Stocking stuffers are a funny thing. As far as I’m concerned the younger the person, the easier it is to fill their stocking-both in ideas and in cost. Young kids are thrilled with pencils, crayons, stickers-all manner of very inexpensive but fun stuff. When you turn your attention to adult men, it gets truly difficult~and expensive!
My husband, Yankee Bill is always the worst for me.
First of all he has a lovely knit stocking that his grandmother knit for him. It’s a great family heirloom type piece, and we love it.
Isn’t this so cute?
When I joined the family his mom knit me my own stocking. When she gave it to me she had one comment for my husband “Have fun filling it!”. You see knitting has a tendency to stretch when you put things inside it, so those stockings actually hold almost twice as much as they look like they should. ACK! So it takes quite a bit to fill his stocking.
Now we all have hand knit stockings courtesy of my wonderful Mother in Law
Add to that he’s a bit, well, picky isn’t quite the right word. It’s just that he doesn’t *want* much when it comes to small stuff. There is still a bag up next to our bed filled with most of the stocking stuffers from last year-completely untouched. He just doesn’t use a lot of the stuff~and I hate spending money and then seeing the stuff just sit there. I guess I could be really frugal and just put the same stuff back in his stocking. . .but after a year or two he’s probably notice that.
It was time for a challenge! I came up with a list of 68 stocking stuffers for men!
***Updated for 2017***
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- Cologne (maybe a box set of travel sized scents to give him some variety)
- Magazines (you could go old school science fiction with Analog, support a hobby with Popular Photographer or Modern Railroader, or feed his brain with Popular Mechanics)
- Hand warmers (disposable, rechargeable or old fashioned lighter fluid handwarmers)
- iTunes giftcards
- Toothbrush (a novelty NFL toothbrush might be great for the sports fan)
- Toothpaste
- Dental Floss (want to get a chuckle? Try the Bacon Flavored Dental Floss)
- Travel size toiletries (like the ones in this Man On The Go travel kit)
- Fishing lures
- Chocolate (for fun you could get a chocolate grenade, chocolate rocks, or a chocolate fish)
- Shaving cream (or go old school with a shaving brush and soap)
- Hand lotion (make sure it isn’t a girly scent–go for something like Bath and Bodyworks “Alpine Suede”)
- Jerky (like this Buffalo Bob 10 piece exotic jerky collection)
- Beer
- Razors (did you know old fashioned Safety Razors are back in style? I even wrote a post on how safety razors can save you a TON of money)
- Socks (sure, black and brown dress socks will get worn. . . but what about some fun Marvel Comic socks, socks printed with great works of art, or even bacon socks?)
- Underwear (There are fun boxers with Star Wars, silly sayings {“Beware of Natural Gas“} or Superman)
- Pool cue chalk
- Nail clippers (or a manly manicure set)
- Sunflower seeds (they come all sorts of flavors like bacon, ranch, buffalo, pickle, and more–try them all with this Sunflower Seed Assortment)
- Guitar picks (or this guitar pick punch to make your own picks out of old credit cards or hotel key cards)
- Giftcards to Starbucks
/Dunkin Donuts etc
- Giftcard to Lids (the hat store)
- Mini alcohol bottles
- Lip balm (blistex is my husband’s favorite, but there are all kinds of brands and flavors including bacon.)
- Candy bars
- McDonalds or other fast food gift certificates
- Ear Buds
/earphones (Wireless ones are especially popular right now — these $28 wireless earbuds are getting 5 star ratings comparable to Beats {which run over $100})
- Books
- Memory card reader/adaptor (to read your camera memory card on a phone or tablet–really useful for those guys checking their “trail cam” for hunting season, for checking footage on a dash cam or security camera, or for uploading photos to your phone from a “real” camera)
- Memory stick/USB Flash Drive (they come in all kinds of shapes and colors–this extremely rugged gorilla drive that’s heat, water and impact resistant is interesting, as is the stylish men’s bracelet usb drive)
- Sharpies (these industrial Sharpies are good up to 500 degrees and is “super permanent”)
- Pens
- Eyeglass Repair Kit
- Eyeglass cleaning wipes
- Travel tissues (or go old school with real cotton handkerchiefs)
- Mini flashlight (you can’t go wrong with a mini mag light)
- Gum/mints
- Sticky Notes
- Bungee Cords
- Pocket knife or Multi Tool
(while I love a good multi-tool, sometimes a small, simple pocket knife-like this Winchester 2.5″ single blade-that looks good and you can carry in dress pants is useful)
- Rechargeable Batteries and Charger
- Lint brush (this VOCOO one is supposedly good on pet fur and has a base that helps clean the brush.
- Duct tape or Gorilla Tape
- Travel Tylenol/Asprin/Motrin
- Cough Drops
- Wallet Photos of yourself or the kids
- Keyring / Keychain (this one is an iPhone charging cable, bottle opener, stylus, and keychain )
- Cell Phone/MP3 Accessories (like an emergency power supply or a Pop Socket cell phone holder/stand)
- Bumper stickers (More Cowbell anyone?)
- Car cleaning accessories and products like Armor All Wipes, cleaning cloths, or a wheel brush.
- Bandanas
- Deck of Cards (you can get Walking Dead cards, cards with constellations on them, cards with your favorite football team, and even cards made out of wood)
- Poker chips
- Gun cleaning kit/patches
- Car air freshener (perhaps in New Leather scent?)
