Okay so Wednesday I promised to share our stocking stuffer “life hack.” Last year it felt like everywhere I turned stores were advertising “stocking stuffers” that ranged from silly junk to super expensive but small items. Buying toys as stocking stuffers seemed like it went against the Four Gifts rule so we opted for a new strategy. It was a gamble but the whole family LOVED it. Our rule is, if you can’t eat it, then it’s not a stocking stuffer. Now we ask Santa to bring everyone their favorite snacks along with a traditional orange and some walnuts.
Each of us have snacks that we love but we limit our purchase/ consumption of for various reasons. Last year The Twins were on purées mostly so they got baby food and those little puffs that melt in your mouth. They would eat their weight in bananas and gummies if we let them so guess what they are getting this year. The Boy is obsessed with Jack Links (he pronounces it Jacka Links) beef jerky so he went wild for the bag he got last Christmas. Crazy Eyes dips everything in ranch dressing or barbecue sauce. Sometimes she gets wild and dips into both. Santa brought her a bottle of each. We even wrote her name on them and told her that she didn’t have to share unless she wanted to. (Shocker, she didn’t haha!) The Hubs got cans of ravioli, instant coffee, and blow pops. (No one said it had to be fancy.) I got Kinder eggs and sesame sticks. Everyone got chips and cookies.
Everyone’s snacks went into their own gallon sized ziplock bag in the snack drawer after Christmas Day and the joy of opening our stockings lasted us a little longer. There was no bickering between the kids over who had what because even if we hadn’t labeled them it was pretty obvious who had what. Also, we didn’t need snacks on our next two grocery trips because Santa had brought special ones already. Everybody wins!
A boy and his jerky, a girl and her sauce.
Mom Van Confessions 