Personalized Gift Ideas by Stocking Factory

We get lots of calls from customers who previously purchased our personalized Christmas stockings during previous seasons, looking for the same Christmas stocking, wanting to add one or two more.  Often a customer cannot find the matching Christmas stocking because we no longer have it in stock.

I looked around the web and retail stores and could not find a single vendor who would provide an information on the availability of the stocking they currently sell for the future years.  So here we go, we are the first Christmas stocking shop to address this very valid customer need for this important information.

Most Christmas stocking retailers do not manufacture their own inventory and thus are dependent  on the manufacturer for their next holiday season inventory.  If you plan to buy a set of Christmas stockings anywhere, ask the sales person if they will have the same stocking next year.  Most likely the answer would be: “I don’t know” or “Probably not”.  Perhaps you have already gone through an effort to try to find a same stocking your bought 3 years ago and most likely could not find it at the same retailer.

Matching personalized Christmas stockings.

That’s where we are different.  One of the reasons we begun to manufacture our own stockings was the need to provide our customers with the same or similar personalized Christmas stocking they bought from us few years back.  It just makes sense when you care about your customers.

When you spend a part of your Christmas decorating budget on purchasing Christmas stockings, have them personalized, it is a good idea to think ahead :

• Is your family going to grow in the next few years?
• Are you planning to have another child?
• Is your daughter or son going to get engaged or married?
• Will your family members visit you for Christmas; and if so, do you want to add a Christmas stocking with their name on it?
• Are your parents or grandparents visiting for Christmas?  Having a personalized Christmas stocking for them might be an unexpected and welcome surprise.  Finding a stocking that would match the set you already have might prove a challenge.

Those are the situations we most often hear about from our customers, when they call in looking to match a Christmas stocking they previously purchased in our online store.

Considering that your family might grow in the near future will save you lots of effort trying to find and match the Christmas stocking set that you already have.

We have many different Christmas stocking designs in our store: some we manufacture or have manufactured for us every year so there is a good chance that you will be able to buy a set of personalized Christmas stockings in that design this year and find a matching one 3 years from now.  Other stockings are sourced by us from other vendors and factories.  In that situation, we do not have control if the supplier will carry the same Christmas stocking design into the next season.  There are many reasons for the particular Christmas stocking design not being available the following year:

• All Christmas manufacturers follow new trends in Christmas decorating and introduce new styles for their products.   With a new style introduction, previous years’ models get retired.
• The materials and fabrics that were available previous season to the Christmas manufacturer may not be available this year, thus the factory is forced to change the existing design.
• That particular design did not sell as many units as other designs so it is being replaced by another Christmas stocking that sells better.

We have a mix of Christmas stocking designs that change from one season to another and also maintain designs that remain relatively same so our customers can match the stockings from previous seasons.  Sometimes, however, the fabric suppplier no longer manufactures the exactly same color shade or composition of the material used in the manufacturing of the Christmas stocking, so in spite of our effort to maintain the same stocking design for our customers, we are left with no choice  but to accept a design that is similar but not identical to the previous seasons’ stockings.

Starting in August 2009 we will enhance our online catalog displaying all of our stockings with additional information that will provide you with the likelyhood of our maintaining the same design/model of the Christmas stocking into the next year.    Each Christmas stocking description will contain the information if the stocking is likely to be available next year or not.  This will help you to make educated purchase decision when it comes to future planning for matching your Christmas stockings as your family grows.

Based on the Christmas stockings you like in our online catalog, you can either choose a set of the personalized Christmas stockings that match, or design “missmatched” set.

If you purchase a matching set and our product information page indicates that the likelyhood of our bringing the same stocking into inventory in the future years is low, we suggest that you might purchase extra one or more or more blank stockings from the same inventory so you can add to your set as your family grows.  We would be happy to personalize your stocking with consistent personalizing in ebmroidery that matches the set you already have.  Usually we ask you for the original purchase information, such as your name and address or an order number so we could locate the original order in our records and match the embroidery names with the original.  You would send us the blank stocking with a payment for personalizing only and the shipping cost for priority mail USPS and we will add personalizing to the blanks for you and ship them back promptly.  Yjos provides our customers with a nice way to keep the set of personalized Christmas stockings consistent as their family grows.

Another way of dealing with matching your Christmas stockings as your family expands is not matching them at all.  If you have a set that seemingly does not match, then you will have no problem adding a different stocking to the mix in the future holiday seasons.  If you decide for this option, you can still do some matching, for example you can choose all stockings to be same or similar size.  We mainly sell 18″, 19″, 20″ or larger Christmas stockings.   You can see a tip section on how to measure a Christmas stocking.  The 18″, 19″, 20″ Christmas stocking sizes are the most popular, because they are the perfect size for display while they fit enought of stocking stuffers.

