Ladies, under 50 dollar stocking stuffers; what would you like to have in your stocking?

$50? Wow, that’s some high quality stuffing!

I really like handmade gifts – whether handmade by the gifter or just a handmade thing they think I’ll appreciate. Knowing that someone (whoever it was) put care into the article I have makes it so much better. Handmade jewelry, or something geeky related to my special interests, particularly.

I’ll be buying most of my holiday gifts this year from Etsy. Also, Etsy has gift certificates this year, if you’re so inclined to purchase such things.

Books are always a good bet, too. I’d love to have a copy of Dawkins’ “The Magic of Reality” in hardcover. I want to read it with my son. It has a lot of pictures and the entire book is a visual experience.

You know what I need? A set of Pampered Chef rubber scrapers. I had one once and they are AWESOME. I’m a klutz and am constantly melting my rubber scrapers by leaving them on the stove while I’m baking. The Pampered Chef ones don’t melt. I can’t believe I lost mine.

K-cups. In many flavors. We just bought a Keurig, and coffee is a whole new world. I’m in love.

Do you mean $50 individual items or, $50 total storcking items? I can’t think of a $50 item myself.
I enjoy gift cards for shopping, movies, dinners, body sprays, perfumes, little pocket philosophy/wisdom/poetry books, Cd’s, Dvd’s, other bath and body items, lotions, lip glosses, chapsticks, mittems, gloves, fun and colorful scarves, wacky socks, anything for my pets, like treats and toys.
Just caught my typo storcking…being a bird lover, yes, I’d like a Stork in my stocking too, I think it would blend with the geese pretty well. lol

I’d be happy with a $50 bill rather than a lot of clutter, or some of the useful kitchen gadgets from Oxo. I bought a really terrific can opener and hard-to-open lid and jar thingee and received a vegetable/potato peeler that really works as a gift.

@Coloma, the items, all together, come to 50 bucks.

Gift cards (movie theater / coffee house); lip balm; bath oil/wash and a luffa; money; candles; unusual (perhaps meaningful) refrigerator magnets; colorful pens or markers; note cards; little kitchen gadgets/goodies.

@Mama_Cakes Yeah, that was my take. :-)

One thing – Gift certificates to movie theaters suck. At least the AMC theaters do. Even if you get the “gold pass”, you can’t use it on new movies. Seriously, what’s the point?

((Sorry, just had to pay for tickets to The Hobbit because I found out I can’t use the gift certificate that my workmates gave me for that very movie.))

Funny/Cute socks, pocket diary, make up (I always ask for mascara for Christmas!), body lotion, chocolates or other nice foods (my dad always put a little orange in mine and my brother’s stockings)

You could have a theme to the stocking. Like a massage theme with essential oils, candles, one of those, scalp massagers a foot massager ball a hand held massager, an herbal shoulder wrap, or you could even make it naughty depending on who it’s for.

@Judi; Nice idea, and remember… naughty massagers can also be easily used for scalps, feet and shoulders if need be.

and don’t forget the chocolate! I haven’t tried these but they look beautiful.

seed packets if the have a green thumb, colored salt for the cookers, warm fuzzy socks, new animal toys if they have a pet, buy an assortment bag open it and break it up, lip gloss, specialty teas or coffee if they are a big drinker, value packs of cute post it notes break them up, chocolates or almond rocha, i usually knit a warm cute earm muffs/headband so it doesn’t mess with the hair for the women. Scarves hats gloves for men.

Nice undies, some perfumed soap, sweeties :)

I always like kerchiefs, bath salts (the old-school ones not the snorting kind!), lottery tix, stuff like that.

A new pair of earring. Semi-precious stones.

Some great pens. (I love them.)

A Starbucks gift card.

A bookstore gift card.

Nuts.

Some nice underwear (my brand).

