Items Only a Southerner Would Get in Their Christmas Stocking

These stocking stuffers are even sweeter when made by Mama. Southerners are known for gifting their homemade canned goods—jams, jellies, preserves, and all the rest from the year’s harvests—in the season’s Christmas stockings. It’s usually a jar of a Southern classic, and it may just be something you can only find in the South, like mayhaw jelly.

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Don’t mess with the classics. Church and Junior League cookbooks are the gifts that keep on giving. There are some time-tested treasures (like Charleston Receipts) that we pass on to everyone we know, but every region has its favorites, and they make their way to the stockings on Christmas morning.

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Oh, Moon Pies. This Southern-made treat always sneaks into Southern Christmas stockings—and for good reason. Whether classic, mini, double-decker, chocolate, banana, salted caramel, or vanilla, we love our celestial sweets.

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Southerners are notorious for filling stockings with heartfelt gifts that will make the recipient well with emotion—like a tea towel inscribed with a loved ones’ hand writing, a baking dish personalized with a secret family recipe, or jewelry with sentimental value. They’re heirlooms in the making.

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Do cheese straws make you think of Christmas? Have you ever received a tin of them in your stocking? It’s a super Southern gift that’s oh-so festive. (And oh-so special when they’re homemade. Let us help you learn to make them yourself this year.)

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Sure, football season just ended, but it wouldn’t be Christmas if our stockings were bereft of our school colors. Gear from our favorite schools and teams are fair game—hats, t-shirts, coolers, anything we can look forward to using once tailgating season rolls around again. (But of course we’ll also be wearing it in the meantime.)

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Products from the Southern harvest find their way into Christmas stockings, especially pecans. Whether roasted, salted, spiced, or covered in chocolate, they’re always a welcome sight on Christmas morning.

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Who says you can’t include glassware (or silver cups) in a stocking? Southerners are good at gifting what their loved ones want and what they need. Even better when you can check both boxes with the same gift. A set of mint julep cups is a want and a need. Why? Because we’re all already looking forward to the Derby.

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Receiving tea as a gift is something we have in common with our neighbors in the U.K. Most Southerners’ tea philosophy, though, is the sweeter the better. And it’s even better if it’s made in Alabama, like this absolutely delicious tea is.

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Receiving some sort of sauce or spice is a cheeky tradition in some regions of the South. Tabasco hot sauce is a Southern stalwart because it’s made by the McIlhenny Company on Avery Island, Louisiana. Old Bay is a Baltimore, Maryland-based favorite, and if you find yourself in Alabama, don’t be surprised if you’re gifted some Alabama-style white barbecue sauce.

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The time-tested, perfectly seasoned, Southern-favorite skillet also checks the boxes of “useful” and “wished for.” It may not fit in a stocking (depending on the size of the stocking in question), but, when passed down from the kitchens of previous generations, it’s a classic Southern present (and it’s also sure to be put to use before the day is done).

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This tradition has been passed down through the ages, and more than a few Southern households still add oranges to Christmas stockings. It’s especially popular in Florida (for obvious reasons), but the tradition isn’t confined to the coast.

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You don’t have to be on one of the Southern coasts to appreciate this gift, but that’s where you’re certain to find it. A stocking filled with all the utensils needed to eat the season’s best catch (i.e. oyster knives, seafood crackers, and lobster picks) will satisfy every Southern seafood aficionado.

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Don’t laugh. This is serious business in the South. A gnat hat (or mosquito hat) is a not-unheard-of stocking stuffer because we all know that gnat season will be here before we know it. (If you live below the Gnat Line, you don’t mess around when it comes to gnat season.)

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There’s a new one—or two, or three—every year, and each new Southern Living book of recipes, gardens, barbecue, and home decor makes a special stocking stuffer for your loved ones. (If we do say so ourselves.)

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