Looking For Non-Toy Stocking Ideas

A friend does holiday pajamas!

ohh I forgot bath crayons or bubble bath!! My kids always thought that was fun

Ali,
Sounds strange, but I always put in a toothbrush. Last year it was an 'electric' Ohio State toothbrush that really motivates my son to brush his teeth. I also put in a book light (seems that the previous year's lights get lost/broken/???). Some years I have purchased neat key chains (for their backpacks), slippers, and cool pens/pencils.

art supplies, lottery tickets, fruit, nuts, toothbrushes, nail polish, hair ribbons, barrettes, socks, sunglasses, small tools (men), stickers, stamps, earrings, gloves, hats...

socks, underwear, cool toothbrushes, mouthwash for kids, cool colored hair gel- santa is very practical at our house plus my children LOVE to open all the stuff - even if it is just the toothpaste and toothbrush.

I make a music mix CD for each family member. Each one is different and contains new music they don't have.
I also put a clue in each Santa sack as to the whereabouts of the Santa Family present.
One of the best extras I included in my youngest son's santa sack was a length of metal chain and a padlock with keys. He still has it and plays with it six years later.
Janine
NZ

Go online and find a site that shows how to tie various knots and get some rope from the hardware store. Chris can tie several types of knots in the rope and practice tying the knots until memorized. I cut the rope off above and below each knot so they are separate. I've used the half-hitch, figure 8, square knot, etc.
Get Simon his own rope. Give him the knots in the ropes that Chris tied. Chris can offer to help him learn to tie the knots. Whether or not the stockings are from Santa, Chris will already know how to tie the knots.
It's a big boy thing! Then, Simon can teach Anna when she is older!
I also get coin wrappers and fill them part way. Pennies are cheap but the one year I gave half a wrapper of quarters, I took the two nieces to the laundromat and showed them how to wash clothes using the coins. It was fun for them to watch the clothes go around in the front loader washer. They also had fun pushing the coins in and out of the tray.
The drugstore sells small empty plastic spray bottles that suit the Homeland Security requirements. Put one in his stocking and tell him to fill it with special spray for the next time it snows (I know you don't get much) and it will teach him a little bit of "we can save some gifts for later and they'll be perfect" and you can use a little food dye in water and he can paint the snow with "spray paint" and it won't harm the environment.
I'll think of some others once I get my master list out. I just have to find it LOL.

I always put Starbucks gift cards in hubby's stocking...

When i was growing up our stocking had a little candy (usually M&Ms) and then my sister and I got make-up type stuff. New Brushes,a new mascara or eye liner pencil or both. A manicure kit. Nail polish. My mom would give my brothers hair gel, shaving cream, a new razor (we would get one too) etc.
My sil also gives each of her kids a movie, and a new toothbrush and their own toothpaste every year in their stocking...along with some other things.

Mittens or gloves, lip balm, crayons, toothbrushes, and watches are some of our standbys.

I like to do functional things for my kids - new, fun toothbrushes (character themed, for example), hair accessories for my daughter, funky socks for my sons, sometimes new gloves or a scarf (it doesn't really get cold where I live until Christmas time so they can easily use old ones until then). Character bandaids too, we go through those like water with three kids!

Duct Tape is an AWESOME stocking stuffer!!
We also give coupons to our kids for "date night with mom or dad", a day off from chores, King/Queen for the day, an ice cream out, their favorite dinner, etc..

Our stockings are hung on the kids' doorknobs, so the things in them were to occupy them until 8am when they are allowed to wake us up. To this day even though they are both teenagers, they go into each others rooms and compare their loot. I always include a brain-teaser type puzzle, dice game or card game, wool socks, kaleidoscope or flashlight, hair ties, small jewelry, i-tunes cards, thank you notes and pen, toothbrush with mini toothpaste and a joke book.

This year I've made hundreds of Coffee Cozies (for a Cure)...fabric coffee sleeves for disposable coffee cups...With the Ducks victory last week, I made literally a hundred (Ducks) and about 50 Beavs and sold almost all of them...get a gift card from your favorite coffee shop and instance stocking stuffer gift or teacher gift...I'm selling them locally in Hillsboro, but Esty has tons of them too...great Re-Use idea for the coffee lover in your life.
~ Kathy (Hillsboro, OR)

whoops..for got the link to my blog...
http://charliecinasplace.blogspot.com/2009/12/dgis-are-best.html here's some photos of what I've made and sold....100% of the proceeds going to my local Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society.

Oh, and the best one that I almost forgot. When my oldest daughter was about 5 or 6 she read a book at school about a child who had gotten into trouble for taking all the kleenex out of the box without using them. She said she thought it sounded like fun but wouldn't do it because she would be in trouble, too. That year at Christmas she got a big box of kleenex in her stocking and she had the most fun just pulling the tissues out one at a time, throwing them up in the air so they fell like snowflakes and NOT being in trouble!

Postage stamps are great for adults.

My hubby loaded up with stationery items one year for our boy-tape, pencils, his own pad of printer paper, pens-all that stuff. He LOVED it.
Photo albums to put all of your holiday pictures in.

I'm another toothbrush fan, and definitely lip balm, socks, mittens, movie tickets, small collectibles, jewelry.

I come from a family of GAMBLERS! It is a holiday tradition for my dad to buy my sister, my mom, and I a row of $1 scratch-off lottery tickets and put them in the stocking. We all have fun scratching the tickets and can celebrate the small victory of winning back a dollar or two!