The holidays are a magical time for kids. They love the lights, the music, the sweets, and, of course, the presents. As parents, we want to make the season special for our little ones by filling their stockings with goodies they’ll truly adore. But with so many options out there, how do you know what they’ll like best?
Gift Cards and Money:
Nearly all the kids I interviewed put gift cards and/or money at the top of their stocking wish lists. Gift cards to stores where kids like to shop themselves, such as Walmart, Target, Amazon, GameStop, Old Navy, and bookstores, were hugely popular pick requests. Movie theatre and restaurant gift cards also received enthusiastic responses.
Cash is king for filling little hands with holiday joy, too. Be sure to include some dollar bills – ones, fives, or if Santa is feeling especially generous, maybe even a crisp twenty slipped into the toe. Kids love having their own holiday money to save or spend on whatever they choose. Cold, hard cash promises purchasing power that always fits and never disappoints.
Tech and Electronics:
Does Santa offer tech support? He may need to after delivering the latest and coolest electronic gadgets and accessories kids are hoping to find stuffed in their stockings this year!
Topping most wish lists are headphones, earbuds, Bluetooth speakers to play music, video game gift cards and controllers, electronics kits for taking apart gadgets or making new circuits, and virtual reality viewers to experience digital worlds. Tech gifts with an educational twist are also popular, such as programmable drones and robots, building block sets that assemble into robots controlled by a tablet app, and kits for making holograms or designing augmented reality games.
Other hot tech and electronics votes are digital or instant print cameras to capture silly selfies, selfie ring lights, portable phone chargers and charging cables to stay powered up for play, and wearable fitness trackers for counting steps. Kids named must-have brands like Apple AirPods, Oculus Quest VR, Anki Cozmo or Vector Robot, Nintendo Switch, GoPro Hero camera, Snap Circuits kits, and Hover-1 electric scooter or VELOS electric bike.
Arts and Crafts Supplies:
Kids also love origami and how-to-draw books, art portfolios or decoupage boxes to store masterpieces, and bubble or window art markers for decorating bedroom windows. Add in some pipe cleaners, pom poms, sequins, glitter glue, fusible beads, and other crafty embellishments, and watch their minds come alive.
Magazines and Books:
Curl up by the fire after the present opening for some good old-fashioned reading time. Books, comics, magazines, and activity books emerged as popular stocking stuffers wishing to expand young minds while vacation days were in full swing. Bestselling series, graphic novels, science magazines like National Geographic for Kids, joke and riddle books, sudoku, word searches, mazes, Hidden Pictures puzzles from Highlights magazine, and colourful activity books from brands like Melissa & Doug all earned coveted spots on kid’s wish lists. Remember, books and reading sets always fit perfectly in a stocking!
Games and Puzzles:
Perennial classics like checkers, chess, Sorry!, Trouble and playing cards suit playful gatherings too. Stocking-sized boxed puzzle sets also ranked high for on-the-go entertainment over the break. Choose themes like space, ocean life, dinosaurs, animals, or fantasy worlds to delight young puzzle masters.
Sports Equipment and Outdoor Toys:
Winter break offers lots of opportunities for kids to head outside and let free their inner athletes. Make sure their stockings are stuffed with mini equipment to play all their favourite sports! Golf, tennis, soccer ball, and foam football keychains are all perfectly fit for active stocking surprises. Baseball, football or basketball trading, or collectible player cards inspire sports fandom too. Small Nerf footballs, tennis balls, or velcro catch sets encourage living room athletics, as do miniature skateboards, fingerboards with mini ramps, paddle and bounce ball sets, yo-yos, and hacky sacks.
Don’t miss out on hot holiday toys either for snow shovelling rewards afterward! Light-up spinning tops, fidget spinners and POP Its, water blaster toys, and stretchy sticky hand toys promise hours of law-defying fun once the work is done. Kids also loved the idea of infrared remote-controlled cars or drones racing around an indoor obstacle course on vacation days. RC robots that can do tricks like handstands after some coding practice are also ranked as coveted STEM learning stocking stuffers.
