Stocking Stuffer Ideas w/Amy from Amy’s Stocking Stuffers

Stocking Stuffer Ideas w/Amy from Amy’s Stocking Stuffers (1 comment)

Posted on on November 28th, 2009 in: Articles, Articles & Guest Blogs, MoM Thoughts, Shopping & Gift Ideas, Shopping & News from Living My Moment.

Everyone — especially every mom — is trying to find creative ways to save a little money this holiday season. Even the little stocking stuffers, let alone the bigger gifts, add up fast! Here are a couple of ideas for low-cost, no-cost, or do-it-yourself stocking stuffers:

* Print out free printable coloring pages. My personal favorites are the “Animals of the World” coloring pages from Louise Elliot Designs. There are twelve animals, each lovingly depicted in intricate Australian Aboriginal patterns that are perfect for detailed coloring. Print them on white paper, roll them into a scroll, and tie with red or green curling ribbon. Stick a box of crayons in the stocking too. You can find more free coloring pages at the Crayola website — over 1,000 pages!

* Make popsicle stick finger puppets using people or animals you’ve clipped from magazines and given a little cardboard backing, or images you’ve inkstamped on to card stock and colored yourself. Or use photos and put your own family’s faces on a family of puppets! If you have kids that are both pre- and post-Santa, get the older kids to help with this one. I first came across this idea at Amy Rysavy’s Prairie Paper and Ink blog. Now, while we can’t all hope for results as spectacular as hers, just looking at them gets my creative ideas flowing, and I know I could come up with puppets that would delight the younger kids.

* A great stocking stuffer for crafters is an inexpensive flash drive loaded up with freebies, such as clip art obtained from Dover‘s weekly free sampler, which is delivered to your e-mail inbox each week (follow the link, then click “free samples” at the top of the page). The clip art is terrific for crafters, and there are lots of samples for the young ones as well. Alternatively, you can go on to Etsy and purchase really unique crochet and other patterns for only a couple of dollars apiece. The patterns are then e-mail to you via PDF files. Once you’re on the Etsy website, simply search on “PDF pattern”. You can narrow it down further if you like by adding “crochet”, “knitting”, or even “felt”, which will get you all kinds of adorable patterns for making little toys out of felt.

* Another freebie for flash drives: classic books by women writers from Girlebooks, including Jane Austen, the Brontes, The Secret Garden, and even most of the Anne of Green Gable series!

* Finally, another way to save is to tag team it with other moms! Companies like the Oriental Trading Company offer some cute little items that are perfect stocking stuffers. For instance, you can get 24 shiny holiday inkstampers for $4.99. But who needs 24 of anything?! Ask the parents among your friends and family if anyone would like to go in together. That way, you’ll save on shipping, and end up with a variety of inexpensive stocking stuffers — each of those Christmas ink stamps is only about 20 cents!

I hope these ideas are helpful as you gear up for the holiday season. For more stocking stuffer ideas, please visit Amy’s Stocking Stuffers, where I post a new idea each day, running the gamut from free all the way up to luxury stocking stuffers. These are ideas only — my blog is for fun, not profit. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!