- Golf Tees/balls/gloves (there are tons of cute novelty golf items to chose from)
- Motorcycle kickstand plate
- Bicycle wheel patch kit
- Refillable Water Bottle (Stainless Steel Water Bottles are popular right now)
- Snack size chips or cookies
- Drill bits
- Earplugs (the foam squishy kind or the silicon reusable ones)
- Gloves (there are all kinds of touch screen gloves out there now, including some pretty dressy looking leather ones)
- Hat
- Ear warmers (they make earwarmers and hats with bluetooth headphones built in as well)
- Ice scraper
- Crossword/Suduko/Wordsearch book
So what other ideas do YOU have for men’s stocking stuffers?
Need ideas for your Teen or Tween? I’ve got a great post with 97 stocking stuffer ideas for Teens and Tweens!
Great list! I found a couple of new things I will try for Hubby this year!
Great post! I will definitely be using some of these ideas. Stuffing the hubz stocking is always a tough one!
Thx!
You’re welcome! Mr. Ngs stocking has wine stoppers, cocktail mixers, a cocktail recipe book, chamois cloth, rib rub, wood chips
I still like bacon gifts from Think Geek!
Happy to help and GREAT post! Lots of good ideas in there. And, your stockings are too cute!
Glad to be able to help! Looks like you made out pretty good with the $25 limit.
Great ideas! I just had to let you know that me and my siblings have the same stocking, my grandmother knit ours too, name and all. One of these days i need to find the pattern and do it for my children. It is very special.
Wow MaryBeth, that’s cool! If Yankee Bill’s grandmother was still around I’d ask if she had the pattern, but sadly that is not an option.
Does his mother have the pattern for the reindeer and Mrs. Claus stockings. My mom had the Mrs. Claus one when I was growing up. I still have my Santa one, but I would love to make the reindeer one for my daughter.
Jaime~I’ll ask my MIL if she has the pattern or remembers who she got it through!
Some great ideas, I do the usual candy junk thing, my hubby loves gummy candy since he is diabetic I can only find one kind (unless I ordered online) CVS pharmacy sales sugar free gummies in their store brands, FYI to any others who have a hard time finding a sugar free gummy. I usually throw in a toothbrush, tickets to a movie, a paperback, a mini nerf gun, and gaming dice, never can have enough! Good Post!
Oh, I didn’t write in for a stocking stuffer, for us it is never a stocking if there isn’t an orange in the toe! That comes from my Mother they would only get an orange at Christmas, so no matter who’s stocking it is that I fill there is now a mandarin orange in there toe! My girls have carried this forward and told their children the story and it is our family tradition. Also I always put a piece of hard ribbon candy in the stocking, but haven’t found any anywhere this year.
Love reading you posts, and am glad you are up front in using WalMart, and I enjoy that they are willing to let you sing their praises or not.
Hope you and yours have the best Christmas yet and a very Happy New year. How lucky you are to have a MIL that can knit and do such beautiful work. I love the Stockings and they are a family heirloom.
Hi Pat,
I would check Walgreen’s or CVS for ribbon candy, I have seen some in mine, it reminds me of childhood and is a favorite during the holidays here in my family too!
Big lots has the hard ribbon candy this year
God bless and merry christmas
Cracker Barrel has ribbon candy in their store.
Great tip, thank you!
My man is getting in his stocking this year: Beef Jerky, ear plugs, gun cleaning oil, deodorant, tiny bottle of Pancake syrup, little bottle of Jack Daniels, some summer sausage, remote batteries, and flavored coffee and some home made biscotti.
Guys are always harder to shop for
Oh I forgot superglue and ear buds I am putting that in his stocking too.
Husband HATES little ‘junky’ stuff, and I have the same situation every year that you do — trying to fill a stocking for a man who really would rather have a new laptop and/or an ATV stuffed in his sock. Fat chance.
However, he has previously enjoyed bars of dark chocolate (the darker, the better), bottles of hot salsa and sauce, specialty jams, coffee (neither of us is big on the flavored kind, though–we like it straight and strong), fishing lures, camping goodies, etc. He LOVES the maglites Wal-Mart has, and is fond of maps, atlases, etc. too.
Don’t knock beer — one bottle of a specialty brew goes a long way in filling up a stocking! I’ll often get a six-pack for a present for him, especially the holiday-themed brews that only show up this time of year. Like Noche Buena, a very good Mexican beer…you know about this time in the Northwest, don’t you? (We live in Colorado.)
Great Topic! I tend to fill my hubby’s with mini toiletries, his favorite candy, inexpensive dvd’s he may have hinted about, and small sports items from his favorite teams (for ex. I got him a NY Giants vinyl car window sticker for a few bucks on Amazon).
By the way, I love those stockings. Their adorable!
#56 Car??? WOW I want THAT stocking LOL!
Hee Hee! I probably should have been a bit more specific. How about a matchbox or model car 😉
This is a great help, love the pictures to personalize it! Thanks 🙂
Nailclippers lol, quit giving my wife ideas. She will totally agree with this stocking stuffer list. Thanks!
Thank you so much for posting this list. I just got engaged to my fiance this year, and this will be our first Christmas together, and I was clueless what to get for him to put in his stocking! Thanks for the great ideas!
Awesome. My husband also love anything from North Face….beanie hat and gloves are great. If you have a guy who like deals, check out the book 365 Guide. Nothing but restaurant deals. We use it on date night! http://www.365guidenyc.com/
My family has the same hand knit stockings, I’ve never seen anyone with them before!
Woohoo! They rock.
You did a great lot of searching but missed duct tape and zip ties!messenger
Yes, Zip ties, bungie cords and duct tape are all good additions!