We hope this enhancement to our online catalog will result in overall savings and better customers satisfaction.  If you have additional comments and suggestions on this topic please feel free to leave your comments in the comments area on the bottom of this page.

We get a lot of requests to help our customers with ideas for Christmas Stocking stuffers.  We scout the internet year round for helpful ideas so here is a short list to help you.  Let’s start with some Christmas stocking stuffers on a budget:

• Build up a small gift stash discovering nice items on sale year round.  If you have some room in a cabinet or extra closet space, it can become a gift stash where you accumulate small gifts bought on sale during the year.
• Stick with generic gifts, those can come in handy when your child brings a birthday party invitation last minute and you do not have the time to go hunting for a gift.
• Some generic gift ideas for kids may include board games, picture books, art supplies, puzzles, science kits.
• Family members will appreciate a photo frame with their picture or a picture of your family, especially if the picture is current.  A picture frame for $3.50 on sale with a photo is one of those gifts that very goes a long way on very small cost.
• The key is to plan ahead.
• Don’t buy clearance items just because they are on sale.  Give it some thought.  Allocate the item to a specific person or occasion, if possible: Father’s Day, Stocking Stuffer for a Child, birthday gift for a child, office Christmas party gift exchange,… you can keep track of your categories with an inventory sheet so you do not overbuy for one area while having the other empty.  It is a good idea to keep the inventory sheet with the gifts, just tack it on the wall in the same area where you keep the gift stash.
• How often do your kids ask you to buy them this and that which they see advertised on TV or on various websites?  If you have it in the budget, you can buy the gift now but hide it with your stash and gift it to them for an occasion such as Birthday or Christmas.
• Add some often used items to your Christmas Stocking stuffer stash: rechargeable batteries, blank cds, memory cards,  accesory or expansion module for their favorite game or gadget.
• If there is still space in the Christmas stocking, some candies or a favorite food that won’t spoil may fill the rest of the space.
• Don’t forget to have the Christmas stocking personalized.  We have a nice guide how to personalize  a Christimas stocking , if you are the crafty type.  Or you can order personalized Christmas stockings from our online store.  Our stockings are personalized in beatifull embroidery.

Christmas is the special time of a year when many families enjoy decorating their house to get into the spirit of the season.

When you think Christmas Stockings, you would naturally envision them on the fireplace mantle.  Did you know that fireplace and a Christmas stocking traditions are closely related?  You can read up on the history of Christmas stockings. A fireplace mantle is an ideal (and the most traditional) place to display your Christmas stockings because it is usually the focal place of your living room.  The mantle can be further decorated with garland, candles, Christmas figurines and collectibles and even a Christmas train.

Do not forget the Stocking Holders.  If you plan to place lot of stocking stuffers in your Christmas Stockings, remember the stockings will be rather heavy, so you want to get a heavy stocking holder.  If you have a light stocking holder, it will tip over as you place the stocking stuffers in the stockings.  A stocking holder also called a stocking hanger should have a nice large hook, not a tiny one.  A large hook assures the stocking will not tip over when filled with lots of heavy stocking stuffers.

But what if you do not have a fireplace?  No problem, we do not have one either.  We have giant glass door panels in our living room with a metal drapery rod to darken the room when we watch a movie.  So one of our kids invented a clever way to place our Christmas stockings on hooks spaced evenly on the courtain rod.  It looked great and it became a tradition.

You can be creative decorating with Christmas stockings even if you do not have a fireplace.

