Stocking stuffers for kids under $25 that won't end up in the trash

Stockings have a way of filling up with things that are fun for eleven minutes. By New Year's the light-up spinner has a dead battery, the blind-bag figure is under the couch, and the slime has met the carpet. The stocking gifts that last tend to fall into a few groups: things kids use up, small games, things they carry around, and things that feel grown-up.

A useful frame if you're filling more than one stocking: give each kid the same number of items, one from each of the groups below, and you'll avoid both the overflowing stocking and the comparison at the end.

If a stocking is for a child under 3, or there's a toddler in the house who'll get into it, skip anything with small parts, small magnets or loose coin batteries, and check the age printed on each package. A few items below are labeled 3+ for that reason.

Things they'll use up

Used up is good. It means it was used.

• Air-dry clay. A pack of Crayola Model Magic turns into a lumpy menagerie on Christmas afternoon, and the pieces dry so they can keep them.
• Sidewalk chalk in a climate where they can use it, or window crayons where they can't.
• A sticker book or a stack of stickers for a kid who collects them. Cheap, and they disappear onto notebooks in the best way.
• Their favorite snack, the one they don't usually get. One, not a bag of candy.
• Fancy bubble bath or bath crayons for little ones, which turn bath time into the event.

Small games

A card game fits in a stocking and gets played at the kitchen table that same afternoon.

• Exploding Kittens, about $19.99 on their site today. Quick rounds, lots of shouting, and grown-ups like it too.
• Uno or Spot It for younger kids. Both are fast, and a five-year-old can win fair and square.
• Mad Libs for readers. They're a road-trip lifesaver, and the junior versions work for kids who are still sounding out words.
• A deck of cards with a handwritten note listing three games you'll teach them. Cheap, and the note is the gift.

Puzzles and small builds

• A Rubik's Cube plus a printed beginner's solution. Some kids drop it after a day; some carry it for a year.
• Magna-Tiles MicroMags. Pocket-size magnetic tiles in a travel case. The 24-piece gingerbread house set is about $19.99 on Magna-Tiles' site today and fits a stocking easily.
• A small LEGO set that matches whatever they're into right now. Small sets get built on Christmas morning while the adults drink coffee, which is worth something.

Things they'll carry around

• A headlamp. This might be the best stocking stuffer there is. Reading under the covers, backyard camping, looking for the lost sock under the bed. Pick one with a soft strap.
• A small flashlight or a keychain light for kids who aren't quite headlamp age. Pick one that takes AA or AAA batteries, or has a battery door that needs a screwdriver, since coin batteries are dangerous if a small child swallows one.
• A kid wallet with a few dollars already in it. Kids love having their own money. Add a library card if they don't have one yet.
• A water bottle with their name on it, if it's one they'll actually take to school.

Stories and books

• The next book in a series they're reading. A paperback slides right in, and it's the stocking gift most likely to get finished.
• A joke book for six and seven-year-olds. Be ready to hear every joke at dinner.
• Audio cards. If they already own a Yoto player, single story cards are some of the cheapest items in Yoto's shop (one we saw today was about $8.49). The same goes for a new Tonie figure for a Toniebox kid.

Something that feels grown-up

Kids love being trusted with real things. A good pair of scissors for an older kid who crafts. A real tape measure. A small notebook and a nice pen. A watch, if it's an inexpensive analog one they can learn to read. These cost a few dollars and say "we think you're old enough."

Doing the math across siblings

Stockings get compared. Kids line them up on the couch and count. It's easier on everyone if the number of items matches, even when the prices don't. A $20 card game for the ten-year-old and a $6 sticker book for the four-year-old feel equal to the kids as long as each stocking has the same count and one "big" thing in it.

Set the budget per stocking before you shop, and write the list on your phone. Most of the overspending on stockings happens at the checkout line, a few dollars at a time, on things nobody planned. If something on this list is out of reach this year, the coupon below and a handwritten note go a long way.

A coupon for later

A handwritten ticket for breakfast out, just the two of you, takes up no room and costs well under $25. Put a date on it so it actually happens. We have more ideas in that direction in gifts for the kid who has everything.

What we'd leave on the shelf

• Blind bags and surprise eggs. The opening is the toy. What's left is a small plastic figure and a lot of wrapper.
• Light-up gadgets with sealed batteries. Once the battery dies, so does the toy.
• Slime in a carpeted house. You know how this ends.
• Lots of candy. One favorite treat is a gift. A pound of it is a negotiation that lasts until February.
• Anything just to fill space. A half-full stocking with four good things beats a stuffed one with ten forgettable ones.

For the bigger gifts under the tree, see screen-free Christmas gifts by age. And if your family is making a new habit of stocking morning, these Christmas traditions might give you a few more ideas.