Stocking stuffers under $10

The stocking has one requirement the main gift does not: it has to be small, and it has to be interesting before the coffee is finished. Nothing is worse than a stocking full of things that get set aside by nine in the morning.

What earns its place

• A mini articulated piece. It is small enough to fit, and it keeps working after December.
• A single figurine that matches something they already own.
• A tiny piece for a pet owner who has a collection of animal objects on their desk.

What does not

Avoid anything that needs a second purchase to be useful, and avoid anything that is a smaller version of a gift they are already getting. Duplicates read as an accident even when they were deliberate.

A stocking stuffer should survive past breakfast.

Order stocking pieces early. Every studio in the country is at its busiest in the first two weeks of December, and small orders are the first to slip.