• We have seen people placing their stocking hangers on window mantel.
• You can also find a free standing floor stocking hanger or improvise with tower holders and hooks available in hardware stores.  You can use those items for the rest of the year in their traditional settings.
• Find a decorative ladder available in folk art / gift / decorator stores / online.  These ladders are not designed to climb on, they are rather just that: decorative ladder.  If you can find one, buy it and set it against a blank wall, then you can hang your Christmas stockings there.  If you cannot find one in local stores, you may just as well make one.  Use some twigs and wire to tie the ladder together.
• Another cool way to place your stockings is to clear one of the wall shelves and hang your Christmas stockings on the invisible hooks right under the shelf and then decorate the shelf with other Christmas decorations, such as presents, candles, decorative boxes, Nutcrackers or Christmas village houses…. or a Christmas train.  This creates a Christmas ambiance focal point in your living room out of what used to be just a regular book or knick knack shelf.
• Don’t forget the coat hanger!  Especially the wall mouted ones are good candidates to display your holiday stocking.
• If you have a staircase to an upper floor, you may want to hang your Christmas stockings on the banister and decorate around them with a Christmas garlands and ribbons.
• 
• One year we placed our stuffed stockings right under the Christmas tree, just stood them up surrounding the whole tree.
• You can also utilize your cabinet knobs.  If you have a wall unit in your living room, experiment with the look of Christmas stockings hung from it’s cabinet knobs.
• An empty wall space may also work.  You can purchase a removable 3M wall hooks from any hardware store, they also make these hooks in many decorator colors to match your wall and color scheme.  You can hang the stockings directly on the hooks or you can create a wall theme, using a ribbon, garland branches attached to a rope or wire ribbon and then attach the stockings to it ( think clothesline setup ).
• A dresser or a curio may be another good candidate to hang your Christmas stockings.  Use it’s knobs or place your stocking holders on top of the dresser and compliment with other Christmas decorations such as garland and ribbons.
• Hang your Christmas stockings off top of your bookcase or a TV stand
• Uses suction cups and hang them from your glass sliding doors or windows which looks adorable from the inside and outside
• A  shelf with pegs works just great for this purpose.
• You can hang the Christmas stockings from the ceiling.

With little immagination, you can turn your ordinary space into Christmas Oasis.

It may be more difficult for a shopper to find a large selection of Christmas stockings or Christmas ornaments this year.  It takes some planning to get your Christmas shopping done without stress and without breaking your bank.  Many major retailers are placing their holiday orders with caution now and this will probably result in a lesser selection of Christmas decorations on the market for 2009 season.  According to this article :

Factories abroad “are on edge,” said Josh Green, chief executive of Panjiva, which tracks U.S. Customs data on shipments by global suppliers to the United States. One in four major Chinese manufacturers shipped less than half as much to U.S. customers in November through January than they did a year earlier, he said.

Determined not to repeat last year’s holiday season, when retailers amassed so much stock they offered rampant discounts to clear it out, they are leaning toward more practical and lower-priced items.

And they’re cutting holiday inventory 5 percent to 10 percent from last year’s levels and perhaps 20 percent at luxury stores, said Craig R. Johnson, president of consulting group Customer Growth Partners.

Call us crazy but we are doing the exact opposite, we are ordering more Christmas items  and in larger quantities than ever to offer our personalized Christmas stockings  at the best price possible, without suffering from inventory shortages.

Early Bird gets the worm! In our store, the best selection of Christmas stockings is always between July and the end of November.  That’s when we bring in fresh inventories and are stocked well for the upcoming holiday season.  As everyone begins to shop, some of our items sell out, no matter how many we bring in – so if you see a Christmas stocking you like, grab it right away.

You will see most discounts and best promotions during the off-season : from January through July.  The closer to Christmas, the busier we get and as we reach our capacity in personalizing and shipping our Christmas Stockings and Christmas Ornaments, we are not able to provide additional discounts and sales because we would not be able to keep up with the demand and ship on time.

So if you find a Christmas stocking or personalized Christmas ornament in our store during the off-season and want to save money, it is a good idea to make the purchase right away.  You will avoid the stress of Christmas rush and most likely score the best price of the season.  You are invited to preview our large selection of Christmas Stockings on Sale.

Just strolling through the web, I accidentally stumbled onto a nice site that lets you do lot of your Christmas or any sort of shopping online and gather your shopping wish lists and ’shopcast’.  On the first look it looks like a cool widget site and it is entirely enjoyable.

Classic, elegant, custom embroidered with a name. Velvet materials, fully lined for that heirloom quality. The bling is added with a metallic gold rope trim and metallic gold thread embroidery stitch to personalize the stocking with a custom touch. (via Personalized Stockings)

The above is a little ’shopcast’ code from the site, the site is called ThisNext and I bet it will save you time doing all your Christmas shopping this Season.

Aside from all the widgets to make your life easier, ThisNext has Watch People Shop which kept me entertained for a while… What will be next? Can I go virtually Christmas shop with a friend of mine from across the country?

We often get calls from our customers asking what is the correct way to measure their Christmas stockings at home so they can buy additional ones to match.

Take a look at the picture of these Christmas stockings here.  We pictured out 16″ and out 18″ classic Christmas stocking.

The correct way to measure your Christmas stockings is from the top right hand corner where the hanger loop is atached diagonally down across the stocking to the toe of the bootie.

So a stocking described in our store as 18″ Christmas stocking measures 18″ diagonally as outlined above and in our illustration.  This will help you choose the right size of your Christmas stockings to match those you already have. 