Candy, jewelry, gift cards, nail polish, make-up (though, with the make-up I use, I’d be lucky to get 2 items for $50 – damn you Sephora!), scented lotion or body spray, hair accessories…

How old is this person? Because that could change everything.

I like the kitchen gadget idea – though I dislike Oxo because of the rubbery grips. Make sure it’s something to match the recipient’s tastes. I like wooden items, myself.

My mom usually gives me a new pair of earrings that I’ve been looking at, and a bunch of candy. :)

I found some lovely L’occitane hand creams. They are not huge tubes and fit nicely in your handbag. I bought one and I love putting it on. It smells so lovely.

A Visa or other generic gift card. Gift cards to specific stores are too limiting.

A vibrator! LOL

Also, what about things like nice manicure sets? Not the cheap and nasty kind but something useful and attractive. Or a purse to hold change or your credit cards. Or a beautiful scarf. Mini bottles of their favourite perfume. Again from L’Occitane, I found roll on perfumes. Very handy to keep in my bag. I was also just reading about 4711 – not sure why I thought about it but it suddenly popped into my mind and took me back to my childhood. My mother and grandmother always had a bottle of this in their bag just to dab on their temples when they had a headache or needed a bit of a lift. Something like that? Or a beautiful handmade soap. My daughter loves lemongrass. The Body Shop is always wonderful to find little stocking fillers. Lip gloss, little massagers for your feet or hands, exfoliating gloves and the like.

Pretty note cards. Chapstick (especially during the winter). A small, framed picture of my dog or cat (with cellphone cameras, it’s easy to take a photo secretly and as a surprise). L’Occitane hand and foot cream in those silver “toothpaste” tubes. Taper candles. Clever kitchen gadgets (for someone who likes to cook). A modest gift certificate to her favorite store or restaurant.

@Seek_Kolinahr. You’re so right about movie theatre passes. They have so many restrictions, they’re even worse than frequent flyer miles. I still have unused movie coupons from years ago; whenever I’ve tried to redeem them, I find out that they don’t apply to new releases, or to weekend showings, or on holidays, etc.

I don’t know. My first reaction was the same as @Seek_Kolinahr.‘s A $50 stocking stuffer?

Wow!

Though, in a few minutes I will take time to actually read the responses and maybe come up with some suggestions.

Though, I not a “lady.” :-) Just a woman.

Forget my suggestions! @jca knows how it should be done. A woman after my own heart. :)

@lillycoyote, and what a woman you are and it’s lovely to see you. The $50 is to be made up of different items to a value of $50. Lots of little presents is the idea I think.

@Bellatrix Thank you. Flattery will get you everywhere;

… and you are right.

Sometimes Americans just need to be gently reminded by the British how to speak our own language… well, at least what we claim, or perhaps simply like to tell ourselves, is English.

“Stuffers,” that’s plural, I believe, now that you mention it.

:-)

And it certainly would hurt for actually read a thread before commenting on it… but I am such a slacker!

wine!

Garfield Minus Garfield book. If you’re not familiar with this already, check out the site.

Warm socks, gift cards to anything, pens, pencils, markers, lotion, perfume, Juicy Fruit, and maybe some leggings.

And maybe a cute little remote control helicopter that I can operate using my iPhone. $49.99 at Verizon. :-)

Best to know her exact tastes on certain items (flavors, colors, scents etc.) candles and perfume and chapstick are terrific, but only if you know the tastes and scents she likes.

These are some of my favorite things:

Small scented soy candles, grapefruit, pine or cedar scents (other scents kind of turn me off). So find out what scents she likes.

Inexpensive, but cute earrings. I like very small, very short dangly earrings, with a small bead or a stone, but nothing long or flashy or heavy (I have delicate lobes that tend to stretch with anything bigger than the size of a pea).

Chapstick, I like Burt’s Bees products or regular Chapstick in mint (but the cherry flavor kind of makes me gag, or anything that is lolly-pop like bubblegum-like is icky) so find out what she likes.

