Best stocking filler toys and ideas for kids 2025
These are the best stocking fillers for kids this Christmas, from teen bath bomb sets to hot wheels, Barbie and so much more.
Right, so Santa's sorted the big-item presents (or is working on it) but what fun little toys are going to get stuffed in those Christmas stockings?
Unpacking their stocking is often the first thing your child rushes to do on Christmas morning – usually quite a few hours earlier than you were hoping for.
So, among the little reindeer socks, the chocolate coins and the regulation satsuma at the bottom, it’s wise to stash your child's stocking with some well-chosen, pocket-sized toys that'll keep them happy and busy while you stagger out of bed and find your festive sparkle.
We've scouted the shelves for great stocking filler toys for toddlers to preteens – in a range of prices – looking for the ones that really stand out for play potential and value for money.
You might also want to check out our must-have toys for Christmas, or the best kids advent calendars and best teen advent calendars.
Best stocking filler toys at a glance
- Kids Pirates Tattoos, £1.79
- Yoto Cards, from £1.99
- Make Your Own Strawberry Bracelet, £3.60
- Hot Wheels 5-Car Pack Assortment, £4
- SnoBall Battle Pack, £4.99
- Character Options Simbrix Alphabrix Pack, £4.99
- Kids Versus Adults Trivia Game, £5
- Sticki Rolls Sticki Bands, £5
- Wild Wonders Felt Tip Stamp Pens, £6.95
- Disney Stitch 13cm Plush Soft Toy, £7
- Scented Jumbo Pots of Dough, £7
- Kinetic Sand Project Planet Turtle Beach Playset, £7.50
- Tonies, £8.99
- Squishmallows Original Micromallows 4-Pack, from £9.99
- MGA's Miniverse Make It Mini Food, £9.99
- Sea-Monkeys Ocean Zoo, £10
- Soap & Glory Three For All Body Wash Trio, £10
- Sylvanian Families multi-pack, from £11
- LOL Surprise! Limited Edition Hello Kitty Mystery Capsule, £11
- Instant Air Hockey, £13
- Asmodee Dobble Harry Potter, £14
- Mattel UNO Spin Game, £16.99
- Noodoll, £23
- Wicked Small Doll Multipack, £24.99
Best stocking filler toys for kids to buy this Christmas
1. Tonies, from £8.99
Available at: Tonies
Age suitability: 3+
Like Yoto Cards, Tonies are a lovely idea for filling up your child's stocking. Not only are they small well-made characters for your child to play with, but they also tell a story, sing songs and more when plugged into a Toniebox or the brand-new Toniebox 2.
2. Sylvanian Families multi-pack, from £11
Available at: Selfridges and The Entertainer
Age suitability: 3+
First created in 1985, Sylvanian Families are back! Appealing to children and adults alike, these adorable figures had a +228% increase in sales last year. Perhaps most appealing about them is the range on offer, from otters to bears and so much more.
3. Sticki Rolls Sticki Bands, £5
Available at: The Works
Age suitability: 5+
Sticki Rolls were a huge hit last year. Every Sticki Roll on your bracelet has 10 holographic mini stickers that you can pull, tear and share! 70 total stickers in every pack, each with different cute, Kawaii characters.
4. Kids Pirates Tattoos, £1.79
Available at: Kid Collective
Age suitability: 3+
Ahoy! Why not give your child the chance to play pirate for the day with these temporary tattoos? You'll get 2 sheets of swashbuckling designs and they're super easy to apply and remove.
5. Yoto Cards, from £1.99
Available at: Yoto
Age suitability: 3+
Yoto Cards are the perfect little present to put in the bottom of your child's stocking. There are hundreds of stories, lessons, and songs to choose from and each one comes with a unique pixelated design that will display on the front of your Yoto Player. Check out the best new Yoto Cards for more.
6. Scented Jumbo Pots of Dough, £7
Available at: The Works
Age suitability: 3+
Let their creativity blossom with this 10-pack of dough, each coming in a soft pastel colour, or the bright rainbow alternative.
7. Make Your Own Strawberry Bracelet, £3.60
Available at: Kid Collective
Age suitability: 3+
Perfect for little crafters, this strawberry bracelet kit has an easy to thread elastic and a tonne of colourful beads, including three wooden strawberries.
8. Wicked Small Doll Multipack, £24.99
Available at: Very
Age suitability: 4+
You can re-enact the entire Wicked movie with this pack of five mini dolls, they are: Glinda, Elphaba, Nessarose, Fiyero and Boq.
9. Kinetic Sand Project Planet Turtle Beach Playset, £7.50
Available at: The Entertainer
Age suitability: 5+
Grab your tools and dig through this Kinetic Sand capsule to find a secret turtle inside. You'll also find a mould hidden in the lid to create shapes with the satisfying sand.
10. LOL Surprise! Limited Edition Hello Kitty Mystery Capsule, £11
Available at: The Entertainer and Amazon
Age suitability: 4+
L.OL Surprise! has partnered with Hello Kitty to produce eight adorable characters. Best of all, you won't know which one you've got until the Mystery Capsule is opened, with plenty of accessories and treats included.
11. Kids Versus Adults Trivia Game, £5
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: 8+
Challenge the family to a round of kids vs adults and watch the competition begin! The two teams will go head to head to answer quick thinking lightning round questions, half of them for adults and half of them for kids. It's perfect for helping everyone to feel included.
12. Rex London - Wild Wonders Felt Tip Stamp Pens, £6.95
Available at: Kid Collective
Age suitability: 3+
This is so much more than a pack of felt tip pens. Inside each one is a signature stamp to match the colour of the pen. There are 18 colours and stamps to go through, making it perfect for some creative downtime.
