Even if you have your gifts all purchased, wrapped and placed under the tree, have you remembered the crucial predecessor to gifts?
Stocking stuffers don’t need to cost much. What’s more important is the ingenuity involved.. Be weird, be wacky, be creative. If your loved one’s stockings are still empty, you still have time to hop around local businesses to find little knickknacks or treats.
SURPRISE SOAPS
At the register of Cinch Art Space, you can find an array of brightly-colored little bars of soap soaps. As you use the soap, you get closer and closer to owning a new toy.
The soaps, which are $4 each, contain model cars, dinosaurs, little cats and unicorns. They’re perfect for children, or the quirky adult in your life.
CARHARTT BEANIE
If you’re stuffing a child’s stocking, consider perusing Homer Men and Boy’s selection of Carhartt beanies. They run for $12 each, and come in a ton of colors and styles.
TREATS
Stocking stuffer treats can be a little more interesting than the grocery store’s candy selection.
Sinfully Sweet Cafe in Homer has all sorts of holiday treats, like specialty fudge, truffles and freeze-dried candies. Their freeze-dried candies also come in specialty packaging, like plastic candy canes in lighting blub-shaped holders, which make them extra perfect for stockings.
Student Deli, 134 Main St., has a ton of popular candies and snacks, in addition to more specialty snacks. You can get little single-serve boxes of cereal like they have at hotels, Japanese Pocky candy, tons of Haribo candies, and retro sour treats, like push-pops and baby bottle pops.
DESKTOP TOYS
Area 51 has an extensive collection of trinkets that would serve as excellent desk decor. The little toys include holiday decor, like a tiny tinsel tree, a light-up Christmas cactus, a “teeny-tiny nativity” and ugly Christmas sweater magnets.
Mini-gifts include tiny puzzles, magnet sets, crosstitch kits or a desktop inflatable wacky tube guy, like you may see at a car dealership. The desktop aquarium comes with magnetic fish that you can make swim.
There are also desktop games, like hand-sized Twister, golf, skateboarding, bowling or boxing. All of these little gifts are around $10, and located near the register.
TINY PURSE
On the topic of desk trinkets, if the person you’re shopping for loves fashion, visit Déjà Vu, the retail area of Global Heart Healing and Massage, 143 Main St. in Cortland. For $8, you can pick out a mini-purse from a selection of decorative bags.
TICKETS
Some people prefer experiences rather than items. Get your person a future date or outing. If they’ve been begging to see “Wicked,” or “Moana 2,” order Crown City Cinemas tickets online, and print them out.
A visit to The 1890 House Museum or a concert at Rose Hall also run about $10-15. It’ll give them something to look forward to after the craziness of the holidays is over, and shows off how good of a listener you are.
JEWELRY
For those who love colorful jewelry, beaded flower bracelets are $9.99 at Déjà Vu. They were handmade in Peru, said owner Jessica Crawford. There is also a selection of handmade earrings for $5 a pair.
CANDLES
Candles are one of the most basic gifts, but the candle itself doesn’t have to be basic. Tammie Whitson, co-owner of Cinch Art Space, 75 E. Court St., hand-pours her candles into repurposed glassware, such as wine glasses, tea cups and banana split dishes.
“I have a passion for reusing things and upcycling,” Whitson said. “They’re affordable, and when you’re done, you can drink out of it, or you can donate it back to Cortland ReUse, and I’ll buy it again.”
The candles range from $6 to $25.
