quickly and we loved the subtle, pastel colours. The Secret message candle is scent free, comes in a beautiful giftbox and at £8.99 is about the right price for a little treat for a special someone.
One of the most popular gifts I have ever given is the Zippo Heatbank 6! This super little device can be charged in under two hours, and provides heat in the palm of your hand for up to six hours. Its ergonomic design is very comfortable to hold, and the five different heat settings will have your hands warmed up in no time! It’s at the top end of the stocking filler budget at £39.95, but if you’re a fan of useful presents as well as something that’s a bit of a treat for the recipient, this is a great one to go for.
The Nivea Pampering Clay Collection is a gorgeous gift set that is an absolutely perfect stocking filler for a special lady in your life. Contained in a very classy and high quality beige and gold washbag, the set contains all you need for a luxurious and pampering shower to keep your skin soft and moisturised. The collection contains three full-sized products – Clay Fresh Deep Cleansing Shower, 1 Minute Urban Skin Detox Mask and a pot of the ever popular Nivea Soft Cream. We loved this set – the products all smell wonderful and will leave your skin feeling soft, hydrated and fresh, and the wash bag adds a real touch of luxury. At £14, this set is great value and we’re sure it will really be appreciated!
For something that really is completely different, how about the ICEBREAKER Pop, available for just £20? We’ve probably all been making ice in either an open ice cube tray (smelly ice or flecks of freezer crumbs in your G&T, anyone?), or in ice cube bags, which means pointless single-use plastics. ICEBREAKER Pop is a clever new ice cube tray concept that creates clean and fresh ice cubes, safely stored in the device itself and ready to pour into your drink. And no single-use plastic in sight. It is even Thermo insulated, so even at room temperature, your ice should stay solid for several hours. The ICEBREAKER Pop is a perfect stocking filler for the person who has everything, and who really appreciates innovative and clever design paired with superb quality products.
We are all being encourage to ditch the single use plastic and even single-use cardboard products, and one of the easiest way we can do this is with reusable coffee cups. Huski Home Coffee Cups go one step further than just replacing single use plastic with multi-use plastics—they actually use the natural waste product of rice milling to produce their cups. The Huski cups are almost entirely biodegradable and are mostly made from rice husk, which regulates the internal temperature perfectly and has a modern, matte finish. Available in two sizes, each in six colours, these are another great ethical choice and they cost from £9.99
We all love eating out (don’t we?), and we certainly all love saving a few pennies, so an annual Taste Card membership makes a fabulous and thoughtful Christmas present for anyone who loves eating out. As well as savings on big chain restaurants like Pizza Hut, Café Rouge, Ed’s and Chiquito’s, there is a treasure trove of fabulous independent restaurants and even a number of Domino’s Pizza branches, all with either 2-4-1 or 50% off offers. There are even offers at Odeon and Vue cinemas, so you can really make a night of it! At £39.99 for a year’s subscription, a Taste Card makes a cracking stocking filler (hint: get one for your other half, so you get to benefit too!).
Quality ‘alone time’, either with your partner, or genuinely alone, is something that will always be appreciated, and TENGA have come up with some stocking filler priced items to allow you to give the gift of pleasure to your significant other. With options for her like the Iroha Stick (£17.99), which can be discreetly popped in a bedside drawer or even handbag, or the waterproof Iroha Mini (£18.49), there is bound to be something that will please the special lady in your life. And why should women get all the fun? Tenga have some great options for him too, that he will no doubt appreciate. Their Egg is available either singly at £9.99, or in a pack of half a dozen eggs in a cool egg-themed box for £44.99. Finally, the Original Vacuum Cup, priced at £15.49 is sure to put a smile on his face!
One of the finest gifts that any of us can ever give is the gift of sleep. Eve Sleep make some of the best mattresses and pillows that we have ever used, and even they now have a stocking-filler priced product! The Eve Mini Pillow is great for those who are always on the go. It’s a miniature version of their fabulous memory foam pillow and is a perfectly sized travel companion for napping anytime, anywhere. It’s got nearly all the benefits of their best-selling original pillow but is just half the size. At just £30, it’s the right price and size for any Christmas stocking.