A small bottle of an Essenstial Oil, in a scent that she loves. For me, that’s cedar. I like to put a drop or 2 on a pillow in my bedroom. (Most of the other scents I don’t like at all). You need to smell them first so that you know you like the scent, so don’t buy online, get them at a real store with samples. Places like Whole Foods sell them, and boutique stores that sell spiritual items ususually have them too.

A little container of Tiger Balm. This is a little type of ointment that is kind of like icy hot, only it has a distinctive exotic scent, sort of patchouli-esque, or maybe more like cloves, but if you have an achy neck and a tension headache, a little bit of Tiger Balm rubbed on the neck and the temples can do wonders. It also opens up your sinuses, but it doesn’t smell like Ben Gay.

A small bag of pistachios, or smoked almonds or flavored cashews. Yum!

Her favorite gum.

A fridge magnet photo frame with a picture of you, and/or her pet or her folks.

Some cute bandaids with cartoon characters on them.

A handmade coupon book that she can redeem for foot rubs, back massages, dinner made by you etc.

A bottle of her favorite color of nail polish, or a fun new color with glitter in it Like This

One of those inexpensive little plastic back massagers

A tiny ceramic figurine of something she likes. Maybe it’s an animal or a gingerbread house or some other Christmassy thing that you know is particularly special to her. I have a small collection of Piglets Does she have a favorite of the 7 dwarves, or one that she reminds you of?

If she wears any kind of hair accessories, then hair bands, scrunchies, barrettes or clips would be good. You can never have too many of those, because they always get lost.

A small box of chocolates, or chocolate covered pretzels or some various colors and flavors of Sweet Sticks which I prefer to candy canes. Peppermint tends to burn my tongue. Lemon and strawberry flavors are more my taste. Oh, and some chocolate covered espresso beans! Oh, and her favorite mints.

I tend to use a lot of sharpie pens. Do you know what kind of pens or pencils or highlighters she uses? You can never have too many of those. My dad likes those fine point red felt markers so he can mark off stuff in the TV guide LOL. And to go along with this theme, a block of post-it notes in her favorite color.

Another thing that I liked to get, which is now in my wallet, is one of those credit card sized Tipping Guides (because I can’t do math) and one of those same sized pliable magnifying glasses (because I also can’t see the check either).

Some Vegetarian Beef Jerky Whole Foods and other specialty markets sell all sorts of different brands.

A container of one of the “new” exotic salts, like Hawaiian Pink Salt if she likes to cook.

Also, because you all know that I do love to cook, I’d like a set of Mise en Place Bowls These are the bowls that you use to Put in Place all of your ingredients, measured out in order before you compose a recipe. They come in all sizes, but lately I’ve been seeing these cute little ones in ceramic, metal and glass, which are more for salt and spices and minced herbs. They’re smaller than custard cups, so a set of 3 or 4 will easily fit in a stocking.

I also love tea, especially Tazo brands teas.

Does she like to do crafts? I just saw some small hot glue guns that came in multiple colors. I also love glitter glue and paint brushes.

Do you know if she has a favorite recipe? Maybe something that her Mom or Grandma made when she was little? If you could get a copy of that recipe, especially hand written, then get it laminated, that would be very cool.

OK, I’m done : )

I LOVE TIGER BALM!

It’s super strong, so you only need a fingernail full to do your whole back. Mix it with your favourite body lotion and it goes SO far.

@Seek_Kolinahr Just don’t get it in your eye!

A couple of masonry discs for my angle grinder, I have a hankering to do a stone sculpture.

I’m not good at gifting, so I can’t add to the ideas above, but I wanted to advise restraint on the candles, lotions, bath goodies, etc. that have fragrances. Most of them make my sinuses engorge almost instantly. So use caution unless you are certain that the recipient likes a specific scent or generally enjoys fragranced products.

@lillycoyote Smart money’s betting that you’re both a woman and a lady.