I love Christmas! I don’t love trying to fill everyone’s stockings without spending a fortune. It seems like the younger your boys and girls are the easier it is to find inexpensive items that they will enjoy. By the time they head into the Tween and Teen years it starts to get downright expensive. A few plastic items from your local dollar store just aren’t going to cut it anymore.
Not to worry! With the help of my friends over on Facebook I created a list of 97 items that would make great stocking stuffers for the teens and tweens, male and female, in your life.
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(Looking for stocking stuffer ideas for the MEN in your life? I’ve got 68 Ways to Stuff a Man’s Stocking)
Stocking Stuffers for Teenagers
**Updated for 2017**
- Post-It Notes
(while the plain ones are fine, these “Freudian Slips” sticky notes or Planet Shaped notes are even more fun)
- iTunes or Spotify Giftcards
- Giftcard to favorite store (like Amazon.com
, Sephora, Toy R Us,GameStop
, etc)
- Snack sized junk food/jerky (like this Buffalo Bob 10 piece exotic jerky collection)
- Cash
- Duck Tape (it comes in crazy patterns like Bacon, Skittles, and Popcorn these days,
as well as fabric and chalkboard!)
- Sharpies
- Gum/breath mints (if you are feeling sassy you could get “Christmas Lump O Coal” novelty gum)
- Candy
- Movie tickets (or a movie theater giftcard)
- Items for a favorite sports team (pens, hats, etc)
- Unusual food items (Hot Chili Lollipops
, Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans
, crazy Japanese junkfood, etc)
- Male grooming items (nail care kit, razors, shaving cream, cologne, hair gel)
- Female beauty items (creams/lotions, makeup remover, perfume, hair product, makeup)
- Items with school logo or colors
- Costume jewelry
- Gloves (like these inexpensive Touch Screen Gloves
)
- Nail polish
- Hairbrush and/or comb
- Fun scented shampoo
- Pocket sized lotions and hand sanitizer
- Lip balm
- 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})
- Toothbrush (a novelty NFL toothbrush might be great for the sports fan)
- Key ring (make fun with a fashionable pom pom or a functional multitool key chain)
- Themed items based on extracurricular activities (ie swim cap for swimmer, cue chalk for pool player, guitar strings & picks for musician etc)
- Starbucks Gift Card
- Art supplies like brushes or watercolor pencils.
- Collectible coins
- Travel sized games (like Battleship and Yahtzee)
- Video Games
- Electric toothbrush
- Fuzzy Socks
- Slippers
- Rechargeable Batteries and Charger
- Teen magazines / hobby related magazines
- Christmas ornament
- Mini Journal
or mini sketchbook
- Lottery tickets (scratch off)
- Book Light
- Headlamp
- Fitness Tracker (of course folks love their Fitbits, but there are also less expensive fitness trackers)
- Phone accessories (Pop Socket stand and grip, glass screen protector, a cell phone screen projector, or a phone case)
- Sunglasses
- Books (or a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble)
- Water bottle (my teens are big on the stainless steel bottles this year)
- Travel Coffee Mug (the Stanley Travel Coffee Mug really does keep things hot for 7 hours!)
- travel toothpaste
- Game controller (for Xbox, PS3, Wii, Steam etc)
- Bubble bath/bath oil/bath bombs (you can even find luxury all vegan ones)
- Antiperspirant
- Silver Dollar
- Flashlight (the BYB 4 pack of mini LED flashlights gets great reviews, but make sure you also pick up batteries-they aren’t included!)
- Pocket knife or Multi Tool
- Roll of quarters (for college kids who use a laundromat)
- Pens and Pencils
- Travel Sewing Kit
- Eyeglass Repair Kit
- Travel tissues
- Bandana
- Scarf (fashion or cold weather)
- Nail clippers/tweezers/nail files (these pretty curved EVA nail files or the long life glass nail files are stocking worthy)
- Phone charger/Battery pack
- Gasoline gift card
- Hair bands/headbands/scrunchies. Yes, really, scrunchies are back in!
- Necktie (hey-even teen boys sometimes need to dress up)
- Car air freshener (a quirky choice would be the Bacon Air Freshener)
- USB Flash Drive (you can get them in all kind of novelty shapes like animals, snack foods, guitars, even superheros like Superman)
- Novelty Dress Socks (Bacon & Eggs, Egyptian Pyramids, Marvel Comics, circuit boards, video game etc)
- Portable Bluetooth Speaker
- Highlighters
- Earmuffs (I’ve seen some with built in speakers ) or a winter hat (yes, those come with bluetooth speakers as well!)
- Card games like Exploding Kittens (my son’s new favorite), One Night Ultimate Werewolf an old favorite like Dutch Blitz or just a nice deck of cards.