Most popular size of Christmas Stocking:  the 19″ and the 18″ holiday stocking is our most popular size.

If you would like to try your hand at personalizing your own stocking, here is how to make personalized Christmas stocking:

Personalize your Christmas Stocking with glue and glitter:

SUPPLIES

Iron-on letters can be bought around Christmas time in many craft or Christmas Stores. Some stores even carry a stocking that includes a set of iron on letters. Simply select the letters and arrange on the stocking and iron on.

Glitter and Glue Technique is the most popular way to personalize Christmas Stockings..

• There are Glitter and Glue Pens available in many Craft stores in various colors and sizes.

• We personally prefer using a separate glue bottle and sprinkling on the glitter after the name is written in the glue. This technique will give you best looking writing since the glitter shine is not dulled by the glue as the glitter is on top of the glue – not mixed with the glue. We use small Elmers paper glue bottles. Elmers paper glue is non toxic, soluble in water and dries clear. Glitter is available in most craft stores in many colors and sizes. Pick the smallest size of the glitter you can find. By size we mean the size of the glitter square. The smaller the glitter speck, the nicer the final product looks. With larger glitter specks the letter appear bulky and lack the smooth flow as well as shine.

HOW TO:

If you never personalized Christmas Stockings before, it is a good idea to :

• Practice on other material
  • First so you may want to get the feel for the flow of the glue and right size of the lettering . The secret to a good looking inscription on your stocking or a hat is SYMMETRY. The writing looks good if it is positioned in the center of an area and written in a neat way so the letters are same size, width, direction.• Our expert writer recommends taking a paper towel or any soft kind of paper. Fold it so you would have approximately same space area as it would be on your stocking or a hat. Than take your glue bottle or glitter pen and try writing. You’ll see… first time your glue might not flow properly… so adjust your glue flow opening and pressure. By practicing on the paper, your stocking or a hat will be spared the first attempt mistakes.• You may also take a pencil and outline your letters on the paper first. Once your practice letters look good on the paper, it’s time to —
• Try writing on the stocking.• If you write on the white part of the stocking, you may outline the name by a pencil and then just follow your outline with a glue. If your background is of dark color, use chalk (sewing shops have chalks that write on fabric). Then just follow your outline with a glue.• Some stocking fabrics are made from textured material with lot of threads on the materials’ surface. Your glue pen will drag the thread and most likely smudge the glue in other directions. To prevent this from happening Try to: Keep the glue tip Clean! If the glue tip has extra glue it catches the fabric threads and drags the threads with it. Keep your tip slightly above the fabric material… the glue will lay onto the fabric and your tip will not touch the threads. Use even pressure on the glue bottle to even out the flow of the glue.
• There is a special way to write some letters• To write “e”, “l”, “k”, “h” or any letters having a loop if you choose to hand script your names. Here is a small illustration how to prevent smudging of your loops:

Use the special way, if you can; not crossing the loops will prevent smudging or closing of the loop and the final effect looks the same. This technique is good for all letters with loops, such as e, l, h, k, b, f. If you used Elmer’s paper glue and messed up…. check if your stocking is washable… if yes, simply submerge the are with glue in cold water and the glue will dissolve…. be careful, do not rub the area so the material texture would not get damaged. If the writing on your stocking looks good,

The final step

• Sprinkle your written word with glitter, turn the stocking face down (use a newspaper or a pan underneath the stocking), shake off the excess glitter- and your personalized stockings are done!

• Make sure to read your glue’s directions for drying times and let the product dry for sufficient time so your masterpiece does not get smudged after all that effort went into it.

Personalize your Christmas Stockings with Alphabet Beads

Think alphabet or letter beads! Personalizing your stockings this way is easy and fun. You can buy alphabet beads online, just search Google for Letter Beads, and you will find lots of stores who sell them.

Get enough letters to cover your whole family and get some spare ones because there will be new people joining your family in the future and you want to make sure you have the opportunity to personalize stocking for them as well…. or if you want to, you can get nice mix of the letter alphabet beads so if in the future you need to personalize more Christmas stockings for the growing family, buying different name beads will fit into the intended design.

Google will help you find some really fancy beads alphabet beads or you can go for nice ceramic letter beads, we found a good source at CraftAmerica

Once your alphabet beards arrive,  simply string them onto a nice string: those gold or Christmas metallic red or green ropes that are used to hang Christmas ornaments or wrap Christmas presents may be perfect fit and usually available in spools in Christmas Giftwrap or Bow and Ribbon section in your store.

