35+ Stocking Stuffers Ideas for Girls!

Every Christmas I always think stocking stuffers will be the easiest gifts to buy. That is until I'm wondering around Target trying to think what I can stuff into those darn stockings. This will be the list I bring with me for my daughter:

• Candy
• Packs of Annies bunny snacks
• an apple and/or orange
• Hot chocolate mix
• $5 gift card
• fun socks
• hat and mittens
• bookmark
• stickers
• playdoh
• small doll
• baby doll bottle
• Barbie outfit
• Squinkies
• My Little Pony
• Easy Bake Oven mix
• headband
• hair clips
• hair brush and small mirror
• silly bandz
• markers
• crayons
• glitter glue
• small water color paints
• necklace making kit 
• lip smackers
• travel size lotion
• play jewelry
• fancy key chain
• bubbles
• nail polish (I love piggy paint)
• little note pad
• Hello Kitty or Princess bandaids
• batteries
• tiara
• paper dolls

Holiday Prep

Christmas is in 42 days!

 

My favorite holiday :) As much as I love this holiday, it can also be a stressful time. All the shopping, planning, cleaning, ect. ect. ect. I also try to cram as much "fun" as  Ican between December 1 and the 24th. These are a few ideas I had to make that time go as smooth as possible.

 

Deep Clean

Try to clean and organize as much as possible now! Catch up on laundry like blankets and curtains, any half done projects (I started painting the trim in my living room in August and its still not done), purge toys, and clean the fridge. That way in December you'll only have to maintain everything.

 

Schedule Everything Now

Haircuts, family pictures, dinner reservation. Save yourself from the last minute rush. You can even get the family pictures taken now.  

 

Plan Your Menu, Do Your Shopping

My family does many food based Christmas things. Cookie swaps, Christmas Eve party, Christmas dinner, ect. Figure out what you'll need, go threw your pantry to see what you have, then make your grocery list. It might be helpful to have a different list for each week so you know when to buy any perishables. Lots of staples are on sale now, so its a good time to stock up.

 

Gather Your Craft Supplies

Many times I've sat down to do a craft of my own or with my children only to discover I was missing something. If you have crafts in mind to do in December, write them down and check to see if you have everything you'll need. Plan a trip to the craft store this weekend to grab anything you don't have.

 

Reevaluate What's Important

Do you need to go to every holiday party? Or is it really important to send Holiday cards? Think about what you really enjoyed during the past few years and what you really couldn't stand doing. The Holidays are suppose to be an enjoyable time spent with family, not a time to please everyone you know! 



Holiday Scented Playdough

I have to admit that I've never made homemade playdough before. I have to say, I'm impressed! I thought it would come out greasy or grainy, but its just like the store bought stuff. Its also super easy to make. Since Christmas is next week, I wanted the playdough to smell like Christmas, so I made Peppermint Playdough and Gingerbread Playdough.

Peppermint Play-Dough

 (It really is pink, the pic is not the best)

What you'll need:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Iodine Salt
• 4 Teaspoons Cream of Tarter
• 4 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 2 Cups Water 
• 3 Teaspoons Peppermint Extract
• Few drops red food coloring

~Add peppermint extract and red food coloring to water. Measure flour, salt, cream of tartar and vegetable oil into a heavy, medium size sauce pan. Pour water mixture into dry ingredients, mix well.

~Cook over low heat, stir the mixture contentiously until it begins to thicken and pull away from the sides of the sauce pan.

~ Remove the mixture from the burner. Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, kneed until consistency of playdough. Store in a ziplock back up to a few weeks.

Gingerbread Play-Dough

What you'll need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 4 tsp cream of tartar or alum
• 5 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp. oil

~Combine the dry ingredients in a saucepan.  Add the water and oil and mix well.
~Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken and pull away from the sides of the sauce pan.
~Remove the mixture from heat and knead when cooled enough to handle.  Store in a ziplock bag when cooled to keep from drying out.  

Re-purposed Glass Jars, Great for Xmas Gifts!

Every year my moms group hosts a cookie swap right around Christmas time, and its always a lot of fun! Part of the fun is packaging your cookies in a festive and creative way. Of course I also try to think of frugal, green ways to go about doing this.

This year I used old glass jars. Mainly jars that use to hold salsa, peanut butter, and dip. Re-purposing glass jars is a great way to "package" any homemade gift. This is how simple it is: rinse out the jar and peel the label off as must as possible. Then use acetone to remove the rest of the label and any glue. Next boil the jar and lid for a few minutes to sanitize. After that I ran the jar threw my dishwasher, just for the extra clean.

Decide how you would like to decorate your jars. All I used was scrapbook paper I already had, mod podge, and jute.

I put Holiday M&Ms in the bottom of the jars to give it a little more of a festive look. Then added my cookies. The jars (and Pecan Cups) were a huge hit.

Merry Mice

I got this idea from a Family Fun book that I rented from my library. I thought it was super cute and easy for my kids to do.

What you’ll need:
A piece of red and green felt
Pon poms
Googley eyes
Candy canes
Scissors
Glue

1. Cut red piece of felt into a tear drop shape. Make it as big or small as you would like. Then cut the green piece of felt into the shape of a bone.
2. Next make two small slits into the red felt closer to the rounded part. Fit the green felt threw this slit.
3. Glue on googley eyes and the pon poms to look like a mouse.
4. Last, stick the straight end of the candy cane beneath the mouse and tuck it between the body and the ears to hold it in place.


I love the way they look on my tree. I will have my kids make a few more so we can stick the on the present we’ll give to family and friends.