Personalizing Stockings on the Cheap

2 years ago I scored an awesome deal at the Pottery Barn Outlet after the holidays. They had the whole store at 50% off, and I was able to get Christmas stockings for 1.99 E.A.C.H. Score!!! Since they were a plain cranberry color, I wanted to add an initial to each stocking of the first name of each person in our family.

My sister in law was able to find some at Target for 1 dollar each, but they were plain silver. Exactly what I wanted, but of course they were all sold out when I went to check. All they had were these pictured above with the crystal bling. Considering I have 3 boys.....no bling please. And they are expensive! They were 9 dollars each at Target! Amazon has them currently for 12.99 each here. Okay, I paid under 2 bucks each for these stockings....you think I'm going to shell out 5 times the amount of money for an initial??? Sorry, wrong number.

So I racked my brain, and started browsing the internet. I came across zazzle.com - I could make my own personalized buttons! And for 1.45 each, that was my kind of price! I got the small 1 1/4 inch buttons and I was able to choose the font, color, text size, and the way I wanted the text positioned! The text color is cranberry as well, I tried to match it to the color of the stocking as best I could. You can try out making your own buttons here on zazzle's website. The link is for the standard 2 inch button, but just click the box that makes it 1 1/4 inch. If you want the standard size button they are 2.45.

They even have them in a square shape if you don't want a circle. My concern was that if the buttons were that cheap, they must charge a nice price for shipping. Boy was I surprised! If you choose economy shipping ordering 5 buttons is only 1.99!! (Standard shipping is 6.99, but I don't mind waiting a few extra days to save some $$).

And here they all are! ( I apologize you can't see all the names but I couldn't get all the stockings in the photo without some distance)

The larger red bead garland is from Michael's for 2.99. The smaller red bead garland is from Target for 3.00.

And you know what? In the end, I think I like my buttons better than the silver pins since I had to get creative!