Finally you just attach the name on the string to your stocking (you can use tiny safety pins if you do not want to permanently attach the name string to the stocking by stitching ) and your personalized stockings are ready to hang on the fireplace.

Christmas stockings personalized in embroidery:

Embroidering your own Christmas stockings is for experts only if you do hand embroidering. If you have an embroidery machine, you can personalize most stockings that have a space for the name on the stocking cuff, providing your embroidery machine can get inside of the stocking without sewing the stocking together. You can also take your blank stockings to an embroidery store nearby and ask if they would put names on your stockings. Most embroidery shops prefer not to do embroidery on customer’s items simply because if something goes wrong while embroidering them, they have no way of replacing your stocking with another one from their stock.

If you like personalized stockings by embroidery or monogramming – you can check out our Christmas Stocking selection. We have posted just a few featured products here  but our store has a wide selection of Christmas stockings that can be personalized in embroidery script or block.
Here is a little widget to list through our Personalized Christmas Stockings

Creativity is a key

to make your Company Christmas Party

a memorable experience…

Every year we get lots of requests to help out with hints and tips on how to plan a Company Christmas Party. So we have gathered our resources to provide you with lots of ideas to make this year’s holiday party safe, fun and memorable experience for you and your co-workers. These ideas are designed for both large companies with great budgets as well as small businesses with minimum resources.

Don’ts

Do not focus your energy solely on the buffet, thinking food is what draws workers to the Christmas parties, the attendance will drop off because those parties are predictable.

The most deadly type of holiday party is a sit-down dinner at the boss’s house, which often has a pressure-filled conservative atmosphere. Try having a different entertainment each year. Holiday party hosts can play a major role in keeping their friends and families safe by looking at alternatives to alcoholic beverages. There are a few common sense rules that should be followed when hosting a holiday party. If alcohol is going to be served at a party, this Safe Holiday Party Guide will give you a few pointers when planning an event.

Organize & Prepare

You can start by sending out the invitations with a note included that there will be a prize for the person that decks out in the most Christmas gear. This can include anything from a Christmas costume to guests wearing garments that display cheerful holiday clothing, jewelry, hats, or anything that their imagination can dream up. The person that shows up to your party that is voted by all as wearing the “best dressed” Christmas outfit wins a wrapped gift of their choice from the gift table.

You can have a designated receptionist announce the names of each new arrival, crown them with a Santa hat with their name, while reading something humorous about them. This works great especially at large Corporate parties when customers or large number of employees participate and not everyone knows each other. First names on Santa Hats work much better than name badges and the hats then double as party favors everyone gladly takes home.

But the energy of the party starts with the invitations…. or Christmas Greeting cards… one of our customers had a great idea to take a picture of all employees in Santa hats, personalized with employees names and use the postcard as a corporate Christmas card as well as Christmas party invitation for their customers. The Hats were then saved for the holiday party gala.

Entertainment:

Make sure you have some fun program with games and activities for your Holiday Party. Our holiday party activity guide has many Christmas party games to spruce up the event. Also make sure you have some great Christmas Party music. Most Christmas CD’s on the market are geared towards slow tunes, not much of a Party time material, so we have compiled some really original Christmas party tunes that will make you a star Christmas party DJ! If you head over to our MySpace page, we have some really cool Christmas music there. You need to click on the MENU button to move around the playlist: lots of fun Christmas mixes and remixes to choose from!

If you like this Christmas party music mix - You can play it at your Christmas Party! Just head over to our MySpace where you can find info on our blog how to save these songs on your computer and use your laptop to DJ your Christmas Party. …. and don’t forget to say high there!

Party Favors

Also, don’t forget to wrap the party up with a take-home gift party favor, such as a personalized stocking or a custom logo Christmas stocking with a gift certificate, a turkey or even an ornament with the company logo.

Those custom imprint Christmas Stockings with your company logo are perfect decorations in the Christmas partry room and then when it’s time to leave you can give the stockings with Christmas bonus checks or Gift Certificates to your employees and some fun goodies like Company Logo ornaments for your customers and guests.

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We have a fun area where you can upload your logo and design your logo ornament online. These make an awesome favor for all the guests at your Christmas Party.
Resources: Our Favorite Christmas Party Games Safe Holiday Party Guide with drink recipes Personalized Santa Hats Personalized Stockings Custom Christmas Ornaments Corporate LOGO Christmas Stockings	Finally, gather as many pictures from the party as possible, post them on the company bulletin board or a corporate website so the employees can share the experience with their families, customers or anyone who missed the party. We’d love to hear from you, you can post your comments and ideas here

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