Kids tell us: Favorite St. Nicholas Day Shoe (& Stocking) Stuffers

St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6^th) is just around the corner, and with it comes the start of the Christmas holiday gift-giving.

Our family always celebrates this day by putting our shoes in front of the fireplace the night before (Dec 5^th). Then, when we wake up on St. Nicholas Day morning, we find small gifts and toys in them from St. Nick (or from mom and dad). Since this feast falls during Advent, when we are preparing for Christ’s birth, my family likes to keep the focus on Jesus by using faith-related gifts that are also little, not too expensive, and don’t overshadow the Big Day to come!

I’ve talked to my siblings (and reviewed the feedback from customers, too), and we’ve put together a list of small toys and games for all ages that are small enough to fit into even the tiniest shoe. Trey has size 13 shoes already…so he could get a big book or something, but the rest of us need much smaller things!

If you want to skip our input and go straight to browse in our store where we’ve put all these things (and more!)–then CLICK HERE. Enjoy!

[NOTE: if you are reading this and it is too late for St Nicholas Day, perhaps these can be stocking stuffers for Christmas? Or little gifts for Epiphany, too?]

What could be better than a stocking stuffer than one that kids want so much that they are willing to buy it themselves?!

By far our best-selling NEW product this year, Catholic Name-It! is the Catholic game you didn’t know you needed!

Your children will learn the names and meanings of Catholic objects and gestures, awakening in them an appreciation for the wonder of our Catholic Faith in the joys all around us and especially in the church and at Holy Mass!

Be warned, Mom & Dad: it’s the young ones that often can quickly spy the match–and blurt the NAME out first!

We have been selling so many of these cute card games over the last month so order soon to ensure St. Nicholas can get it to your house!

Tiny Saints which are SO CUTE! Dad has on his car keys one of the Martin parents (Saints Louis & Zelie Martin), someone else has St Katharine Drexel…just CLICK HERE and browse! A great reminder that we have lots of adopted family members in Heaven just waiting for us to ask them for guidance!

You can pair these with one of our Prayer Pillowcases. (Again, don’t worry: Dad also pulled out the new pillowcases the little girls have asked for! How many different pillowcases do Lillian and Caroline NEED?! Especially when they end up talking instead of sleeping, it seems…)

These charming pillowcases have original artwork of a featured saint or Person of the Trinity, paired with a corresponding prayer. Perfect for any scared-of-the-dark kids, these pillowcases can comfort children at bedtime, as well as help teach traditional Catholic prayers such as the Memorare and Guardian Angel Prayer for when they go to bed or wake-up in the morning. What’s the biggest seller? SAINT MICHAEL!

Several years ago, we gave our youngest, Caroline, the Guardian Angel Pillowcase, and she has insisted on always having it on her bed since! And, of course, Therese has a Saint Therese pillowcase and one other one (email us to ask which one it is–you will never guess!).

Our Matching Game and Name-It! Game are a perfect fit in a shoe for your more competitive children.

Our Catholic Words Memory Match Game includes 52 pairs of cards depicting all sorts of important Catholic items! You can use only a few of the cards for smaller children or use them all when your big kids want a challenge!

Our Works of Mercy Card Game includes four fun games including Old Maid and Go Fish (you can download rules to all four games on our website, and we enclose a printed copy of the rules when you order, too).

The game contains both the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and is best paired with our short Works of Mercy Book (which can be curled up a bit to fit into a shoe—and give kids a lot of good ideas to practice the Works of Mercy during Advent).

We have other little games–CLICK HERE for Catholic games & toys–and a best-selling game that is, well, too big to fit into a shoe, but a fabulous game to play for Advent: The Road to Bethlehem. My mom wrote a blog post about it here. The perfect Christmas-themed board game for the entire family!

CAROLINE’S INPUT: just told me her favorite book is Clare’s Costly Cookie, which definitely fits into a stocking and could fit into a shoe. It is great for girls of reading age up to 12 or 13. When we first got this book years ago, I read it, passed it to Therese who read it, then passed it to Lillian. Fun that now Caroline has picked it up! Also a thought-provoking book for kids during Advent! You can also find the second book in the series HERE.

And perfect for those card players in your family: our Rosary playing cards! A woman wrote us: “Unique! Love that there is an ordinary product that can be made to help remind us of our faith!”

The Queen is (of course!) the Blessed Mother, Queen of Heaven. The King: Jesus! Jacks are Saint Joseph, and the Aces are the Holy Spirit. Each suit represents a different set of mysteries of the Rosary, so for Hearts: Mary is pregnant and Jesus is a child blessing the world! We sell them in two-deck sets (one red and one blue on the backs) for those card games requiring that.

You can find more Catholic board books including A Little Catholic’s Book of Liturgical Colors and When Heaven Comes to Earth—both small enough to fit in a shoe! There is an entire collection of Catholic board books that can be found here.

The Catholic Words Matching Game Set includes 2 decks each composed of 26 pairs of cards. The cards feature a picture of an object used during Mass and the name of the object. These cards are designed to help teach children the names of all the things used during Mass (I’m still learning them, too!). Trey, who has been an Altar Boy for years, recommends these for any beginner Altar Boys.

Our Holy Water Hip Flask is perfect for your older children. These stainless-steel flasks have a handy clip attached which can hook onto any purse, backpack, or belt loop. We also have our Holy Water Keychain for any kids who are on the go (or for anyone who has car keys…). They are both convenient ways for us to have Holy Water always available wherever we go.

Speaking of my dad: here is one last recommendation from him for everyone mid-teens & up. It is PERFECT for the beginning of Advent. It is the How to Make a Good Confession Book. This book explains the theology behind the sacrament of confession and includes an in-depth, 17-page (!) Examination of Conscience which really reinforces how God makes His Will known to us—and how we might sin against that Holy Will (which only wants what is best for us), not just sin against His Laws which He has built into our nature and the world. For younger kids, get our Confession pack here.