Beauty and Bathing Goodies:
For an extra touch of luxury, fill stockings with pampering bath and beauty items to help kids relax in style. The most popular requests are scented bath bombs that fizz and foam when dropped into tub time, colourful bath crayons and foam character stamps for decorating tile walls and floors, shimmer bath confetti, sparkly makeup and nail polish sets, lip gloss, and lip balms in sweet flavours like soda pops, sugar cookies, or fruit punch, body glitter lotion and spritzers, and hair brushes with massaging beads and bristles. To complete the glamour treatment, add some mirrored compacts, sunglasses with bling, orthopaedic slippers, and animal print robes or slipper socks. After unwrapping all these mini spa must-haves, kids will be eager to schedule a soothing soak and self-care session!
Building Toys and Mini Figures:
From toddlers to tweens, toys that snap together using clips, blocks, bricks, tiles, sticks, and balls emerged as a universally beloved stocking stuffer category across all ages. Mini Lego sets and compatible brick brands scored highest for inspiring open-ended building creativity. Bestselling tiny toy collections featured builds like Lego City, Friends, NINJAGO, Star Wars tie fighters, Hogwarts Castle rooms, and Baby Yoda figures.
Other construction toy votes are Snap Circuits building blocks that assemble working circuit boards, K’NEX thrill ride or Ferris wheel sets, Magna-Tiles clear magnetic 3D building shapes, Picasso Tiles stick-and-ball sculptures, LINKITS magnetic gears, MOVA Globes gravity balls, plus BRIO railway track components and wooden train cars. These tactile building toys flex kids’ spatial reasoning skills while delivering hours of screen-free fun.
Squishy Squashy Sensory Toys:
When kids need to decompress all that frenetic holiday energy, squishy squashy sensory toys featured on many wish lists. From liquid motion bubbler tubes and infinity light cubes to hypnotic kaleidoscopes and fidget poppers, these mesmerising toys delight the senses while promoting calm. Best Selling squishies are foam smash balls, mochi squishies, mesh and water marbles, PlayFoam, Floam, or kinetic sand. Felt fabric finger puppets, shaggy Floof characters, Silly Putty eggs, Slime or flubber kits, and stretchy sticky lizards also earned stocking stuffer adoration for their vibrant colours, irresistibly touchable textures, and satisfaction from moulding and manipulating their unusual structures. After indulging their need to press, poke, stretch, and squish, kids relax into a soothed zen state ideal for screen detoxing.
Sweet Dreamy Bedtime Buddies:
As the most wonderful time of year winds to an end, gather everyone’s favourite new fluffy friends for final snuggles beneath the glowing lights of the Christmas tree before heading up to bed. The best bedtime buddies voted onto stocking wish lists are soft plush stuffed animals, especially with magical details like superpower capes, light-up noses, or shiny holographic fabrics. Mini character plushies from kid’s favourite movies, TV shows, video games, books, emojis, food mascots, or fantasy creatures also inspire affection. To care for their new petite pals, kids love to pretend doctor kits for diagnosing boo-boos, mini pet supplies like leashes and collars, and safety sleeping bags so their tiny treasures won’t get lost overnight. The top manufacturers desired are Squishmallows, Pillow Pets, Pusheen, Gund, Jellycat, and Ty Beanie Boos for premium quality and cuteness. With a beloved bedtime buddy tucked in beside them, kids are sure to have visions of sugarplums dancing through their heads!
Fill Your Heart and Their Stockings with Joy:
This Christmas morning, skip the present pandemonium and fill up stockings with delight instead. By stuffing their holiday socks full of relatable kid pleasures like these top-rated stuffers above, you’ll see joyful reactions firsthand. Kids will be thrilled awake not by noise and chaos but by discovering small surprises specially chosen just for them – like Santa’s elves embracing their inner child to pick out the coolest mix of toys, treats, crafts, electronics, and more. Thoughtfully curated stocking gifts show loved ones they are always in your heart while promising sweet, memorable moments together worth infinitely more than any flashy gadget. May these kid-approved stocking fillers overflow your family’s holiday season with playful quality time and deep heart connections.
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