Stocking fillers for adults
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Grown-up stockings tend to fill up with novelty socks and things nobody needed. A good stocking filler for an adult is small, cheap, and either useful, funny or a little bit thoughtful — ideally all three. Here’s what fits in a stocking and still gets used after Boxing Day.
Under £5
A pocket ticket book of small favours
The Little Ticket Book of Awesome is a tiny book of tear-out tickets for small treats and favours. It’s exactly stocking-sized, costs less than a coffee and a croissant, and gets more use than most things twice the price.
About £4.98.
Self-care tickets for a frazzled grown-up
The self-care version of the same little book — tickets for a bath in peace, a lie-in, an evening off. A kind thing to slip in the stocking of a parent, carer or anyone who’s had a long year.
About £4.98.
Under £10
A scratch-off card with a surprise under the foil
A personalised card with a hidden message under a scratch-off panel — use it to reveal the bigger present, a trip you’ve booked or simply something you’ve been meaning to say. Best for a partner’s stocking.
About £6.99.
A stocking-sized photo bauble
A flat acrylic bauble printed with a photo you choose, which fits neatly in a stocking and goes straight on the tree on Christmas morning. Lovely for grandparents, new parents or anyone far from home this year.
About £8.99.
A Christmas morning mug with their name on
The “Festive Liability” mug is personalised and properly cheeky — ideal for the relative who always burns the sprouts. If it’s for a colleague or a nurse in the family, the “prescription” mug is a gentler joke.
About £7.99. Or see the prescription mug
A murder mystery voucher rolled up in the toe
A Cold Case Inc gift voucher for one of their online murder-mystery cases — you choose the case, add a message and can set it to arrive at 9am on Christmas morning. Print it, roll it with a ribbon and it takes up no room at all. Each case is a few hours of detective work in a browser, and vouchers don’t expire.
About £9.99.
Budget date ideas for a couple’s stocking
Date Night – Thrifty Thrills Edition is a coupon book of cheap and free date ideas. It suits a couple saving up, or anyone who wants January to feel less bleak without spending much.
About £9.74.
The classics, done well
The satsuma and chocolate coins, upgraded
Keep the tradition but improve the chocolate — a bar from a proper chocolatier, a bag of good coffee, a miniature of their favourite spirit. The familiar things are part of the fun; they just don’t have to be the cheapest version.
Setting a stocking budget
If several people are filling stockings for each other, agree a rough limit first — £20 to £25 a stocking goes a long way with the ideas above. Wrap each thing separately, even the small ones: half the joy of a stocking is the pile of paper at the end.
What to avoid
- Plastic novelty gadgets that break before New Year.
- Toiletry sets that suggest a hint.
- Too many jokes — one funny thing per stocking is plenty.
More personalised ideas: Ticket books and coupon books at Cupidly · Personalised mugs at You Personalise · Christmas cards at Lush Lobster
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