13. Disney Stitch 13cm Plush Soft Toy, £7
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: From birth
Stitch is set to be one of the hottest toy characters this Christmas, to this titchy 13cm version is the ideal stocking stuffer.
14. MGA's Miniverse Make It Mini Food, £9.99
Available at: The Entertainer and Amazon
Age suitability: 8+
The Miniverse Make It Mini Food capsules are hugely popular thanks to how interactive and detailed they are. Inside each capsule is the ingredients to make a surprise meal, like cake or a stack of pancakes. You'll get the basic pieces, as well as sprinkles and packets of gel or slime for the icing, plus a way to proudly display it afterwards.
15. Mattel UNO Spin Game, £16.99
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: 7+
This version of UNO includes new spin cards that requires the player to spin the wheel and follow whatever action it lands on. Different spin powers include Colour Draw, Swap Hands, Colour Discard and so much more.
16. Soap & Glory Three For All Body Wash Trio, £10
Available at: Boots
Soap & Glory is a great brand for teens with a growing interest in wash and make-up products. This set contains 3 body washes: rose & bergamot, coconut & vanilla and tropical fruits & hibiscus.
17. Asmodee Dobble Harry Potter, £14
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: 6+
Dobble is an easy, fun matching card game which can last for hours thanks to the many different rounds to play. This one in particular, is great for Harry Potter fans as all the images have a distinctly magical twist.
18. Squishmallows Original Micromallows 4-Pack, from £9.99
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+
If you thought Squishmallows were cute, just you wait until you see these 2-inch Micromallows. Each pack has 4 Mallows in, like this one which has Irina the Axolotl, Tabitha the Tabby Cat, Tex the Taco, and Gordon the Shark.
19. Instant Air Hockey, £13
Available at: Prezzy Box
- Age suitability: 5+
- Batteries: 2 x AAA (not included)
Once Christmas dinner is over and the plates are all cleared, what exactly is stopping you from converting the table into an instant air hockey set? The hockey puck cleverly floats in mid air, the paddles have felt bottoms and the goals stick to the table with suction cups, so you don't have to worry about any damage.
20. Character Options Simbrix Alphabrix Pack, £4.99
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 5+
If you’re looking for a gift for the creative in your house, then the colourful Simbrix construction range is a great place to start. The simple interlocking pieces come in a wide array of colours and can be arranged into almost any 2D or 3D pattern your child can dream up.
21. SnoBall Battle Pack, £4.99
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+
Want more of the white stuff? Here's how to get some – without the cold fingers! Each pack contains 4 sachets of Gelli Snow powder that you mix with water to create mouldable 'snow'. The mixture is stain-free and 100% degradable powder and each 20g sachet contains enough to make around 15 snowballs.
22. Hot Wheels 5-Car Pack Assortment, £4
Available at: The Works
Age suitability: 3+
These 1:64-scale die-cast toy cars have sporty detailing, bright paintwork and are all slightly different, meaning you can build up a grand collection. And 5 cars for under £1 each really is great value, as all our child testers' parents agreed.
23. Sea-Monkeys Ocean Zoo, £10
Available at: The Entertainer
Age suitability: 6+
This is a cleverly designed little aquarium in which you can watch Sea Monkey eggs hatch and grow. The Sea Monkeys take about 3 days to hatch and the set includes a water purifier, a food pouch, a feeding spoon and nice, clear instructions. Once they hatched, you can continue to feed them and watch them grow and take care of them.
24. Noodoll, £23
Available at: Selfridges
Age suitability: from birth
These adorable little teddies were inspired by the shapes of rice grains and noodles, and started life as a storybook character. Now, they're available to buy in a range of outfits and designs, from dinosaurs to rice pudding.
Tips for filling kids' Christmas stockings
The MFM Team have several years of stocking-filling under our belts, and here are our top tips for success:
Focus on fun: Fillers needn’t be expensive or fancy, as for many children (especially those with additional gifts under the tree), opening the stocking is as much fun as playing with the contents.
Guess the contents! Include a mix of gifts of different sizes and shapes to create an intriguing series of lumps and bumps, and encourage your children to guess what might be inside before they unpack it.
Bulk is best: A packet of their favourite popcorn or crisps, or a fun bubble bath, can be a great way to fill up a stocking without spending a fortune solely on small toys.
Build in breakfast: If they plan to open their stockings before breakfast, pop in some fruit, raisins or a cereal bar to line their tummies before the chocfest begins (hey, we can try, right!)
Spread the cost: Adding a small item to your basket when buying more expensive presents can spread the Christmas cost, as well as avoiding extra paying P&P for each stocking filler you buy.
Dial up the Christmas: Stockings are great for small, Christmas-themed gifts like chocolate tree decorations (if you hang them before they big day, they'll probably just get eaten) and festive socks or slipper socks.
Don't overthink it: Inserting a theme or code into your stocking filler wrapping paper choices is more trouble than it's worth. They probably won't notice, and you'll have given yourself a lot of work for no reason.
How did we choose our 24 of the Best?
When testing and selecting the stocking fillers we considered playability, opening experience, what's inside and value.
Our 10 of the Best lists are compiled by qualified and experienced parenting journalists. They rely on a number of sources, including our independent reviews, testing undertaken during the MadeForMums Awards, and feedback from our home testing panel and Top Testers Club. Each year thousands of products are put through their paces by hundreds of parents across the country on behalf of MadeForMums, to ensure we’re bringing you honest and true reviews and recommendations.
Our list is not an ordered ranking from 1-10, instead it is a carefully selected group of tried-and-tested products, each of which we believe is best for a different situation or requirement. We don't just tell you what is best, we help you discover what is best for your family.
We've more top toys, all tested and rated by parents and children including Top Christmas toys – for all ages, Best toys for 2 year olds and Best toys for 3 year olds.