- Fun office supplies (cool thumb tacks, paper clips etc)
- Jibbits for their Crocks (if they have Crocks)
- Watch
- Travel alarm clock
- Wallet/change purse (they make RFID blocking wallets for men and women now)
- Hackey Sack, Yo-Yo, Silly Putty or Rubix Cube
- Belt
- Command Hooks
- Thank You Cards
- Postage stamps (to send those thank-you’s with after the holiday)
- Loofa sponge or bath pouf
- Compact umbrella
(they come in lots of colors, and some even have designs on the inside)
- Lint brush/roller
- Gourmet hot cocoa, tea, or coffee
- Silly Erasers
- USB Hub
- Cool Stickers (for laptops, skateboards, bikes etc. These are random 50, 100 or whatever packs–you should sort through them before giving them to your kids as their may be suggestive, crude or smoking related content to pull out. The 50 pc galaxy sticker set may be more tween appropriate, but I’d still check them)
- Scissors
- Glowsticks
- Makeup Brushes and Beauty Blenders
- Measuring Tape
- Magnets (like Tetris magnets, the little Magnetic Man or magnetic poetry kit)
- Dental Floss (of course there is all the regular stuff, but for a gag you can get Bacon Dental Floss and Cupcake Dental Floss)
- Key Caps to dress up their house or car keys
Feel free to add more ideas in the comments! And don’t forget to check out my 68 Ways to Stuff a Man’s Stocking.
I just did most of the stocking stuffer shopping. I have done items 2, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14, 23, 30, 35, 65, 67, 68, this year.
I also picked up a large package of those Wisp on the go toothbrushes to divide among three stockings. My two daughters are always stealing, er, I mean “borrowing” and never returning, my Suave Dry Shampoo so I got them each a can of their own. Then I was in Disney and saw some game dice that used Mickey heads for the number of dots on each face and that is getting thrown in as well.
I have done several more of the items on your list in years past. It can get pricey for sure! I try to get their favorite Christmas candies and then practical items as well.
I usually buy my cousins their favorite candy, maybe some cookies in a bag some taffy a couple of bucks and a cheep toy from the dollar tree.
Our dog also gets a stocking filled with bones, toys and the occasional tennis ball.
One year I bought my youngest cousin plastic farm animals from Walgreens, I bought her brothers a bag of marbles and the other one a deck of cards
Thats cute
it is!
Thank you, I needed this to make a list for my mom. This helped a lot.
I loved so many of the items on the list that I’ve actually used this template and even added a few along the way which were hits ! Small address books work great, small composition books for private notes are perfect, so are book marks ( either homemade or store bought ). Small packs of tissue are great thimgs to give, plus we always try to give a fruit from the Biblical period we had last learnen about with the kiddo 🙂
Just found your list. What a great resource! Thank you so much for compiling it. It will help me a lot with some new to the family kids!
For Bike riders and drivers: tire pressure gauge ($2 at Walmart)
For college kids: jar of peanut butter, sample size laundry detergent, protein bars, dare I say… condoms
For High School kids: magnetic notepad for school locker, car air freshener for gym locker, highlighters, Silly Putty
For everyone: shoelaces, leather waterproofing spray, 3M command hooks, screen cleaner, touch screen protectors, do not disturb sign for door knob, small picture frames, sudoku puzzles, memory foam shoe/sneaker insoles.
Gift idea for a new driver/car owner: jumper cables, oil change gift card. These were great last year for my college freshman who commuted home for weekends!
great idea’s …thank you!! I have a couple to add
laser pointers
Slinky’s
A lot of tweens I know and my young teens would NOT like noir could they use most of these items. Sorry.
I’m sorry this wasn’t helpful for you Karen
Why even respond then…. ridiculous
Thanks for all the great ideas! Both my teens will like a LOT of the items listed!!!
How rude. You should keep your less than jolly feelings to yourself. And it’s “nor” not “noir”
Out of all 97 things, the teens and tweens you know couldn’t use most of them? Really? They don’t like going to the movies or Starbucks? They don’t use things like lotion or makeup? They don’t like candy and treats? What kind of things do your kids like then? Diamonds? Car keys to their brand new Mercedes?
Jesus, guys, chill out! Karen may not have left a positive reply and she probably didn’t even need to comment at all if she was going to be like that, but that doesn’t mean you have to bash her for it! You guys are acting like teenagers- and that’s coming from a 16 year old! Besides, she said MOST OF THEM, not all of them. And you don’t have to make her out to be a witch by making her sound snobby and correcting her misspellings with a bunch of attitude, either. I also have to agree with her a little bit on this because I found the list helpful, but I didn’t really find more than ten things on here worth putting on my list. And before you give me crap about my choices, I’ll have you know that I do not own more than four pairs of shoes- all of them under 20 dollars each and for different occasions. Some of the things she may not have liked about the list may have been because her family are a little different, maybe a little more restricted. My mother would never even think of buying me gift cards, video games, etc. because she thinks they’re a waste of money, and I don’t completely agree with her, but I respect her opinion and I don’t complain. All I’m saying is, you don’t need to make assumptions about people just because they say something you disagree with. You may not even take my opinion seriously just because I’m “young and dumb”, and I’m fine with that. I just ask you to be a bigger person and realize that not everyone’s life is like yours and different people have different ways of living. Is that so hard?
hey no bad vibes. I’m close enough to your average teenager to say that most of the things on this list would be really nice to have. If the teens and tweens you know don’t like any of these then I’m not sure what kind of things they would like.
