Christmas is a special time to get together with family and the people we cherish. It’s a time for us to stay home and since we’re staying home, why not decorate our homes to make them look as inviting and festive as possible.

What a nice & comforting way to end the year!

Add some great stockings to step up your Christmas decor game.

Here are some Christmas stocking ideas

Christmas Stocking Images

Unique Christmas stockings can delight your guests and add creativity to your environment.

Elf boot Christmas stockings can be simple or as ornate as a jester’s boot.

These unique Christmas stockings are made of vintage grain sacks, but you can also use linen-cotton toweling fabric to achieve a similar look.

The unique Christmas stockings are made of sarapes, also known as Mexican blankets.

For those fur babies, paw-shaped stockings are fun and quite popular.

And speaking of animals…

How about these shaggy faux fur stockings that you might expect to find in Chewbacca’s home?

Or these teddy bear stockings?

I’m not a big fan of country music, but cowboy boots are respectable. Got any ideas yet?

Why stop at stockings when you can have a whole set of old-fashioned long johns?

Last but not least, if you’re more into 8 nights of presents than Christmas, know that Channukah stockings are a thing!

Personalized Christmas Stockings with Monograms & Initials

If you have multiple stockings hanging above the fireplace, it may be necessary to differenitiate them with nametags, monograms or first initials.

Often, this can be done at the factory or the retailer. But sometimes it needs to be done by the customer.

There aren’t a lot of easy ways to do it, but here are some options:

Embroidery. You may have or find a machine that can embroider the name or initial onto the body of the stocking. Your stocking also may have a cuff that can fold up and down. In this case, it may be easier to embroider onto the cuff.
Iron-on. Depending on the material of your stocking, you may be able to iron-on a pre-made letter patch onto your stocking.
Hand Stitching. Although it’s not as convenient, you can hand stitch, or even hand-embroider, a letter or monogram onto the stocking.
Stenciling. While this may not look as professional, you can try to use spray fabric paint as a last resort. Purchase pre-made stencils and mask off for overspray. Or, use the stencils as a template to create a larger stencil out of masking paper (much wider than masking tape).

Christmas Stocking Display Ideas

Now that you’ve made (or bought) your Christmas stocking, the next step will be display.

There are three primary ways of displaying Christmas stockings.

Christmas Stocking Fireplace Display

The first, and most traditional, is to hang your stockings on the mantle, over your fireplace. This is usually accomplished using a variety of mantle holders.

Stocking Hooks. There are a variety of flat-wire hooks available as hangers for your mantle. Most of these are S-shaped hangers that cleverly balance the stocking over the ledge of the mantle. there are also some that work as clips – hugging the ledge of the mantle (if you have one the right size).

Weighted Stocking Hangers. If you’re anticipating a heavy load of gifts, the weighted mantle holder might be right for you. It’s a heavy piece of metal with a hook on it that sits on your mantle.