I thought I didn’t have any great new ideas this year, but then I remembered something when I posted on the Holiday Gifts thread. I got both of my kids a Gerber Shard multitool, which is a very simple but useful gizmo and can go through airport security as it has no blade.
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Yeah I feel like I’m lacking a little on stocking stuffers (and behind on gifts!) I think I’m keeping most gifts in the “food” category - at Aldi today they had a lot of fun charchuterie supplies like fig jam, onion chutney, special olives, mustards, etc. - might use some of those! Plus my Penzey spices I ordered. And then pop in some small gift cards for fast casual.
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I just had cute keys cut that have dolphins on them — one for each kid and one for DIL. Not sure why, but they seem to lose house keys and I figure this will help them remember them. Put each key on a mini-carabiner, different color for each kid.
It was <$1 more to have a key with design vs plain key. The dolphins make me smile.
They had lots of other designs—they also had designs with bigger heads but the kids are minimalists.
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We got eclipse glasses and a map for the April eclipse as stocking stuffers for S1 and his partner, who live in the path of totality
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I love these. I need to find a place to do something like that. Our kids and us have recently been discussing how everyone needs keys to everyone’s houses (it’s hit or miss right now) and picture keys would make keeping them straight a lot easier.
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If you are thinking about Amazon gift cards, they have some with cute packaging on their website.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-com-amount-Waving-Santa-Slider/dp/B0BMTTV653
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You can get keys at any ACE hardware with lots of choices like NFL teams, sports, animals. I like your idea of having a theme for each person’s house. I was cleaning out a drawer and found all kinds of keys that seem to have no door to match. They were probably from 5 or 6 houses ago.
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But we are afraid to throw them out, right?!
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Or even Lowe’s and probably Home Depot. We got Virginia tech keys made to our house from Lowe’s back in 2006. The kids also had different themed keys. They are definitely cute but the color does eventually wear off. Ours barely have any color left.
JMU gave us two JMU keys. Not sure if it was for graduation or a donation. They came in the mail. Younger S is saving them for when he has a more permanent residence. Edit - it was a donation.
I tossed them! I found 2 or 3 for the front door, I think 2 for the back door, and all unidentified keys went into the trash. I even threw out a bunch of padlocks that had no combinations on them, a bike lock I tried to figure out and couldn’t, and a few other mysteries. I’m getting ruthless in my old age.
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In cleaning out to downsize, I had a lot of keys to go through. If I could not figure out what door it went to, I threw it out. I know there were keys in the pile for my parent’s and in-law’s old houses. It was strange, for some locks, I had like 7 copies of the key and for others I had only 2. I left a box of keys for the new buyers - and there were a lot of keys in it (plus the code for the garage door, the garage remotes, keys to sliding doors that would never be used, etc.)
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Sometimes if I have a bunch of orphan items (keys, power cords), I put in a plastic bag, labelled with the year. Down the road if unclaimed they can (theoretically) get trashed,
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In getting keys made, we have tried multiple different places over the years but have ultimately decided it saves us aggravation to go to the locksmith that’s a 15 minute drive from our home. The hardware store keys often don’t fit correctly and then you have the hassle of having to go somewhere else to do it again (and get a refund on the junk keys if we want to deal with the hassle). When possible, we use the original master key to make new keys and keep it unused in a safe place for making new keys when needed. The locksmith advertises they recalibrate their machines daily. I don’t think the hardware store does.
The locksmith does charge slightly more but I’d rather have the keys work perfectly when we try them out. They had a very nice selection—sports teams, Disney, all sorts of blanks and different colors too. I don’t think the keys I made my kids will get much use as they live far away 2500 & 4500 miles away. At least I figured dolphins would make them think of HI. Haha!
The locksmith price for a single cut key with no design was $3 apiece. The charge of a single cut key with a design on it was $3.65. (The bigger keys were a bit more.) It seemed to be a no-brainer to just go with the memorable key. The 5 pack of mini-carabiners of assorted colors with small key loops was an extra $7.
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I think it was a cute idea. We have a key for a relative’s vacation condo on Cape Cod. In order to not loose/confuse it, I keep it on a “keychain” that I made with the local library card. Also keep the local grocery discount club mini-card on it.
So Open Sea Leather custom made me this simple but elegant wallet in kangaroo leather that I selected with the thread I selected and attached a brass D ring so keys or a strap or carabiner can be attached.
It’s a gift for D so she will hopefully be able to hang onto her keys AND ID/CCard.
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This is the fabric keychain ID holder alternative she will also get in her stocking. Will see which one she may wish to use (or re-gift). Haha!
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Open Sea Leather hand sews all its leather goods and offers free shipping throughout the US. It’s too late to get a gift guaranteed custom order for Christmas via mail but lots of time for Valentines or other special gifts. They also have some inventory on hand, ready to ship. They have both kangaroo & cow leather. Their website is www.osleather.com. They’re very helpful in customizing your order. 
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My daughter has been using one of these since she started college (2012). She is on maybe her third one. She keeps her ID, credit card, subway pass, a spare $20, laundry card for her building, and any store cards (like CVS). Basically she only pulls out her real wallet from her purse if she needs coins or a lot of cash (so almost never). I feel like I have gotten them for her on sale at certain times (try Amazon or when Vera has their big sale day)
One of my daughters went through a horrible several weeks earlier this year with hives. Thank goodness they finally got under control.
I kept recommending to her a nice Aveeno oatmeal bath. I don’t think she could imagine how that was going to help! An oatmeal bath can feel great for rashes, hives or just dry winter skin.
I ordered a big pack on Amazon and am going to stick a few in all 3 of “my girls” stockings - they all have bathtubs and will enjoy an occasional bath.
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Is anyone familiar with the Kanoodle brainsteaser games? I was looking at the Extreme version as a stocking stuffer…