Just saying.
As a teenager myself I have no clue why anyone wouldn’t like anything on this list.
And please don’t be rude.
Have some holiday cheer, then everyone’s happy.
car charger for phone
small flashlight from mountain coop equipment for coat pocket
Thank you for the ideas. Getting down to the wire and my son’s stocking was lacking compared to his sisters.
Lots of great ideas! Merry Christmas!
Excellent list!!
Fantastic list! Thank you!!
I totally loved these stocking stuffers for my 13 and 16 year old kids! Thanks for the taking the time to post.
I found it to be a very easy way to create a stocking stuffer list. Thank you.
A DRINKING CUP, A NEW ORNAMENT, CANDY, A SNOW TO Y, PHONE CASE,
Wow!!! My stepson (13) wants the same amount of things my daughter (6)gets and who wouldnt?? So because he already knows how the stockings work I flat out asked him what kind of things he wanted..- “I dont know” is all I got. I really think he will like most of the items on your list so I will print it out and put in my purse so I can keep an eye open throughout the year!! You helped me more than you know thank you so much! MERRY CHRISTMAS
Thanks for the list helped out a lot. One thing I have done for years but can not take credit as my Mother in law stated. Each year I get my kids. Dated Christmas ornaments which they love seeing which one they got.
I grew up getting an ornament each year and continue the tradition with our kids, we just don’t put them in the stockings 🙂
Movies or DVDs
Headphones/earbuds
Pencils
Chap stick
Mini hand sanitizer
Great ideas.
I have referred to this list two years in a row for my two teen boys aged 14 and 16. It has some great ideas! Thanks for posting.
Now this comment made my day–so glad you have found it useful enough to come back and check it out each year.
Thank you for compiling this great list of stocking stuffers. What a great help for this Mimi.
So glad it was helpful.
This is an awesome list, thanks so much!
So glad you find it useful Julie!
As a teen myself, i don’t think many teens would be excited about getting toothpaste or deodorant. Hair elastics is a great idea though! I’m looking at this list to give inspiration of what i would like to my parents.
Well Andi, I didn’t say they would all be exciting 🙂 Sometimes we parents are just trying to fill up the space, and if you need new toothpaste or deodorant anyway, it’s something we can toss in there. I hope my list gave you some good ideas for your parents.
Thanks! This helped me out so much not only for my 8 year old and 10 year old twins who are outgrowing toys… but i also got some different ideas for my husband! We don’t do alot of candy or sweets so it’s hard coming up with different ideas each year and I don’t really like filling stockings up with $10-15 worth of dollar tree stuff that just gets tossed or broken within a week (with 3 kids that adds up!). I’d rather spend it on something practical and useful… your list has greatly helped! I might add- handwarmers! My kids (and husband) LOVE getting these each year. I usually stock up on them at the end of winter when they’re on clearance and save them for next winter then fill the bottom of their stocking with them! My kids think they’re the coolest thing! Also, this year we are doing character themed wallets for the kids to put in there- pokemon, minecraft and batman. inside the wallet will be a $10 gift card to their fav food place. my kids dont yet appreciate things like deodorant or toothpaste or other “essentials”, but I was able to find a good deal on character electric spinbrush toothbrushes this year so I’ll put those in there! Thanks again for the ideas!
Those are some fantastic ideas Kayla! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much! These have helped me a lot.
Yay! I’m happy they helped.
This is my second Christmas as a widowed father of a teenage son and while big presents have been easy, I find thinking up stocking stuffers really difficult. I needed one more item, was out of ideas, then came across this list. I found the perfect item listed (sunglasses) and found that everything I got for his stocking last year and this year are on the list. So I guess dad is doing kinda okay by himself after all!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.
Graham-I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m glad to hear that this list has helped you out some. . . teenage boys really are difficult to shop for sometimes! It sounds to me like you are trying hard, and that’s what really counts.
These are all brilliant ideas, guys! I’m a fifth grader girl, and I know that I can peeps of my age can be really hard to shop for sometimes.;p well, anyways, my stocking filled up pretty quick this year and all the shopping for me in general was done soon as December struck, which is a good sign, I think just a small request for all y’all, kay? Just try not to get so caught up that it’s a chore, and try to keep Christmas a celebration, instead of getting your hopes so high that it could never fulfill everything you hoped for, ’cause then, instead of feeling the true joy of Christmas, the only thing you’ll be aware of is how disappointed you are. Wise kid, right? ;D oh, by the way, it’s not much but I do have a couple things to add to the list: breath drops( hot cinnamon icy breeze is really good, just sayin’) and for the the ones that have phones, phone cases. Ive seensome really cute and pretty and just plain funones with stuff like pandas, kittens, cupcakes, bacon(of course), and simple but beatiful: glitter!(or you could do fake gems or whatevs) merry christmas everybody!
I recommend flashlights from the Fenix store because they sell high-quality products and definitely would last for years. Great company and great products.