Last Minute Christmas Gifts: Three must-haves for an awesome pet stocking!

Here we are in the final full week before Christmas! We just finished shopping for Christmas gifts this weekend, and came up with a fabulous idea for our cats, Lulu and Aliza. Each year we like to give the girls one present that they can share. And this year, the Walgreens Holiday Gift Guide came to the rescue as it reminded me of all the fun pet toys they have for dogs and cats in their pet aisle! Walgreens has lots of Christmas present ideas, from pre-packaged holiday dog treats to cat toys, that will have you putting together creative gifts in no time! There’s fish food, colorful dog toys, stockings for both dogs and cats that you can fill up, and did I mention cat toys? I know I did, but their selection of toys is fantastic, and our cats are picky – especially Lulu!

For those of readers who aren’t familiar with out cats, here’s some recent pics of them . . .

Let me show you what we purchased, and give you three must-haves that will make an awesome pet stocking!

Any great stocking must start with? Say it with me everyone, “A stocking!” I saw a fun dog stocking design in the Walgreens holiday catalog (on pages 4 and 5) . . .

. . . and just knew they’d have a cat version too!

Isn’t it C-U-T-E? Love, love, love!

Photos can be tricky, so let me describe this stocking to you: It’s made with comfy ivory fleece, both front, back and inside! (I can’t stand stockings that are nice on the front but the back is cheaply finished.)

There’s an adorable red MEOW along with red fish on the front, in a raised knit texture, along with fun red pom-poms sprinkled all over! So cute, and definitely has a handmade look to it which you know I love!

Next are the contents of a good pet stocking. Remember, pet stockings should be fun!

Here’s my three must-haves for any pet stocking: 

• Toys
• Treats
• A surprise

TOYS

For the toys, we purchased two of the Walgreens Pet Shoppe catnip mouse toys . . .

Adorable, right? If you don’t want the mice, they also have bird-shaped catnip toys too.

These toys are made with fabric that is heavier than many of the catnip toys out there – believe me we probably own almost every type in our house – and I like that our cats can claw and bat these toys around without the toy ripping apart.

I also love that they’re stuffed with recycled plastic bottles! How cool is that?

Lulu likes to fetch, which is a funny trait that many Ragdoll breed cats have, and these Pet Shoppe catnip toys are the perfect size for her to carry in her mouth without worrying she will swallow them.

And one more bonus for us? We earned extra points with our purchase of Pet Shoppe products by using our Balance Rewards card! Sweet!

Next, we needed a new large mouse toy!

We always have one of these on hand. Aliza especially likes to hug these while rolling around on her back, and I swear it looks like she’s holding a little doll!

This toy has a rattle inside, which always intrigues our kitties!

TREATS

Our cats love treats! We either give them one treat at a time , or sometimes we will toss a treat just a few feet away, so they can chase after their prey and “attack” before eating!

We purchased two packets of Friskies Party Mix. We usually get the Original Flavor, but when I saw the Beachside flavor, I had to get that too, since we do live at the Jersey shore afterall!

A SURPRISE

And no stocking should be complete without some sort of surprise inside. Again, I already knew what I was looking for, as I had browsed Walgreens online.

This year’s surprise is a new laser toy, also from the Walgreens Pet Shoppe!

Our cats love chasing laser beams, almost to the point where they will knock into each other as they try to be the first one to catch the elusive red dot! Aliza is a bit quicker at this game, which is surprising for a 20-something year old senior cat, but Lulu can hold her own too!

Our previous laser toy recently bit the dust after many years of play, so I know the cats will love this! (And this one projects different shapes with the laser too, like a mouse and a star, in addition to the regular dot.)

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care . . .”

Their pet stocking is hung up by our fireplace, but Lulu and Aliza will have to wait until Christmas morning to open their presents!

If you’re putting together a stocking for someone else’s pet — fill the bottom with crushed paper first. I usually fill the bottom half with paper, as most gifts are small and you want at least a few of them to stick out of the top, whether wrapped or unwrapped!

And speaking of purchasing gifts for other pets — since we will be travelling around the holidays, our cats will be watched by both of my sister-in-laws. A fun way to thank them, which we love to do, is to leave a special little gift for Sully the dog (owned by one sis-in-law) and Jack the cat (owned by the other sis-in-law).

We found these pet-themed labels at the end of the pet aisle to use for their gifts. We can use the rest of them on the gifts we’re giving to our family and friends!

So don’t fret about last minute Christmas gifts for your pet-loving friends or for your own pets: just head to Walgreens and remember my three must-haves!

Do you give your pets Christmas gifts? Are you done with your Christmas shopping? Let me know in the comments!